Himmelbrau Helles Lager
Laurelwood Brewing Co.

This is a very, very light beer. As pale as any beer I can think of, with only a slight wisp of head. Almost-not-there aroma of a rainy day. The beer goes down effortlessly, and almost invisibly. It's not as malty as most German helles lagers, and is much closer to the American light lager style. Fortunately there are no off-flavors and the result is an immaculately clean, if uninteresting beer. Laurelwood's beers are generally sparklingly clean-tasting, even if they don't have much oomph. This is the perfect brewpub beer for those who only order Lite beers and the like, and it's better than the chemical-tasting macros.

This Helles lager is pale, very pale. Of course, the style should be pale but this example is so pale it’s almost frightening. If a human were relatively this pale you would reach to take their pulse.

This beer is clear, cold, and refreshing as a thirst quencher. It is crisp though not flavorful. The restaurant at the Laurelwood Public House offered significant competition for my olfactory senses. But try as I might (and I made considerable efforts) I could scarcely find more than the most precursory echo of a scent of barley malt and that only after persistent agitation of the brew.

I am unaccustomed to seeing my fingers on the far end of the glass magnified by the distortions of clear fluids. This is testimony to the paleness and clarity of this beer, which is laceless and featured a single, solitary streak of exceptionally tiny bubbles trickling upwards when I drank it on St. Patrick’s Day.

I love my local brewers and I’ll always support them. But this beer has an aftertaste that amounts to a drab bitter film hanging heavy on the tongue and I can hardly bring myself to endorse it except as a fire extinguisher following some very spicy foods. With eyes closed the average drinker would be hard pressed to distinguish Himmel Bräu from a Bud Light.