Sillamäe München Hele

Brewed by Sillamäe Õlletehas
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Sillamäe, Estonia

Serve in Lager glass

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50cl on tap at Krunk, Sillamäe. Clear golden with a white head. Malty aroma with fruits, honey and some floral notes. Hints of caramel too. Fairly sweet with a light almost citrusy bitterness in the finish. Medium body with a slightly soft carbonation. Quite nice, far better than the usual pale lagers here.

From keg to PET bottle (Elav Õlu in Laagri). Shiny golden body with a white rocky head. Fresh bready aroma with some honey and biscuits. Rich malty taste with some cookie dough. Sweetish finish with medium hops. Tasty and smooth. Good Helles. Perhaps the best Estonian lager?

Clean golden color, small white head. Malty aroma with some honey notes. Taste is sweet, lots of malt, some ,grain, honey and citrus, also a bit unpleasant notes of cardboard, dry and lightly bitter finish. Medium body and carbonation. Overall quite interesting and refreshing beer.

Hazy golden straw, filmy white head. Nose is slightly moldy-dusty malts, some sweetness, butter. Taste has a lot of malt, aforementioned barnyardy dust and mold, some honeyish notes. Discreet carbonation, somewhat oily mouthfeel. Not great.

(Draught at Põrgu, 20120704) The beer poured golden and almost clear. Its head was small and white. Aroma had malts and grain. Palate was quite light bodied with medium carbonation. Flavours were sweetness, malts, mildly caramell, grass and bitterness. Aftertaste was sweet and bitter. Way too sweet but clean enough.

Tap @Porgu. Clear golden color. No head, flat. Malty, yeast in aroma. Sweet, malty, honey in flavor.

Draught@Põrgu kõrts, Tallinn
Clear golden color, no head. Grainy, dusty aroma with some barnyard too. Light to medium-bodied. Grainy, cardboardish, barley flavor, a bit tart. Kind of unclean farmhouse impression. Not great at all.

UPDATED: AUG 12, 2012 Keg (Kassisaba, Tallinn) (4:2:4:2:6=1.8)
Amber, small head. Bugger all smell. Simple malty, slightly milky, taste. Drinkable, but dull. Not really nasty, but certainly a bit plasticky. Same keg as Gnoff’s, obviously we have different tastes.
Rerate: Keg (Ollesummer 2010, Tallinn) - shared by Mirjukka - thanks! (4:2:4:2:8=2.0)
SImple and milky, similar to last time, but a little fuller. Cranked overall from 6 to 8, as it’s not so feeble.
Rerate: Keg (P6rgu, Tallinn) (4:2:4:3:9=2.2)
Slightly mushroomy aroma, pretty bland. Pale gold, no head. Fairly lactic palate palate. Boring. Simple smooth palate. Finish a touch bready, but nothing worth raving over. Simply a malty lager, just a touch bready. Really don’t see what other people think is so great about this. 3 independent samples spaced years apart, and "not crap" is about as positive as I can be.
Rerate: Tap (P6rgu, Tallinn) (5:2:5+:3:11=2.6)
Finally - one that’s better than "not crap". Curious aroma, can’t quite describe, a fair amount of butter, similar to the Vaskne. Classic butterscotchy eastern european lager. Smooth body, again it’s diacetyl doing that, but hey, I don’t mind it, that’s a perfectly traditional byproduct of lager yeast fermentation. Fuller than any other time I remember it.

UPDATED: APR 14, 2009 Draught at Kassisaba, Tallinn, on April 10, 2009
Thanks to SaintMatty for your generosity!
Hazy golden color, small white head. Sweet, malty, buttery scent. Malty, dry, a bit fruity, grainy taste. Some herbs. Moussy mouthfeel, medium bitterness.

Draught at Kassisaba, Tallinn- Pale golden in colour with pale, white foamy head. Light bitterness with malt, a hint of citrus and apple in the aroma. Very easy to drink with malt and citrus in the taste. Nice and refreshing.