An Ode to Helles Lagers

As was I, with you -- just continuing the conversation.

 

If you look on the Ayinger site, Jahrhundert is called an Export, but nothing is said about a Dortmunder.

 

I find it to be quite malty, more so than helles.

 

The way I've always looked at German beer styles is that you can break things down into 15 or so basic styles, or you can go nuts and break things down into 50.
While pretty broad, I don't necessarily disagree with the RB method of lumping helles, dortmunder, export, etc. all together for the sake of simplicity. While I'm sure people like us will likely break things down much much further, personally, the fact that these styles converge and diverge over time keeps it simple for everyday record keeping.

In my own mind, it seems like a lot of Bavarian (especially Munich-area) breweries will have a normal helles and a stronger variation of some kind. You can break those stronger ones down into a multitude of styles if you want...or just call 'em an "export" and leave it at that.

One funny thing I noticed the other day was that the Andechser Dunkel is labeled as an export dunkel, but is still "only" 4.9 ABV. http://www.andechs.de/kloster-andec...erspezialitaeten/andechser-export-dunkel.html
I know dunkels have a history of being milder, but this might be a clue to how mild they once were.

In the case of Ayinger, you can get their "normal" helles in Aying. I found it to be hoppier than expected. Definitely more than then 100 year. Their kellerbier, too.

 

Have you ever had a Helles in Munich? The Ayinger recreates that experience nicely.

 

Thanks for the info. If they're saying "In the style of a German Maibock, using our proprietary Pacman ale yeast" then I suppose we would have to classify it as a hybrid. Anyway, it certainly isn't a helles.

 

DEr PSchorr

 

My buddy and I stopped by after our 1st-morning Weisswurstfruehstueck at Schneider -- just because we knew we weren't going to make it a destination otherwise, staying in Muenchen for only one night and being staggering distance from Augustinerkeller. Holy crap, did that beer go down easy. Hardly were the beers in our hands did I look up to see he had nearly polished his off in two long draughts. When the Kellner saw us -- and we more or less simultaneously heard the bell ring signalling the tapping of a new keg -- two more were soon delivered to our table with hardly a word spoken (just a gesture to the sunshine above and a thumb-and-index-finger up to the inevitable). Prost!

 

Went to a wedding on a very hot July day a couple of weeks ago where Hofbrau Original was on tap. It was my first Helles Lager, but will not be my last. So refreshing, fresh, and flavorful.

 

No, but I had HB Original from a 'firkin' that was shipped over fresh for the Bavarian Festival last month.

 

The 2004 edition of Technology Brewing And Malting, the textbook of VLB Berlin, which is one of the major German brewing schools, lists Export as having an original extract of 12.5-13.5 and an ABV of 4.8-5.9%. It also says that the style includes "edel" (such as Augustiner Edelstoff) and "Spezial" (such as Andechser Spezial Hell). It also includes "Dortmund Type" beers. As of 2002, it was the second most popular style in Germany, behind pilsner, with a market share of 7.2%. (pils was 68.6% overall, but just 31.7% in Bavaria)

I love how specific and broad/vague German beer styles can be at the same time. You really have to know where your beer comes from in order to have the proper style context to place it into.

 

All I know is I'm looking forward to more Augustiner Helles when in München this September. Why the hell don't they export it?

 

Had a lovely couple of Helles there a few weeks back. It's heartening that Bayerischer Anstich is becoming more common in Munich.

 

And you didn't think the Jahrhundert was comparable? There is an HB sanctioned tavern in Chicago where I drank the Helles and a Zwickel version of the Helles vom Faß (just to compare with your experience) and it was outstandingly fresh and delicious -- and very malty. The Ayinger strikes me the same way.

However -- Ayinger beers are notorious (in my experience) for going bad fast. Not sure if they just sit on shelves too long or if Ayinger doesn't Pasteurize, but I've had a few that were just off (gushered too). Be sure that what you're getting is fresh and I think the beer will surprise you.

 

More common? I must have been lucky in my travels because I drank a great deal of beer from gravity pour when I was in Bavaria. I have a classic picture of one of the workers rolling a full wooden barrel of (IIRC) HB beer into the Oktoberfest tent. And at Frühlingsfest I got to drink from the first tap of Maibock off the wooden cask -- among other, non-Fest, experiences.

 

Yep. Ten years ago only Augustiner of the Munich breweries still used wooden barrels.

 

Did wide usage stop sometime just before 2002? Because I saw it there quite a bit throughout the 90s (at brewery owned venues, of course -- not just your average bar).

Who knows, maybe that was Augustiner's cask of Maibock I got to taste? I honestly can't recall (there were only 2 beer tents at Frühlingsfest in 1995), but that big barrel at the Oktoberfest was at the HB tent.

 

It was mentioned in a book about Munich breweries I have that only Augustiner were still using wooden barrels. The book was published sometime in the 1990's.

 

I think the fests usually feature the Bayerischer Anstich (think of the televised opening ceremonial tappings). In town it's only Augstiner and, of late, H-P that serve it that way. Der Pschorr mentions the fact in a lot of their local advertising, as it is still, sadly, not a widespread practice.