Munich Helles
Munich is the capital city of Bavaria. It is the third largest state in the country of Germany.
The word “munich” is derived from an old German word munchen, which means monk. Munich is one of three cities with this classification. Munich’s coat of arms has a monk on it.
Where there is a monk, there is beer.
Helles is pronounced hell-es. It is German for bright.
The term Munich Helles refers to a very light German lager. It is the lightest beer in color and ABV, for it’s style classification. There are some who say that it was created to offer a lighter version of Munich Dunkel, which is a dark lager. There are others that say that the beer was designed to compete with the Pilsner-style beers. Perhaps it was developed to offer a different version of a similar product much like we do in product placement today.
This beer was designed as an alternative to the Pilsner and not the American Pilsner. For that reason, we will find a very different beer. This beer is brewed to the German Purity Law.
Ingredients play a very distinctive part in the final product. First of all there are no adjuncts. No rice or corn to lighten the flavor, color or ABV. Yet is it a remarkably light beer. The alcohol content is generally less than 5.5%. The lager yeast used in the beer attenuates to make it a very dry beer for the amount of grain in the malt bill.
The malt profile is not hiding behind rice or corn so you can expect to enjoy a clean, sweet, malty aroma with no diacetyl or very low notes of DMS and no fruity esters.
Secondly, another attribute you can expect to find in Munich Helles that you won’t get in an American Lager is foam. The Helles has a thick, white tall stand of foam when poured.
Thirdly, in addition to the malt bill being entirely malted barley, you can expect to find a lot of hop flavor in this style. You will not find this in an American Lager. The IBU in this “bright” beer is a whopping 16-22. It is for the style on of the hoppier beers. It is right up there with the American Pale ale.
What really makes the hop profile for this beer style pop is the fact that the water in Munich is high in carbonates. The carbonates in the water really pull out the alpha acids from the hops and rather than soften the acids.
The mouth feel for this beer may be harsher than what one might expect due to the high carbonate is the water. If you think you are experiencing any astringency it may be more an attribute of the hop bitterness. Astringency is very seldom a quality in any beer.. This style typically has medium carbonation and medium body which accentuates the malt profile of the beer.
There are several breweries in the Northern California area that submitted their fine beer as a Helles Bock. These are not to be mistaken as a Munich Helles. The Munich Helles was in response to the Pilsner craze and Bocks are not Pilsners. It is a good example of creating a light version of a beer. This was the incentive for designing the style.
So for sporting purpose I will mention the breweries.
Blue Frog Grogg and Grille- Fairfield
River City Brewing Co.- Sacramento
Brew It Up- Sacramento
Sierra Nevada- Chico
Munich is the capital city of Bavaria. It is the third largest state in the country of Germany.
The word “munich” is derived from an old German word munchen, which means monk. Munich is one of three cities with this classification. Munich’s coat of arms has a monk on it.
Where there is a monk, there is beer.
Helles is pronounced hell-es. It is German for bright.
The term Munich Helles refers to a very light German lager. It is the lightest beer in color and ABV, for it’s style classification. There are some who say that it was created to offer a lighter version of Munich Dunkel, which is a dark lager. There are others that say that the beer was designed to compete with the Pilsner-style beers. Perhaps it was developed to offer a different version of a similar product much like we do in product placement today.
This beer was designed as an alternative to the Pilsner and not the American Pilsner. For that reason, we will find a very different beer. This beer is brewed to the German Purity Law.
Ingredients play a very distinctive part in the final product. First of all there are no adjuncts. No rice or corn to lighten the flavor, color or ABV. Yet is it a remarkably light beer. The alcohol content is generally less than 5.5%. The lager yeast used in the beer attenuates to make it a very dry beer for the amount of grain in the malt bill.
The malt profile is not hiding behind rice or corn so you can expect to enjoy a clean, sweet, malty aroma with no diacetyl or very low notes of DMS and no fruity esters.
Secondly, another attribute you can expect to find in Munich Helles that you won’t get in an American Lager is foam. The Helles has a thick, white tall stand of foam when poured.
Thirdly, in addition to the malt bill being entirely malted barley, you can expect to find a lot of hop flavor in this style. You will not find this in an American Lager. The IBU in this “bright” beer is a whopping 16-22. It is for the style on of the hoppier beers. It is right up there with the American Pale ale.
What really makes the hop profile for this beer style pop is the fact that the water in Munich is high in carbonates. The carbonates in the water really pull out the alpha acids from the hops and rather than soften the acids.
The mouth feel for this beer may be harsher than what one might expect due to the high carbonate is the water. If you think you are experiencing any astringency it may be more an attribute of the hop bitterness. Astringency is very seldom a quality in any beer.. This style typically has medium carbonation and medium body which accentuates the malt profile of the beer.
There are several breweries in the Northern California area that submitted their fine beer as a Helles Bock. These are not to be mistaken as a Munich Helles. The Munich Helles was in response to the Pilsner craze and Bocks are not Pilsners. It is a good example of creating a light version of a beer. This was the incentive for designing the style.
So for sporting purpose I will mention the breweries.
Blue Frog Grogg and Grille- Fairfield
River City Brewing Co.- Sacramento
Brew It Up- Sacramento
Sierra Nevada- Chico
I will add that Gordon Biersch does make a Munich Helles. However, their beer was not submitted for competition.
Munich Helles is a lager and should be served cold. Due to the high hopping rate of the beer, it will go great with salads with a lot of bitter greens. Curly endive, escarole, radicchio, arugula, and dandelion make are great bitter salad greens. Hey, it’s summer! Need another excuse to drink beer and eat your greens?
Munich Helles is a lager and should be served cold. Due to the high hopping rate of the beer, it will go great with salads with a lot of bitter greens. Curly endive, escarole, radicchio, arugula, and dandelion make are great bitter salad greens. Hey, it’s summer! Need another excuse to drink beer and eat your greens?
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