I enjoyed the Andechs Festbier so much I thought I’d jump back in with their Helles Lager this month.
Helles Lager is a classic German style, with Munich credited as the centre for this style though it was popular throughout the wider southern regions of Germany. The word ‘helles’ translates as ‘pale’ or ‘light’ and comes from the appearance of the beer being a pale lager.
The beer has a bready malt body with just a little malt sweetness. Noble hops are used for bittering resulting a low level of bitterness, less than there is say for a pilsner. They are made for easy drinking, with an alcohol content that lends itself to having stein after stein.
So now that you know what this beer should be like, what do we think of the Andechs Hell?
I think it is delicious, thirst-quenching but with enough flavour to keep things interesting and just so easy to drink. It ticks all the boxes it should, it’s almost like after a few centuries these German monasteries know what they are doing!
A helles style lager using Hallertauer Mittelfruh and Tradition hops
The 'Festbier' from the Andechs Monaster brewery
