Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier

Brewed by Brauerei Heller
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Bamberg, Bayern, Germany

Typical heller/pils appearance. Faint smokiness in the aroma. The taste is quite sweet but theres just enough noble hop taste to balance it. the smokiness isnt really present until the aftertaste. somewhat disappointing the hints of smoke add some complexity but i would have liked more. should be classified as a helles not a smoked.

Bottle (cellphone rating). Light golden with a white head. Grainy aroma of malt, smoke and a light sweetness. Flavour follows up completely on aroma with a light bitter finish.

8/06/2009: Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier... Aroma: Fruity lager and lightly sweet cereal grains paired with a delicate campfire smokiness. Appearance: Dusty golden color, cloudy; white foamy head; extremely vigorous torrents of carbonation that actively stirs the beer around the glass; the extremely fine carbonation bubbles sparkle in the lacing as it slowly slides down the glass. Flavor: Lots of good, deep campfire smoke and some suggestions of smoked meatiness that both permeate the fruity lager, biscuity malt, and crisp grassy hoppiness of the base beer; mild bitterness. Palate: Light to medium-light body, soft mouthfeel, creamy texture. Overall: This is just one of those beers that is simply fantastic for what it is. Low alcohol, but very flavorful and different... I could drink this stuff non-stop for days, weeks, maybe even months on end and never get sick of it. I could always use more of that great Schlenkerla smokiness that I love so much, but for what this beer is and how they make it (no smoked malt, they just brew a lager and using their equipment and the beer picks up the residual smoke from equipment!), it’s just right. Drinking this beer is really making me crave a Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Märzen!

1 pint .9 fl. oz. bottle (4.3% Alc./Vol.) from The Party Source in Bellevue, Kentucky. Rating #417 for this beer.

BOTTLE: clear yellow pour, thinnish body. Wet grain / must on the nose, mild smoke in the taste. Not great, but its okay.

Gold with a fast diminishing white head. Cereal aroma with a hint of distant autumnal bonfire. Salty smoked bacon taste with a less than pleasing metallic undertone. Some bitterness.

Bottle into snifter. Really pale yellow with descent white head that holds alright. The schlenkerla beers are just a bit too meaty smokey for me, and this is their lightest smoked. The flavor is the same. Like filling a bong with a pale lager, smoking a couple of bowls of dried beef jerky through the bong, then pouring the beer from the bong into my snifter. Light with medium to minimal carbonation. Smooth and easygoing. Overall: good, smokey, but just not my style really.

Golden color, big white head. Aroma is mostly hops and soggy grains. Similar flavor. I’m not getting any smoke flavor. Tastes like a pretty standard German helles, which in my opinion, isn’t that good.

2009 Bottle - Pours almost clear pale yellow with a medium white head...aroma is light smoke and grass...flavour is slightly acrid smokey bitterness, typical lager skunk grain, with a lingering roasty bitterness...