Tap Handle #244: Metropolitan - Krankshaft Kolsch

Krankshaft was on my wishlist back when I started this blog. I finally obtained one and I love it! It definitely has a steampunk feel to it. The only difference among the varieties is the label.

Click through to read more about Metropolitan Brewing and their Krankshaft Kolsch...


Metropolitan was founded in 2008 in Chicago, Illinois by husband and wife Doug and Tracy Hurst. Tracy was a Milwaukee native who moved to Chicago in 1999 after getting a psychology degree at the University of Wisconsin, and worked in various jobs including at a Best Buy, where she met Doug. She earned a second bachelor's degree in digital imaging from Rochester Institute of Technology in upstate New York in 1998. She set up one business after another, from portrait photographer to belly dancer, before the couple decided to turn Doug's longtime home-brewing hobby into a professional venture. Doug had earned a brewing diploma at the Siebel Institute of Technology & World Brewing Academy in Germany and was a home brewer for years. The couple raised about $600,000, including money from private investors and a small-business loan, and relied on volunteers for help. They located the brewery in a historically industrial area of the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago. After buying $250,000 in equipment including a brew kettle and the first four of their six fermentation tanks, they began producing Flywheel Bright and Dynamo Copper lagers and a lighter Kolsch-style called Krankshaft.

Krankshaft is a Kolsch-style lager with a pale straw hue and a little wheat malt to round out an easy Santiam hop bitterness. Recommended food pairings are fruit salad, pot stickers, gyros, pistachios, coleslaw, miso, dinner waffles, gelato, popcorn, barbecue, chile rellenos, muenster cheese, hummus & pita, guacamole, and French Onion soup. Weighted average on ratebeer.com is 3.28 out of 5.

Metropolitan Official Website