Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier

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

50cl bottle at home: Brilliantly clear crisp gold brew with a small bubbly white head. Beautiful malt aroma with a dose of smoked malt. Some baked apples and honey hang out adding some bright sweetness. Very smooth low smokiness. A light noble hop character can be swirled up to break up the apples and malt. A touch of winter spices as the beer sits. If you really swirl up the beer you can get some bacon notes. Once tasted the light malt (pils) and smooth smoke struggle with eachother for dominance, resulting in a beautiful dance. As these two fight it out, earthy hops start to crowd around and eventually over take the two dancers. Quite a nice sequence of events. Medium mouthfeel running to light at the end. Nice and dry. Great smooth smokines that never seems oppressive. While the end isn’t as intriguing as the beginning, this is still a very well put together beer... and I am not a big fan of smoked beers.

Bottle. Light fruit and smoked aroma. Golden color with a white head. Nice full malt body with a hint of smoke and fruit. Nice smooth palate. Nice!

PPWD Show. Weird smoky lager. Strange because of the hints of smoke in the nose as well as in the flavor. Not bad but not something that I experienced before. I believe that this would definitely be an acquired taste and perhaps not one that I will acquire. If however I have a great big plate of smoked sausage I think this would compliment perfectly. Cigar dinner, smoked sausage, sauerkraut, and the Helles lagerbier. Count me in.

Bottle at the Hessen Haus Des Moines Iowa. I was a little scared about freshness with this one since the smoke is supposed to be subtle and beers like this don’t sell in Des Moines. I must have gotten a fairly new bottle. (from napkin notes) Pours a nice golden color with plenty of fluffy white head and a little bit of lace. The aroma is mild but has a good grainy mildly hoppy aroma that has just fleeting whiffs of smoke. The beer has a pronounced smoky flavor, it’s very dry and lightly hoppy with a bright malty character. I was surprised at how dry this one is, there need to be more Heller biers like this.

Bottle @ The Flying Saucer. Sweet pils malt and smoke in the aroma and flavor. The smoke is subtle for smoked beers, but about perfect for this style. The smoke flavor integrates well into every aspect of the beer. This would be good for an initial foray into smoked beers.

Bottle at Novare Res. This pours a golden yellow color. The aroma is pretty dominated by smokiness and some sweet malt. The flavor is really nice, it’s like a nice clear lager flavor but with that rauchbier smoke flavor. I like this beer quite a bit!

Pours a golden yellow color with minimal head. Aroma is of grassy wheat. Taste does feel like a lager passed through a smoked filter. Just a touch of the smoked note. Sessionable.

Bottle. Clear golden colour with a medium white head. Malty bit smokey aroma. Malty pilsner like taste with hints of smoke. Pleasant and easy to drink smoked.