Helles Island
People's Pint Brewing Company

Apperance: Poured with a solid two fingers of head that sadly did not lace nor stay for very long. The body is a pale brass and shows solid carbonation and some mild haze.

Smell: Pale malt and cereal on the nose with a kick of hops in the background. There's the slightest sourdough note, but the dry cereal dominates the nose that did not need warming to come out.

Taste: While I wouldn't call it clean, the pale malt does a great job of meshing with grain and mild sourdough and slight peppery notes (nowhere near Kolsch levels mind you) before a slight bitter dust off on non-descript hops.

Mouthfeel: The carbonation is well done, and the transitioning is good, but doesn't have far to go. The aftertaste however has a slightly too pronounced dry note that doesn't quite walk that line of wanting to make you want to drink more. I suspect because the dry cereal and sourdough notes in the aftertaste are clashing a bit.

Drinkability: Easy on the system, and a refreshing lager despite the weird dry note in the body. Just past light bodied but not much more, really this is just a mellow lager.

Final Thoughts: I'm not sure how much People's Pint I have left in the fridge, but it is kind of somber of reviewing a beer from a brewery that has since past. This is a beer that even your macro buddies can enjoy and just an all around decent lager.

Moderate head that is relatively long-lived. Settles to a ring with splotchy lace as you go. Clear yellow gold. Sweet malts on the nose alongside a whiff of grain and some hops. Most everything gets lost initially in the sweet malt taste. Underlying hops bitterness followed by a dry and mildly bitter finish. Full mouthfeel with a bit of juiciness, more towards heavy than light. Fits the style.

It’s definitely a Helles — pours a cloudy but very light, pale straw colour with a one finger thick head that is very loose and watery, receding into a spotty bubbly cap. Unfiltered, which is always my style!

Grainy on the nose, lots of delicious cereal grain notes. Mostly sweet and malty, but with a nice touch of grassy, spicy hops in the background.

General malt flavour is forward, with a touch of savouriness thanks to the unfiltered nature of the beer, a bit of yeastiness as well. Gentle spiciness and floral tastes from the hops can be noticed in the middle. Finishes with just a mild hint of the maltiness tasted up front, with some vague hop notes, but no particular bitterness.

Light bodied, but on the heavier side of light, with lower than expected carbonation, but still pleasantly smooth. Gentle finish that tends to the dryer side.

I wouldn’t argue that the spicy aspects detract from the Helles style, plenty of helles lagers have had spicy notes, the buttery-corn notes are definitely not particular to the style, but I didn’t notice much of a presence of that myself. Overall, a fairly excellent representation with a nice spin due to it being unfiltered, which gives a lot of the flavours a slightly heavier edge, even a bit doughy at times. Restrained enough to stick to the style without venturing into the spicy Belgian yeasty territory or too unfiltered that it’s heavy or too ‘crispy’, it retains all the nice soft malt characters of a Helles you know and love.

Worth a try for sure!

 

473 ml can served cold into a pint glass. LCBO purchase for around $3.25 CDN. Canning date could be June 12, 2021.

Appearance - Slightly hazy, but mostly clear golden color with two fingers of sparkling egg-shell white head. Modest head retention and no lacing to speak of.

Smell - Lots of grain, bready notes, with some sweetness, hints of corn and slight bit of sourdough and lemon zest.

Taste - Clean and grainy, light buttery flavor going on. some peppery aspects to close.

Mouthfeel - Medium-light bodied, less carbonation than expected, easy to drink.

Overall - Pretty solid German style lager, the buttery taste and slight peppery aspects detract from what is otherwise a very good representation of the style. Worth a shot.

Peoples Pint Brewing Company
Toronto Ontario
Helles Island Unfiltered Lager 5%
473ml can poured a nice 2 finger head into glass and the aroma and taste was very good .
overall this beer is easy drinking and very enjoyable.
would definitely buy this beer again.
Did not see any brew date on my can
cheers

Pours straw coloured with a 2cm dense head atop. Sweet and grainy on the smell. The taste retains the sweetness and adds some hoppy bitterness and a bit of funk. Nicely carbonated.
May 22 2021