Is the Helles style making a craft comeback?

Sorry, I haven’t read through all the posts here but I’ll chime in that I’ve bought helles lagers recently from NJ breweries including Icarus, Kane, Tonewood, Untied and Bolero Snort and other lagers/pilsners from local places as well so hell yeah I’d say it’s making a welcome comeback.

 

Very well said.
I hear it under the language of “innovation” which is supposed to have us pardon it from comparison to the original notable examples and pretend whatever they’re adding to it is somehow making it better.

Just this afternoon I was reminiscing the last time I heard the 11:00 bell at Augustiner Keller and I grabbed one of the first pours of Edelstoff from the barrel. So sad. Cheers @Domingo

 

Core Brewing of Springdale Arkansas produces a Helles at 4.7%abv it is a year rounder.

 

Wasn't Great Divide Hoss a rye-marzen kinda thing? Haven't had that one in a while but I remember being a big fan....sad we don't see these kind of beers anymore on the national level like we used to.

 

Jack's Abby does one in their Kellerbier series, but that's only a seasonal as well.

 

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Sixpoint brewing (Brooklyn) AlpenFlo Lager is the best I've had brewed in the US and I've had many. Highly recommended.

 

Yeah it is a bit stronger than a regular Helles. That being said, I don’t recall it tasting like an Export strength Helles Spezial. It doesn’t quite have the same “heft” in the malt department that examples of Helles Spezial’s have in the past to my palate.

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but Kellerbier/Zwickel isn’t exactly a style. But many of them are in fact a Helles, but they are unfiltered.

Is this the recent one they did? If so, I don’t recall that Marzen being a rye Marzen.

 

I was under the impression that a Kellerbier was a young bier served out of the foeder. It can be any style but pils and marzen seem to be the preferred styles. I am probably way off, maybe @hopfenunmaltz could shed some light on that.

 

For whatever its worth, while it's labeled as a Helles here, their packaging seems to go out of its way to not define it as any one particular style. It says "Golden Lager" along the top of the front of the can and Helles Landbier along the top of the rear. Then the description on the packaging seems to line up almost exactly with what you suggested:

"What the Helles is a Landbier? Ours is sweet and golden with a full malty body, inspired by the country lagers of Bavaria. This Pale Bier is our House specialty. From Jack’s House to Your House!

@JackHorzempa

 

I swear I had it this past Autumn, something with Rye in the name.

 

Kellerbier (def): a beer that is served at the (Bier)keller

 

From my experience,bit has been lagered for a while. It is not filtered, or lagered for a long time to drop bright.

I've had KellerPils that was super good. I've homebrewed beers that tasted like Keller bier when young, but hitting the classic styles later

 

Well I cracked open the Ruekeller Helles from The Bruery and boy howdy what a delightful beer. I don't know that I've ever had a true helles before, so I also don't know if this is a true helles, but it's bright and grassy with a nice light white bread flavor and just a touch of herbal spicy noble hop touch on the back end. Definitely a beer I could drink in volume. Now I'm gonna have to scour the shelves for some imported options to compare to (this one showed up just shy of 4 months after packaging and it only came from southern california, the imports can't be that much worse) and hopefully find something a little more affordable before the warm weather really hits

 

My point would be that taste is one thing, intention another. In Sweden Kaltenberg beers are brewed under licence and one of the beers is an Oktoberfest beer. It is alot lighter and thinner in body compared with the Bavarian Oktoberfest beers. Now, could this be because the malt supplier is Swedish rather than German? After all Viking malt has their Swedish operations located in the same town as the brewery. Or could it be because the original gravity of that beer is 11.7% rather than the 13.5-13.8% of the Bavarian fest beers? I.e they are selling a Helles recipe as an Oktoberfest beer (implying it's intended to be a pale Märzen beer). I would call this a case of deception and false advertising, whereas the case with Jack's Abby House Lager is a question of intent, what is the intent of the brewer and what should it be compared against. But my point is that before one looks at whether the malt is the source of the difference, one could take a look at the specs of the beer if they are available to glean the intent of the brewer.

 

Was it this one?

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/26520/371415/

I would recommend picking up Weihenstephan Original as a base line. Or maybe Hofbrau Original. You might be able to find either one decently fresh.

 

It is back to the future. When my poor old brain imagines beer it well recalls Lowenbrau from Munich. These days I placate my basic beer consumption with an Aldi exclusive, Wernesgruner Pils. It is a nice beer that I buy weekly. But that fresh bread aspect to Lowenbrau, finishing dry still pulls at my memory.

 

Yeah, that's it. Private Rye, oy, no wonder I didn't remember it .

 

What a great fine point. The intention would be quiet undersold and effective marketing.

 

Right now I'm alternating between Sunny Ridge and Shipping Out Of Boston. I agree with Sunny's taste varying from year to year and that it's related to cloudiness. This year's is on the good/cloudy end of the spectrum.

House Lager is a sweetish beer with minimal hop crispness, it's there but doesn't show until the back of the swallow. It's also a very filling beer. This isn't a lager where you finish one off and then reach for another.