Is the Helles style making a craft comeback?

It is simply my own understanding of the beer style - the brewery does not claim it's a Helles. When I call it a Helles it is based on me growing up in Germany for several decades and having some memory of what could be acceptable at a Germany beer pub. If you served this beer in Germany as a Helles, people would not accuse the bar tender of cheating. It is a bit on the sweet/floral/fruity side of the spectrum. True to the "original" Helle beers from Germany, temperature tends to play a significant role. As the beer warms up while you drink it, the flavor profile changes and different details show up or disappear. I found this is very much the case with the LaGrow Lager.
The other little bit peculiar thing about LeGrow Lager is this: when you first pour it from the can (that has been sitting for a couple of days), the beer pours very clear. When you keep a small quantity in the can, stir it a little bit as you would with a Weizen, and pour the rest in your glass, the beer becomes a bit hazy. I assume it is some kind of solids that settle quickly under normal conditions, but start to float once you move he can. I personally pour the LaGrow Helles now in one go, and keep a tiny bit of liquid in the can - for me this beer is better when it's crystal clear and not hazy.

 

It's possibly a can-conditioned beer -- they add some sugar or freshly-brewed beer to the finished beer before canning and what yeast is left will consume the fresh sugars and carbonate the beer. The "spent" yeast settles to the bottom of the can -- very much like Krausening.

Is the head very thick and creamy? Good sign that it was naturally carbonated.

 

Neshaminy Creek Brewing is PA but tamanend gelled (idk how to spell it) is excellent and they date label everything on the bottom of the can.

 

I enjoy their beers. I’ve had that one at some point.

 

The head is not that creamy - nice head in the beginning but not super fine.

 

Guess they're just not doing a great job of clearing their beer -- however they're doing it. I've seen that in a few newer and smaller breweries lately.

Can you taste a difference between the carefully poured beer and one where the sediment is poured?

 

I think this is a really important point with so much discussion of Jack's Abby House Lager throughout this thread.

Even in the video on their website, Jack seems to go out of his way not to call it a "helles." It is varyingly referred to as "golden lager," "landbier," or "country lager."

I think those distinctions follow through on the taste. While it uses german ingredients, is decocted, well-lagered and spunded; it is sweeter and chewier in the middle than a very crisp helles.

That impacts the drinkability a little (only vis-a-vis other helleses, it's not like it's a chore to drink), but lends a level of rusticity that makes it stand out a bit and supremely worthy of anyone's pale lager rotation.

 

Yes, the taste changes once the floating solids are in the glass. The beer feels softer, heavier mouth feel, not as crisp, can't really describe it but it is definitely noticeable.

 

I think that the American IPA culture has really shifted our acceptable use of the word “hoppy” for the worse. It feels like we can’t call certain things hoppy only because they are so far away from “hoppy” in the IPA sense. I am glad to see your use of the word in this context. Sometimes, certain Helles lagers come across as quite hoppy to me… not like the hoppiest of Pilsners, but still hoppy in their own right. Hofbrau Original is one that occasionally gives me a nice hop bitterness.

I love Hofbrau Original. Note that Hofbrau and Weihenstephaner each use their own date code formula. Do a search for BA threads with the proper information on how to decipher each of them.

I like that beer more than I expected to.

Not that I’ve ever given it the 2 liter challenge, but out of the beers in the Jack’s Abby portfolio, I like their House Lager the most (barring the Kellerbier Series beers). The reason why I’ve never had enough of it to see if it would wear out its welcome is due to what @TongoRad is getting at - while I like the beer quite a bit compared to other accessible US pale lagers, I like my favorite accessible German pale lagers more - so I simply don't buy it. Side note: I once had a can of House Lager with some serious beer issues (just once and not with other cans with the same canning date)… but it lowered my interest in having the beer.

 

Jack’s Abby calls it a “Landbier” because they wanted it to be their “house beer,” and in their experience, German brewers were using this term for their house beers. “Country lager” just comes from JA roughly translating “Landbier.” When it came to figuring out the recipe for the beer, I believe they were mainly looking at German Spezial / Special beer or Festbier for their inspiration, but this was just inspiration rather than strict adherence. At 5.2% ABV, the end result seems to fall into the “Helles” ABV territory rather than Spezial… but JA considers it a stronger beer with a higher starting gravity than the typical German lager.

 

As to your first point, I am completely on board with the appreciation for the hoppy end of the helles range. That's why I really love the Traunsteiner, and was just a couple of days ago bemoaning the loss of HP's Edelhell in the US. In one sense, the rich malt and balance still puts them clearly in the Munich Helles camp, but there's just the right touch of prominent hops to really give some pop overall.

Regarding the House Lager, I specifically mentioned Benediktiner because at one point I did have both beers in the house at the same time, so it served as a sort of experiment to me to do the comparison. And for the same basic cost I just found the Benediktiner clearly preferable.

 

I know you didn't ask me, but just to add a data point, I like House Lager quite a lot and still liked Benediktiner even more.

I haven't had one since last fall but memory is that Benediktiner is indeed a bit crisper and less sweet.

 

For sure, plus it has a deeper malt profile as well.

 

Agree with both of you. Jack's Abby House Lager is sweeter, almost a little cloying when you drink a few in a row, with a fuller body. It would benefit from some additional hop bitterness to balance out the flavor, in my opinion. Benediktiner Festbier was lighter, drier, and easier to drink, yet had a very rich malt flavor. Easily the best Oktoberfest I had last year. I wrote a pretty glowing review of it.

 

That’s good to know about the House Lager. The way it’s priced and marketed, I always treated it as a premium pale lager for outdoor days on the lake - no wonder I couldn’t really drink one after another, it is simply too filling.

 

FWIW, those are two different Benediktiner beers, and I was originally referring to the year round Helles (or is it Hell?...). But that Festbier was definitely a very pleasant surprise last year, and the clear better of the two, imo.

 

Yeah, I brought a 15 pack with me on vacation over July 4th weekend last year. Enjoyed drinking it over the course of those 3-4 days but by the end I was definitely growing a little tired of it and needed to switch it up. It's a great value for what it is, just different than your typical Munich Helles. No complaints though.

Ah sorry... see that now. Probably haven't had the Hell in about a year or so but I do enjoy it, albeit not as much as the Festbier. You were the one who told me "one of the great things about Oktoberfest season isn't just drinking the old standbys, it's also about finding new favorites." I found mine last year!