Märican Biere Bought and Drunk...

No, have not tried it yet. Hoping to find it on draft somewhere locally.

 

And now I'm reporting back. Currently enjoying my second can as I type this.

Appearance is spot on for a Helles. Amazing clarity and the nose is of slightly sweet malt. A bit grainy/husky in the nose too. Taste is very much a Helles. Delicately sweet and somewhat grainy. Low bitterness from the hops, but the malt certainly dominates. Mouthfeel is quite thin, and the pils malt doesn't really "pop" in this one, but it's still there and is refreshing.

Ballast Point did a good job with this one. I can't tell what the numbers mean on the can, so I have no clue how fresh it is. Not nearly near the top of my list for Helles, but the best way to describe this brew is "insanely drinkable." At 4.5% and brewed like an actual Helles (not some hop bomb that happens to use pils malt) I enjoyed this beer. I keep finding myself reaching for the glass every few seconds, which is a high compliment.

They missed out on truly making the malt characteristics shine that the best Helles pull off, and the mouthfeel/taste were a bit thin for me. But overall, a tasty beer that will likely find a home in my fridge in the future.

 

Sounds good. Thanks for reporting back.

 

In my experience, this is what most US craft breweries can never quite pull off. I think it mostly has to do with the malts that are used, but brewing process definitely plays a part as well.

 

Definitely. There are some helles beers that stand out, but almost all of them lack that bready note from the Bavarian version. I honestly like the one from New Belgium, but it's still different. Ditto with the one from Cigar City. They're good beers, just not quite the same. Probably the closest thing I've gotten to Munich was the first version of Prost's Tivoli Helles. It was triple decocted (all Weyermann) and used the Andechser lager yeast. Unfortunately they've tinkered with it several times and it hasn't been the same since.

 

This is how I feel about most U.S. attempts at the style (and many other German Styles), they're definitely well made and worth drinking, but just not the same.

 

Yep, and this was confirmed for me this week. Ballast Point's Longfin I feel is well-made, and I will purchase it again. But I also had Schlenkerla's Helles this past weekend. Upon the first sip I I got that "wow" from the malt that I simply don't get from American attempts. Fresh bottles of Andech's and Weihenstephan give me the same feeling.

I liked Longfin, and it was definitely brewed as a Helles (not some IPL). But there's a huge gap between Schlenkerla's Helles and Ballast Point's.

 

No facts to back this up, but I'm betting that's simply due to base malt US 2-row vs. base malt German pilsner, most likely Weyermann.

 

This is all I get from their website. Tasted like pils malt to me.

"Inspired by the Helles Style from Germany, this very light colored Lager is big on malt flavor. With the reserved use of hops in bittering, this crisp Lager has the aroma, and flavor of fresh baked bread thanks to the German produced Pilsner Malt."

 

Add water, process, brewer/brewing experience, wondering if you're going to be able to clean out the mash tun in time to brew another batch of IPA...

 

Not being as cynical as @steveh there is no mention of how much German pilsner malt was used. I would believe that the standard German pilsner being brewed in Germany is s single-step infusion, both hops and yeast are readily available in the states, so the grains make the most sense.

 

There's a fine line between cynical and realistic, but my point is that there are German brewers with focus on the beers they've grown famous for, and then there are micro-brewers who change favorites with the breeze.

But still, a single-step infusion in the hands of one brewer can be different in the hands of another -- home-brew competitions, let alone beer on the shelves, prove this every day.

But yeah, no mention of how much Pilsner malt on top of "base" malt is suspect... if not cynical.

 

Spent the last 2 wks back in Wash DC and this was the best beer I came across (beside Lefthand's Milk Stout Nitro):

 

Backlash against U.S. "craft" beer's influence in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung http://www.sueddeutsche.de/reise/usa-land-der-fettnaepfchen-kriegsbeil-auf-geschmacksknospen-1.2171903

...and a pretty good blog post discussing both sides of the "issue" http://bierdestages.de/brauerei-sauerroettenbach-pils-nr-1420/

 

I was waiting for that to pop up!

We've gone through this for the most part already. I am nonetheless still amazed at the pompous, "herabschauend" attitude.

 

"Was nützen mir 47 verschiedene Biere, wenn nicht ein einziges dabei ist, das schmeckt wie ein Bier schmecken soll?! Zumindest wie ich gerne hätte, das es schmeckt: nämlich wie ein bayerisches Helles."

"Of what use is 47 different beers to me, when not a single one of them tastes as a beer should?! At least the way I'd like it to taste, namely like a Bavarian Helles."

That's what you call a rhetorical question I suppose. She knows what she likes and what she wants, and 47 different beers that don't deliver what she wants and expects wont be of any use or value to her. Not that she's wrong in thinking the way she does, she's simply satisfied with what she has, and there are people like her in every country. Swedes who are content with only drinking pale Swedish exports, Americans who are content with only drinking light AALs etc. The mainstream beers to these people define what beer is and should be, and it provides them with everything they could want from beer. Somehow fate would have it that the large national brewers have come up with a type of beer, brewed within a narrow set of parameters that differ from country to country, which perfectly fits the taste of that particular consumer. To the American light-AAL drinker the European mainstream beers might be too heavy and bitter, to the Swede or German the American light beers are too watery and bland. In each country however there has been a continous shift in the brewing standards, and the standards of flavor, which has lead to the current iteration of a particular country's mainstream style of beer, and it continues to change. Hopefully, for these consumers who's definition of beer depends on a particular flavor profile, the changes are slow enough to where they wont notice them.

 

The U.S. "craft" movement does seem driven to a large degree by the "what-else-ya-got" mentality. This is a very foreign perspective for Germans anyway, and when you apply it to beer it gets even more difficult for them to grasp. Can't tell you how many times I heard Germans say that you shouldn't mix beer types/styles during a session, lest you get the dreaded "Kopfschmerzen."

 

“…Germans say that you shouldn't mix beer types/styles during a session…”

I am awaiting the post from @einhorn concerning Germans mixing their beers with soda (or some similar beverage).

Cheers!

 

That is a very profound statement, I need to remember that in future discussions over what is "best" in beer.

To that, on a wet and dreary, chilly October day, when the sugar maple in our backyard has finally started to show the fiery red colors that make us so proud, I stopped at the local good beer purveyor and grabbed some Capital Oktoberfest. A long-time favorite from the early days of micro-brewing in the Midwest and still a terrific drinker after so many years.

Deep, amber-orange in color with an off-white head that thins out quickly, but revives easily. DMS nose with some light bready malts and spicy hops. A bready, yeasty flavor with a good balance of spicy hops -- yet not overdone as to drown out the malt. Medium-bodied with a soft mouthfeel that turns spritzy at the end.

Overall, a great rendition, if somewhat light on that melanoidin character I love in an Oktoberfest -- but there's no roastiness, no nuttiness, just a smooth malty character with noble hop character in balance. I believe I'll have another.