Sixpoint: Alpenflo Helles Lager

@invertalon @JackHorzempa @AlcahueteJ

This is not an "innovative" new interpretation on a personally beloved style, this is a dyed-in-the-wool Helles. Everything from the Palatinate 2-row pilsner malt, to the bavarian lager yeast, to the horizontal fermentation methods, to the maniacal sourcing of hops from the classic noble regions of Hallertauer and Tettnang - directly from the farmers themselves.

This beer, perhaps more than any other of ours, represents a life's work. Helles is my personal favorite style of beer. Don't get me wrong, I like all beer styles to varying degrees, but Helles is one that I never seem to fall out of love with. The versatility and drinkability of the beer makes it a year-round pleasure, but perhaps most enchanting is the humbling understanding as a brewer that it takes flawless technical execution to make a beautiful Helles. After almost 20 years of brewing I feel like I can make certain IPAs in my sleep. But I still wake up in a cold sweat at night wondering how our Helles is fermenting.....

It took years to forge these relationships, learn these techniques, build out the formulations, test the pilot batches, and get this beer to a point where we are comfortable releasing it. We even agonized over the tiniest of details such as the bavarian cupola on the packaging, and went back-and-forth as a team about all different elements of this. As you can imagine its pretty damn exciting to kick of 2018 with this beer. We can't wait to hear what you'll think of it - the Sixpoint team really put their heart and soul into this and crushed it:



A view from one of the hop farms where we source the hops for the Alpenflo



Same hop farm; two of the growers inspecting this year's crop



A view from the hop lift at the start of this year's harvest...



walking the fields with one of the hop growers....



from-the-ground view from the Tettnang region during harvest....one of the two great areas on the planet for German noble hops



our hop partner in Tettnang, Lukas, with his son (6th generation hop farmers) decorating their Tannenbaum with Resin and Sweet Action cans



The Six-pointed brewer's star (Brauerstern) is alive and well in Bavaria, and infiltrates all sorts of design!




corrected SRM on this can.....cheers!

 

January is 3 days away from today. Please hurry.

 

"Scale without intimacy is hollow" - now that's a fucking quote!!! You won me over with that one. Helles is also one of my favorites, and I've only recently returned from southern Bavaria and the Hallertau region so I'm certainly looking forward to it.

 

NO-body expects the Spanish Inquisition.

Cheers!

 

My favorite too!

 

@Sixpoint

I understand kolsch/helles are different, but would you in any way compare this to kold shauer? Ill be honest, i enjoyed kold shauer, but it did have this intenseness to it. Similar to that of a freshly opened Sprite. The hops were spicy and let you know it. The carbonation was intense (i like high carb).....anyways looking foward to this one.

 

That's awesome. Any particular reasons (other than the affinities outlined above) for the shift in MO?

 

This beer is right in my sweet spot. Looking forward to it.

 

Welcome to 2018 (almost)
Where Brewing in a traditional way is innovative.

 

Super pumped to try this. I need more lagers in my fridge.

 

Its still our own take on the style, but this is style that doesn't need a ton of innovation in formulation to improve it. Its basically perfect the way it is...so the art is just in how you go about assembling it and producing it.

 

Well stated, may I quote you on that.

 

I think I'm looking forward to this more than any beer you have brewed. Nothing says "beer" like a well done Helles.

 

So you're saying that other styles (such as Pilsner and Kolsch) aren't perfect the way they are and could use some innovation for improvement? (just kidding, no need to answer that )

 

Seems to be the case essentially (but correct me if I'm wrong or overgeneralizing @Sixpoint ). Here's the quote from the Kolsch thread:

 

Hellyeah, my favorite time for a day/days/weeks in the mtns. Feel free to continue to photobomb this thread with alpenglow pics while satisfying the inquisition!

 

One of my favorite styles. Looking forward to trying it.

 

I am going to keep pushing for AZ to get into your Distro area.... Hey you cannot fault me for being persistent.....
Cheers and awesome beer.....

 

If by "Helles urges" you mean "all the time", I'm right there with you .