Aecht Schlenkerla Helles Lagerbier

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

Clear golden, fluffy disappearing white head. Unobtrusive smoke aroma with a nice balance. Dominating smoke flavor with some hoppy notes. Mild, easy and well balanced. I like it!

I’m filled with nothing but regret and utter compunction for never having reviewed anything at all from the Schlenkerla Smoke Inhalation Series. I’ll get right on that. Let’s start off with the Helles Lagerbier! Appearance: Lightly hazy, pale copper body with a foamy, frothy, white head. Smell: Sweetish honey and toffee maltiness with only a background, though still obviously present note of smoke. Taste: Sweet maltiness, perhaps a pinch of crisp pilsner malt, along with flavors of toffee and clover honey. Hint of biscuits, maybe a bit of ripe peach fruitiness. Mild, spicy hops and bitterness along with the very restrained smoke character assist to balance the sweetness. Finishes crisp with a remaining light blend of smoke and sweetness. Mouthfeel: Medium-thin body. Medium-low carbonation. Drinkability: Well, that really was a breath of fresh air! Schlenkerla lite, I dare say. Overall, highly drinkable and a very good way to casually introduce yourself to Schlenkerla’s wares.

Pours to a watery golden body with champagne bubbles and a decently thick frothy white head. The aroma is quite smokey. Odd that they don’t use smoked malts, it surely picks up a lot of the smoke aroma. Smoked andouille sausage, floral rose hops, very unique. I can’t detach my nose from the glass. The flavor is light floral hops, perhaps lavendar and tea leaves, corn-like sweet malt, light smoke. The palate is surprisingly not too thin. Very easy to drink.

Sampled at the RBPG; bottle courtesy of yinzer. The aroma of this particular beer from this brewery is perfectly described by two words: smoked honey. Pours clear golden with a thin white head. Medium bodied with light carbonation. This is a fairly simple lager, with a dry light maltiness that’s not really complex. Unlike some of the other beers from this line, the smoked meat taste is not overpowering, but rather you’re left with some smoky honey notes. It’s light, tasty, and in no way overpowering when compared to the others. A bit thin, but nice.

Smellls very smoky. Taste is like a piece of smoked ham. Really nice. I think I like the smoked lagers best, maybe even more than the smoked porters.

Light nose, yelllow color, low large-bubble head. Looks and smells average, but the taste is a nice surprise: clear smoke flavor a la Schlenkerla. Not so strong as in their Rauchbier, but a similar type of taste. What a great idea: a light helles with some smokey, peaty flavors. Light body, really smooth.

500ml bottle, Stateline Liquors. Pours a mostly clear pale yellow body with a slight yeast haze. Small very fizzy head with minimal retention, bright white in color. Aroma is that beautiful campfire and smoked meat scent of an authentic Schlenkerla Smoke beer. Below lays some bready malt and light hay. The smoke is still in the forefront of the flavor, but a little lighter than the Marzen and Urbbock beers. Kind of an unusual style to be smoked, the more I drank, the more the Helles flavor became apparent. Lots of hay and doughy malt and a little hoppy bitterness on the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with a moderate level of fizzy carbonation. Nice full round texture. Pretty darn good, but not my favorite from them. You really can’t beat these guys for Smoke beers, at least those that are available here in USA that is.

Bottle sample at Union Beer Trade Tasting, NYC. Light golden with a small white head. Aroma is an interesting blend of fresh lager - bready malt, grassy hops - and well-balanced smoke. Flavour is nice and fresh as well, with a good maltiness to balance the smoke, and some hops hitting the back of the tongue. Not as killer as the Marzen, but a nice diversion - I could imagine this as a good session beer, actually.