Bierstadt Lagerhaus Helles

Lovely aroma of bread crust, crackery-malt sweetness, honey roll, and spicy-zesty hops. Round, harmonious flavor, with softly sweet pilsner malt blended with a light but evident touch of spicy-grassy hop-bitterness; notes of lemon-lime and bitter herbs. Finishes clean, soft, and dry; zesty bitterness lingers. Crisp carbonation. Classic character. Addictive. Delicious.

“Brilliant copper color, good foam. Pleasant, mellow dark-bread notes, like pumpernickel drizzled with light honey, with some welcome if subtle herbal hops. Integrated flavor—light sweetness fully melds with a smooth, restrained bitterness, drying out beautifully, getting some lift from ample carbonation. Everything a good Oktoberfest should be.”

Aroma: “Hops, hops, and more hops! Grapefruit, tangerine, lemon, piney, dank. Heavy on the pine; you’d think they rung out lumberjack sweat directly into this beer. Underlying chocolatey, roasty malt hiding between hops bales.” Flavor: “Resinous and citrusy hops (with some strawberry and peach notes) are still dominant, but they are balanced nicely with some nice sweet malt notes. Some toast and roast. Moderately low sweetness and moderately high bitterness. Dry finish. The malt bill definitely plays a supporting role to the hops in this one. The hops flavors morph between fresh pine and East Denver grow-house dankness, but given the touch of toasted character, both work well.” Overall: “Big hops character with fairly low malt character. Making American Brown Ales great again, one bushel of hops at a time. A wonderful sendoff and reinterpretation of the American Brown, with an aggressive and reimagined hops profile. A hoppy brown IPA, if that were possible.”