Serve in a willi becher at 5-8 °C
What it tastes like
Helles means pale or light, and Munich brewers created it in the 1890s to answer the pilsners coming in from Bohemia. Where pilsner leads with hops, helles leads with malt. The first sip is soft fresh bread, a little grainy sweetness and maybe a touch of honey. Noble hops are present only as a light floral or herbal note, and the bitterness is just enough to keep the beer from tasting sweet.
Munich water is moderately hard with carbonate, which favours malt and makes a heavily hopped beer taste harsh. That is part of why the city's brewers went soft and malty. Good helles is lagered cold for weeks until it is brilliantly clear and very smooth.
It looks simple and is not. With low bitterness and pale malt there is no cover for faults: sulphur, a trace of diacetyl or a stale note from old malt will show. The best ones taste like good bread in liquid form, and they are meant to be drunk by the litre in a beer garden.
Style profile
- Look
- Pale to medium gold, brilliantly clear, with a creamy white head.
- Aroma and flavour
- Fresh bread, grain and light honey from pilsner malt, a low floral or herbal noble hop note and a very clean lager yeast.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium-light to medium body, medium carbonation, a smooth palate and a soft, clean finish.
- Ingredients
- German pilsner malt, sometimes a little Munich malt, German noble hops such as Hallertau or Tettnang, a clean lager yeast and moderate water.
In India
Helles is one of the best lagers for Indian food and our climate. It is light and refreshing without the sharp bitterness that clashes with chilli, and its malt flavour lasts in the cold chain better than a hoppy pilsner's aroma. You will find helles on some Indian tap lists, usually at brewers who take the time to lager properly. It works for a long summer afternoon, a Ganesh Chaturthi lunch or a wedding bar.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Hyderabadi chicken biryaniSoft bread malt meets the fragrant rice and the low bitterness leaves the saffron and fried onion alone.
- Vegetable KolhapuriThe malt sweetness takes the edge off the fiery gravy without dulling it.
- Kerala beef fryA clean, cold lager cuts the coconut slivers and black pepper.
- JalebiLight honey malt and a clean finish keep the syrupy sweet from feeling too heavy.
Brewed in India
- Helles Lager, Great State Aleworks source
Want the long read? Munich Helles