Beer Review [3]: Helles Belles Helles Lager from Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon
Hell's Bells! It's Helles Belles! A light lager from a brewery where I live. Come on in and enjoy a hyper-local brew on Beer Saturday!
A New Beer
Helles Belles has only been available since 2016, when Ninkasi Brewing added it to their year-round lineup. With a name like Helles Belles and that label, I've wanted to try this beer for awhile. I should have read the label a little closer. And done my beer research beforehand! I'm not saying this is a bad beer - I'm saying it's a specific kind of beer. Let's take a look!
A Munich Helles Lager
Helles Belles is a Munich-style Helles Lager. So it's not meant to have the strong flavors of an ale. It's supposed to be light in flavor and color. As one of the Ninkasi brewers said to our local newspaper, about lagers,
their delicate flavors leave nothing for a brewer to hide behind.
The marketing line for Helles Belles is "A beer for the masses". Ninkasi likes to define their beers using music - and they say this beer is straight up rock and roll. They even have a music playlist to go with this beer on their website! Listen to that playlist and you'll know what to expect from this light lager! While I'm laying out the beer details, see if you can put the clues together about what this beer is like.
Details
Helles Belles is brewed in a traditional style with just malts, hops, yeast, and water. The brewing uses German Hallertau Herkules and Hallertauer Mittelfrueh hops, along with some US Hallertau.
How's It Taste?
I chose this beer to go with a salad that I made for the Steemit Iron Chef contest run by @progressivechef. The salad is salty, smoky, peppery, and just a little sweet from some Gingko biloba nuts that I foraged. It calls out for a beer! Did I choose right? Have you guessed what this Helles Belles beer is like?
It turns out -- this is a beer for drinkin'. A lot, without considering the beer. Just drink. Turn up the music, party on, and drink. Frothy head? Not really, and it doesn't last long. That would get in the way of the drinkin'. It doesn't have much body or deep flavor. It's a super simple beer - don't let the flavor or appreciation of any complexity get in the way of the drinkin'! Bottom line? It tastes like Coors to me.
I'm not saying it's a bad beer. There are many worse beers out there. I'm just saying it's not my style of beer. I'm sure it will taste better as a summer brew, when it's 100F out there, and I can serve this super cold. That's when and how my grandmother enjoyed her half-glass of Busch -- another light lager for the masses --when she was in her 90s.
Winners of Last Week's Contest
Last week, I had a joke contest in my review of another Oregon beer, Session Premium Lager from Full Sail Brewing. I wanted a joke about loggers and lagers. Thanks to folks that contributed their humor! There was a tie for the 1 SBD prize! So I've sent 1 SBD to @improv for the logger-lager jokes with zombies and to @ddschteinn for the timber faller-logger-lager joke. It takes a forester to make that joke! I'll have more contests in future Beer Saturday posts, too - so stay tuned!
What Do You Think?
- Have you ever had a Ninkasi Helles Belles Helles Lager?
- Have you seen any Ninkasi beer in your local stores?
- Do you like Coors?
- What's your favorite style of beer?
My other beer reviews: Session Premium Lager // Pray for Snow Winter Ale
According to Untappd, I have not had this beer (but I'm not very diligent about logging all of my beers). However, I must've tried it because the name seems so very familiar. I think I'll have to pick up a bottle and give it a try.
Cheers and thanks for the great review! 🍻
Glad you enjoyed my Helles Belles review. I'd be interested in your review. My beer palate is more experienced than trained! I think Ninkasi is a pretty big regional brewery these days, so it should be available in most West Coast places that feature good beer selections. Cheers!
Yeah I can get it around here. Though I am on their press list ... 🤔🍺
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Thanks, @beverages! Cheers!
I am not a bear drinker but I love reading your reviews! I'll sip my wine, and enjoy your beer through your words!😃
Thanks so much, @melinda010100! It's a fun challenge to make each beer its own little story. So I'm glad to hear they are worth reading! Enjoy your wine! :D
I have had a few different ninkasi beers but never that one. I typically drink lagers and pilsners so I am going to have to give that a try. I'm sure you have sampled some of the double mountain selections from hood river... One of my favorites is their kolsch.
You're so nice for commenting on this post. For that, I gave you a vote! I just ask for a Follow in return!
Ninkasi has really become quite an enterprise in just a decade. And they have sure been good for Eugene and the neighborhood it's in. I have never had any Double Mountain brews. I haven't seen any at the places I get my beer. So I'll have to stretch out, lol. Thanks for the suggestion -- for their Kolsch, in particular!
I would love to try an American version of helles, since I quite like German ones. Especially Augustiner Helles which I strongly recommend. I wonder how much different it is German stuff as Americans often change couple of things.
That would be a good side by side comparison indeed!
Sometimes, you'll even have very similar ingredients (sourced from Germany) but the American version still isn't quite the same.
I think it may be technology related. The best pilsners I have drunk are often brewed into perfection for more than 100 years. On the other hand, I am usually quite impressed by American pilsners made with American hops.
Wow! That's a long time, indeed, to perfect a brew! Ninkasi Brewing only started in 2006, so they have a long way to go! But they can get a lot of hops pretty local. Oregon is a big state for growing hops. There are some big hop farms about an hour's drive from me. They are impressive operations.
Do you do a lot of your reviews as side-by-side flights of one type of beer? I can see how that would lead to some good comparisons. I just have my beer with dinner or lunch, lol. Do you find much variation in the same beer from a brewery over time, made from different batches? It's nice to have a professional beer reviewer here on Steemit!
No, I almost never do comparative reviews. I usually drink multiple styles at one sitting. The only exception is Christmas when I tend to drink imperial porters and stouts, but I rarely write any reviews over Christmas. When it comes to different batches and differences, well yes, there are some. Apparently, it is really difficult to maintain the quality of the beer. The problem appears, especially among small breweries. Larger ones tend to have more even quality.
Thanks! I had a beer from a small brewery this weekend. One from the bottle and one on draft at their place. They both tasted good, but the bottled beer was so carbonated. It foamed out of the bottle for a good 20 minutes, lol. I think I'll have to give them another try and hope for better!
Your seasonality of beers is interesting, too, with your "Christmas beers". Cheers!
I haven't done any write-ups on side by side beer reviews. The closest that I'm planning is a comparions of Chimary Red, White, & Blue from 2011 vs. fresh bottles. I'll post it here when it's done.
Certain beers will change over time and it's usually due to ingredients. However, others like North Coast Brewing Scrimshaw has not changed in years and the brewer is proud that the sensory analysis has been the exact same for decades.
I'm not at that level but maybe with some BJCP classes I could get there.
Thanks. I guess side by side reviews would focus too much on comparison. When we should appreciate each beer on its own merits. Beer teaches a life lesson, lol! Your comparison over time does sound interesting, though. I will try not to compare my own 2011 self with my 2018 self, though! I may not age as well as your beers! ; )
haha, you've got another one for me to look for, in an import, @gensek! This Helles Belles Helles uses some German hops, but they put some American hops in there, too. It would be a fun comparison, for sure! Cheers!
Im not a beer fan unless it have "aditional flavor" like frambuoise, chocolate or stuff like that
I'll have to find one with some flavors in it! I think I have a Chocolate Porter waiting for me somewhere! ; )
What a deception! I was starting to get super enthusiastic about that Helles Belles, the designer of the label really went all-in in creativity. I do like it when they make playfull labels, and not such boring uptight stuff. This bottle is encouraging.
...and then he said it tastes like Coors.....
Crawl back into cave disappointed
Yep. That's what happened to me! The label, the brewery, the good taste of their other beers. But the hints were all there, on the label. Once I looked past how nice the label looked.
Good photos of the beer. I also like its label, especially the swallows flying around - great idea! ;)
Thanks, @tangmo! Some of these beer labels really have nice art on them. There's lots of symbolism sometimes, too. I like the swallows the best, too! : )
You're welcome! I learned a lot from you about those beer labels! ;)
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