An Ode to Helles Lagers

I'll echo the mentions of Mahr's, and Augustiner Bräu Edelstoff. Love’em.

As for another American made helles that I REALLY enjoyed…but is unfortunately only found in one place…the helles at the Trapp Family Lodge Brewery in Stowe VT. If you’re ever in the area there doing a run for HT/Lawsons/HF, do yourself a favor and stop at Trapp. Have a mug of their helles out on the deck with a sangwich in summer months, and enjoy life for a few moments.

 

Have been wanting to go there for the cross-country skiing for years...this may have just sealed the deal!

 

I really, really like Schlafly's Summer Lager (which is Helles-style). Crisp, clean, perfectly balanced.

 

I’d say that in general, the helles beers from Munich are all pretty similar to one another, but have a nuance or two that differentiate them from the others.
For instance (to me), Lowenbrau is the straight ahead most sweet/bready, Augustiner has cookie-like notes, Spaten has dry cracker’y notes, Hofbrau is hoppier, H-P has the most body, and Paulaner’s seems to walk right in the middle.
If you like one, you’re unlikely to dislike any of the others, but you’ll probably have at least a mild preference.
In Munich, Augustiner’s is the most popular, and I find it odd that they send us Edelstoff (a stronger export helles) instead of their normal one. It’s extra odd because it’s especially popular in bottles, too.
Over here, I like the fact that Paulaner and H-P have easy to read dates on their labels, and brown bottles. That alone helps a lot, although Spaten and Lowenbrau’s green bottles can be overcome by their paper covered 12-packs.

 

I think the last one I had was the Edelhell and I was surprisingly underwhelmed. It just seemed bland compared with Spaten, HB, and Paulaner -- I was also surprised because I like H-P's Oktoberfest and Weizen a lot.

On the other hand, the Anno 1417 was outstanding.

 

I haven't seen the Edelhell in a long while; I didn't know we even got it anymore. You may have gotten an old or mishandled bottle in any event; of the two H-P helles that I have had that one was a lot more hop-forward than the Munich Gold. It probably didn't have the malt character you were looking for, but I always thought it was a really good beer in its own way. The aforementioned Munich Gold has a really good malt quality, almost graham cracker like, and you may be pleasantly surprised if you give it a chance.

I totally concur on the Anno 1417, though- another one that is too much of a 'blast from my past' for my liking. I'll have to see if I can order that one from the shop.

 

I think I have to try this one again soon. Last time I had it, I didn't pick up that delicious malt flavor that marks a great helles for me (but it also may have been before I started checking best-by dates).

 

It was some time ago, and since then I may have also had the Münchner Gold (but I don't remember the chronology) -- seeing the label and thinking, "Hey, something new -- and by being 'Gold,' it must be good." Disappointed by the marketing again.

To me it's more of getting that smooth, rich maltiness I remember from Munich. The Paulaner and Spaten have it to a point, though I think Paulaner uses different malts or different hops, giving it a different dryness. To me the H-P was a step down.

Inspired by this thread, I'm having a Weltenburger Kloster Urtyp Hell right now -- even bigger malty richness in this one than any of the Munich brands available. Not sure why, maybe the size of the brewery (and its owners) keep things closer to traditional.

 

Had it at one of their restaurants on gravity

 

Wait, so you find it odd that they export their "export" helles? By "odd" did you mean "fitting"?

 

Fitting in name, but that's an antiquated term. You can export a 1% near beer without it going bad if you want to. Edelstoff isn't as popular as their lagerbier hell is.

 

GL Dortmunder is a Dortmunder not a helles. BTW I think Jahrhundert is a Dortmunder as well.

 

I think that's become a misnomer from Ayinger calling it an "Export," thus causing it to be lumped into a category with "Dortmunder-Export." As Domingo states, "Export" is an outdated term anymore and if you tasted a fresh Jahrhundert blindly you wouldn't mistake it for DAB.

 

Which and where?

 

That was my impression as well.

 

Just want to reinforce this. Export is a strength designation, and you can have an Export Helles, Pils, Dunkel or Dortmunder, and maybe more.

 

Yeah, we went around on this before -- but my point is that "Dortmunder-Export" became a style designation some years ago. Whether right or wrong, it's still haunting a lot of categorizations.

 

I was agreeing.

 

Exactly why I said, "it's still haunting a lot of categorizations." I believe BA lists it similarly, but it still doesn't taste anything like DAB.