Munich Helles
Purity Brewing Co.

Poured from 12 oz. bottle into a Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" glass.

Appearance: Pours a lively pale golden orange with lots of rising bubbles. Even with a modest pour the head grows so big that it takes up most of the glass and I have to wait for it to settle before finishing the pour. Looks over carbonated, but color and lacing is nice.

Smell: A very grainy and grassy aroma. Big wheat grains and pale malts with good hints of biscuit, crackers, cereal, hay, and grass. Hints of spicy noble hops and floral hops. Very earthy and fairly sweet aroma overall. Very nice and vibrant.

Taste: An interesting taste that is quite different than the smell. Big grains up front along with some pale malts. Notes of bready biscuit, cereal, crackers, grass, and hay. Some grassy and earthy hops. Towards the finish comes a big burst of citrus lemon that is pretty tart, almost too tart for the style.

Mouthfeel: Light to medium bodied and heavily carbonated. Fairly creamy, tart and smooth.

Overall: This has some good things going for it, but the overly tart citrus doesn't blend in well to me and the high carbonation masked some of the grain and malt flavors. It still is pretty drinkable.

 

 

Pours straw color with a faint haze and some yeasties finding their way into the glass from the bottom of the bottle. A nice two finger head forms and slowly settles to a thick cap. Heavy lacing is left down the glass. The look and after tasting the beer, they could call this a keller/zwickle bier. I would actually prefer that discriptor rather than Munich Helles.

The aroma is frustratingly timid. So hard to describe. Some grainyness and Noble hops but there is a fruit aroma lingering in the shadows that is hard to identify. Almost like berries.

Not sweet, not completely dry, but definately on the drier side of the spectrum. Malt is grainy with some hop spice. A slight tart acidity near the finish. Hint of lemon and berries. Never had a Munich Helles from the old country that tasted like this. Would of liked a little more aggresive flavor from the malt and hops though.

Carbonation is not great in this beer. The beer lies a little lifeless on the palate as the result. Good body for what I assume is a mid 4% ABV beer.

An interesting German-style lager. Currently contract brewed at Brau Brothers. Not as refined as it could be, but hopefully it will get dialed in and get more attention in the state of Minnesota.

12 oz. bottle picked up from Princeton's in Maple Grove. Another MN brewer appearing out of the woodwork, I hope this one is better than some of the recent entrants. We could use a good German brewer in these here parts.

Poured into a freshly scrubbed glass, this one is a lovely, diluted yellow with frenetic carbonation. Smells like a rainy afternoon in the fields: grassy, grainy, touch of malt. Not a bad way to start a glass of beer.

Purity's Munich Helles reps the style with style. Follows the nose closely, with a lot of grain/cereal up front (Cheerios?), then a trench-coat flash of sweet malts. Non-specific spicing in the midsection. A gentle nip of slightly sour citrus on the finish, which really sticks around. So easy to drink.

This is much more like it, & significantly superior to the Amber Weiss, the first Purity beer to touch my chaste lips. Not quite as clean as I'd like, but the twist at the end (intentional?) makes this seem more related to a berlinner weiss than a helles. But whatever. Very good beer, & if they crank out more in this mold, we have another winner.