Helles

Helles is a style of beer that comes from Germany and the word Helles loosely translates as “light”. This name relates to the colour of the beer rather than the body or calories in it. Helles (pronounced “Hell-us”) is a basic everyday German lager. Helles came about from a fear among German brewers in Munich that the increasingly popular Pilsner beer brewed in Bohemia would gain more headway in Germany.

The Helles style is most commonly between 4.7% and 5.4% alcohol by volume and is of course a pale golden or straw coloured lager. The hop bitterness is very low in particular because of the high carbonate water in Munich creating harsh bitterness with the hops. This makes helles a subtle malty lager in comparison to a beer like Pilsner. Hop aroma is often moderate and is almost always a German noble hop variety.

IBUs: 16 – 22
SRM: 3 – 5
OG: 1.045 – 1.051
FG: 1.005 – 1.012
ABV: 4.7 – 5.4%