Bürgerbräu Wolnzacher Hell Naturtrüb

Pours with a huge curtain of tiny bubbles and an extremely attractive deep, dark golden. Giant cream-colored head that lasts forever and a day. I was surprised to see a slight haze in the glass as helles is normally crystal clear. I was worried that my bottle was infected until I took my first whiff of its bready, malty wonderfulness. It turns out it’s just unfiltered which I think is a nice, creative touch on the part of the good people at Burgerbrau. This is truly a world class beer form the subtle grassy hints in the nose to light but full mouthfeel with its gentle cushion of carbonation. A brilliantly executed malt profile is rounded out by ever-so-slightly citric hops in the finish. At the moment, this gets my vote for the most criminally underrated brew on this site. I have never had a beer so elegantly understated, so drinkable, yet so divine.

It is with great anticipation that I approach this beer. My love of a great lager has been pushed to the back as I have made my mad pursuits for all of the mighty ales that rule this site. But here I sit ona cloudy early March Saturday afternoon with a freshly poured glass. It looks very lovely so things are starting out well. Hazy golden with a beautiful creamy white head that leaves wonderful sheets of lace behind. The aroma is a heady concotion of grassy hops, bready malts, some herbaliness and even some light dustiness. Divine. The flavor does not let down in any way. Perfectly assembled and balanced malt profile. The hops slide right along and are also very well-balanced. Some sweetness develops as it swirls about my mouth, then I swallow and little bite of assertive carbonation. As it washes down my throat a final little burst of grassy-bread bursts forth making me thirst for more. More people need to come to this beer with an open mind. Truly a world-class beer.

Rerate: In the big competition, this one won big. 4 Dort/Helles side by side, big glasses, me all smiley. The winners in super hoppy and softly malted Helles are this and Dominion. Original 10/15/02: I love great examples of this style, and this is surely one. Absolutley delicious balance of a lot of malt flavor with drippingly heavy hallertau. I just love it. Appearance and palate are perfect. Crisp, sweet, full of hay at harvest.

Beautiful unfiltered dark amber, full of bubbles. Huge foamy head. Aroma is malt and yeast, making you want to drink it. Tastes of hops and malt, pronounced yeast. Makes me think of an old Bavarian hoffbrau, with mustachioed men in leiderhosen, their huge tankards topped off from a barrel and clanked together, busty beermaids, and cuckoo clocks. Oh, hell. Just try it, it’s a really good beer.

Update: Must bump this one up a bit. The nose is tremendous Hallertauer. The malt is remarkably clean and flavorful. The best Helles I have ever tasted. Old: Compare the malt flavor with the big Munich breweries--where those tend more toward caramel, this malt is almost Belgian in its candy sweetness. Having had an Einbecker Pils right before it, I hesitate to say much about the hop character, as it might be a hangover from the Einbecker. Absolutely wonderful, on the whole. A revelation.