Point me to some Colorado available Helles Lagers - bottle/cans

I think pug ryans cans one.

 

Not in bottles/cans, but available in growlers are Prost's Maibock and Copper Kettle Helles, not sure about right now or not. Also Grimm Brothers Maiden's Kiss

 

I had a bad experience with the packaging on the Pug Ryan's cans, so just heads up. Hofbrau Original and Paulaner Original are both pretty widely available, especially at larger stores, but I can't say they would be especially good to drink. Maybe you'd have a better experience than I recently did with Hofbrau.

Not really a good Colorado option in packaged form, which just means Tivoli needs to get to packing.

 

If you can ever find Mahr's Hell it's amazing. Paulaner Original and Hacker-Pschorr Munich Gold are tasty, the bottles are dated, and the bottles are brown. The dates are 1-year from when they were bottled, FYI. Hofbrau is better than either of them when fresh, but those green bottles don't do it any favors. Ditto with the Spaten one, although sometimes you'll see it in paper-covered 12-packs. I think we still get Lowenbrau original out here. If we do, it's the sweetest of the bunch from Munich. Augustiner Edelstoff is godlike when fresh, but our imports taste like the business end of the skunk out here.
Weihenstephaner Original has been another one I've been scared of. It's fresh most of the time, but I've gotten some skunk bombs over the years. If you buy it, make sure it's from a store that doesn't leave their lagers on the shelf too long.
Ironically, a great one also comes from 3 Fonteinen in Belgium - Beersel. It's a Franconian-style lagerbier hell. I know a few stores used to carry it. If you ever see those squat little bottles, they're worth buying for sure.

Locally, Prost/Tivoli is the best without question. Copper Kettle's is also really good and they've really dialed it in lately. Lone Tree's is also good. Unfortunately none of those are packaged. I'm not sure I'd trust any of the ones that are. I'd err on the side of caution and get LH Polestar, Backcountry Pils, or Grimm 3 Golden Hairs. Those are all pilsners, but none are particularly super dry.

 

Tacking on to what Domingo added there at the end, Nomad from Great Divide might be a reasonable substitute. It's a Bohemian Pilsner in name, but the malt profile is going to be closer to Helles than Pils-style beers.

 

I had a sixer of that Augustiner Edelstoff from diVino on South Broadway (near where Former Future is going in) and thought it was great. But it was around $15 a six IIRC. Definitely not skunked but can't speak to the freshness, but if this was subpar from age or handling in transit, then I've definitely got to get to Munich in my lifetime...

 

I've had fresh bottles of it here...but oddly enough they came from a trade I made to the east coast back before we started getting it here. I've bought 2 six-packs out here and both were pretty horrid. Hopefully that's no longer the case, because it really is great stuff. I might have to give it one more try. The last times I've had it were vom fass at the Augustiner Grossgastatte.
In Munich, Augustiner's beers are the local favorites. Their normal Lagerbier Hell is the top seller and Edelstoff (the Export) isn't too far behind. The normal hell isn't exported for some reason, although we do get their doppelbock. Sadly, it's nothing special.

 

Those (luckily) aren't Czech style pilsners...although Nomad claims to be and is probably the closest of them. Those are more German-style (give or take) pilsners and you shouldn't get any diacetyl or soft texture from any of 'em. I honestly don't care for most Czech pilsners, but I like the German versions.

 

Just try the Pug Ryan's. I haven't had the helles, but I got a 6er of the dunkel, and it was pretty good (maybe I was lucky with the cans). I'm sure that germophiles would quibble about the authenticity of the dunkel, but it was a tasty beer.

I got a bottle of Hofbrau about a year ago, and I can still smell that flaming piece of shit.

 

There are some pretty good ones from this state, but man, they just don't sell well when they hit the shelf. Kind of a shame really.

 

Everyone should!!!

 

Paulaner put their Wiesn out in six packs this year... do NOT believe reviews that call it a marzen... cause it ain't.
It's definitely more of a Helles... and a delicious one at that.
It's the beer that they only did in the big cans the past couple of years.