Absacker Helles Lager

 Apparently Absacker is the German word for a nightcap, but despite that late night etymology, I enjoyed an early evening can of Absacker Helles Lager. Brewed in Toronto at Great Lakes Brewery, Absacker is a 5% pale lager brewed in conjunction with Brauerei Rittmayer in Hallendorf, Germany. The beer is sold in 355mL cans. It possesses a clear, straw gold colour and pours with a thin layer of bright white suds.

Absacker has a lovely grain and malt aroma reminiscent of baking bread. The flavour kicks off sweet and malty, and those elements remain throughout, though the back end is accented with a lilt of floral hops.

Light and sweet, with subtle a flavour, Absacker is a well-executed helles. I bought eight and I’m glad I did, because they kept me happy during a late-summer heatwave. Just too sweet, but otherwise grand.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Good Clean Fun

 Good Clean Fun, from Toronto’s Indie Alehouse, is a 4.8% helles lager. Sold in 355mL cans emblazoned with a slingshot, GCF is a slightly hazy golden lager with a disc of white suds.

The beer has fresh, grainy aromatics with some sweet grassiness and a dry hops. GCF has a mild, but pleasant flavour—sweet, initially, with a faint floral bitterness around back. Grassy, with a soft texture, GCF is definitely session-friendly.

Not a bad little helles, Good Clean Fun is light and tasty, but I’d have liked a bit less sweetness.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Ibushi Godspeed Style Helles Lagerbier

 A clean pale lager from Toronto, Ibushi Godspeed Style Helles Lagerbier is a 4.5% brew that comes in 355mL cans. Created by the team at Godspeed Brewery, Ibushi is a clear and effervescent golden lager with durable white suds.

The beer has a fairly spicy noble hop nose, with lots of graininess and a slight metallic quality. For a low alcohol lager, Ibushi has a pretty robust flavour—dry and grainy with a bit of sweetness and respectable noble hop bitterness, alongside a notable touch of wood smoke. My complaint with this lager is its thinness—the texture is not as crisp or crispy as I’d have liked it to be.

Ibushi has great flavour, but it’s hampered by the wispy texture. A nice enough little lager, but not up to the standard of a brewery responsible for other magnificent lagers.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager

 

Crispy Forever! Double Dry-Hopped Helles Lager comes from Guelph, Ontario and the Wellington Brewery. Sold in 473mL cans, the 4.5%, 20 IBU lager has a hazy, dull gold appearance and some off white suds.

CF has a rich, perfume-y fragrance, with some sticky hops elements. The flavour kicks off sweetly, with hay, cereal, and corn notes, before a substantial floral hops heel turn.

This a lovely, sweet-to-hops Helles lager. It’s an even better than solid offering from one of Ontario’s most venerable and reliable breweries, and an exciting dry-hopped take on Wellington’s already quite good Helles lager.

Rating: 8.5 out of 10.

Hümber Helles

On a chilly December Sunday afternoon, a cheery little lager is just what the doctor ordered. Enter Hümber Helles, a Helles lager from Toronto’s Great Lakes Brewery. The 4.8%, 12 IBU pale lager is sunny-hued and brightly carbonated, with a modest crown of white suds. The beer is sold in 473mL cans.

Hümber has sweet hay and grain aromatics. Behind a mellow mouthfeel, it has a sweet and grassy flavour with just a speck of bitterness evident at the back end.

Hümber Helles Lager is fairly enjoyable; however, it’s too sweet and that affects the crispness negatively, making the beer a little less refreshing than I’d have wanted it to be.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Beau’s Helles

Beau’s Helles has, what in my estimation at least, is the single best 473mL can in the province of Ontario. It’s styled to look like a classic cassette-driven boom box, and I love it. The beer inside comes from Vankleek Hill, Ontario, where it’s brewed to 5% by Beau’s Brewing Co. The pale lager is a clear gold, streaked with raucous carbonation and capped with white foam.

Sweet cereal grain kicks off the nose, which also possesses toasty elements and a slight bitter charge. The flavour is toasty and grainy initially, before drifting into dry, bitter territory for a short-lived finish.

Crisp and crunchy, dry and grainy, Beau’s Helles is a refreshing, summery lager with little to complain about. Sure, it doesn’t distinguish itself from some of Ontario’s excellent Helles Lagers (looking at you Waterloo Helles and Muddy York Gaslight), but it does its job quite well and it looks good doing it.

Rating: 8.0 out of 10.

Mountain Lager

Collingwood, Ontario is the fount of Mountain Lager, a 4.7% alcohol Munich-style helles. During the first round of March Madness in 2019, I needed something crisp with session-friendly stats, so I reached for a 473mL can of this clear, golden lager from Side Launch Brewing Company.

Mountain Lager has a mild, approachable nose built around cereal and grass notes, with a noble hop undercarriage. It has a crisp, thirst quenching mouthfeel, a grainy, dry flavour, and a style-appropriate floral hop finish.

Mountain Lager is a refreshing and flavourful take on the helles lager. It marries crisp and flavourful in a tasty union. I wouldn’t whine if they upped the percentage to 5, but that’s a pretty minor gripe about an otherwise well-made lager.

Rating; 8.5 out of 10.

Bristol Helle Raiser Beer

Like my great friend R.E.A., Bristol Helle Raiser Beer comes from Bristol, Virginia, so I was intrigued when a sixer of 12oz cans showed up at my door. The beer is a 4.8% number sold as a “Munich Helles Style Lager”. It’s a clear golden lager with a thin layer of off-white head that fades pretty quickly. The beer comes from Bristol Station Brews & Taproom.

BHRB has a rich, grainy nose. For flavour, has loads of malty grain and finishes with dusty dry hops. Along the way, there is some cereal and corn sweetness.

As an alternative to macro lagers, I thought Bristol’s BHRB was a pretty solid response. It’s too sweet by a tick and not quite strong enough, but it blows the typical American macro pale lager out of the water. I’d have liked more emphasis on a crisp finish, but it still tasted decent.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Gaslight Helles Lager

June is grilling season, and that means pale lagers are in my fridge more than at any other time of the year. On a Wednesday night, I found myself home alone and contemplating BBQing yellow summer squash, a daunting task I’d never before undertaken (turns out it’s easy and tasty as hell. To fortify myself for this culinary endeavour, I reached for a 473mL can of Gaslight Helles Lager, a 5.4% alcohol, 18 IBU brew from Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing Co.

This pale lager was yellow gold, clear, and topped with a cottony white head. It had a fresh, grassy nose, a cracking crisp mouthfeel, and a flavour that encompassed sweet grains and dry hops.

Billed as a Munich-style helles, Gaslight proved to be an uncomplicated and enjoyable beer with a few features that set it ahead of Joe Macro: (1) it has 5.4% alcohol and that extra tick isn’t frivolous; and (2) it doesn’t taste of corn, rice, or other tricky additives—I’d warrant that this German-style lager would comply with the Reinheitsgebot, Germany’s famed purity law of 1516. I’ve had better pale lagers, but if you’re in the mood for a satisfying golden bubbly beer, Gaslight is a fine craft alternative to the widely available macros. It won’t knock your socks off, but it’ll refresh the hell out of you.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

The Answer Helles Lager

Toronto, Ontario is the birthplace of The Answer Helles Lager. It’s a pale lager that contains 5% alcohol, packs a light 18 IBUs, and comes in 473mL cans. It’s a sunny golden lager, highly carbonated, under a bright white head.

The Answer has a punchy grain and noble hops aroma. The flavour is grassy and crisp, with some cereal sweetness and a quick, dry finish. It comes from Pint Pursuits Brewing Brewing Co. (makers of the highly enjoyable Lord of Lupulin).

A lovely summery brew, The Answer isn’t complicated or obtuse, but it is refreshing and crisp. I prefer my pale lagers to have a bit more bitterness to close the door and a bit less sweetness. Still, it’s refreshing and chill, and I’d buy it again.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Gaslight Helles Lager

June is grilling season, and that means pale lagers are in my fridge more than at any other time of the year. On a Wednesday night, I found myself home alone and contemplating BBQing yellow summer squash, a daunting task I’d never before undertaken (turns out it’s easy and tasty as hell). To fortify myself for this culinary endeavour, I reached for a 473mL can of Gaslight Helles Lager, a 5.4% alcohol, 18 IBU brew from Toronto’s Muddy York Brewing Co.

This pale lager was yellow gold, clear, and topped with a cottony white head. It had a fresh, grassy nose, a cracking crisp mouthfeel, and a flavour that encompassed sweet grains and dry hops.

Billed as a Munich-style helles, Gaslight proved to be an uncomplicated and enjoyable beer with a few features that set it ahead of Joe Macro: (1) it has 5.4% alcohol and that extra tick isn’t frivolous; and (2) it doesn’t taste of corn, rice, or other tricky additives—I’d warrant that this German-style lager would comply with the Reinheitsgebot, Germany’s famed purity law of 1516. I’ve had better pale lagers, but if you’re in the mood for a satisfying golden bubbly beer, Gaslight is a fine craft alternative to the widely available macros. It won’t knock your socks off, but it’ll refresh the hell out of you.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Benediktiner Hell

Benediktiner Hell is a German helles lagerbier. It comes from Lich, where it is brewed by Benediiktiner Wießbräu. The beer is crystal clear and pale yellow-gold, with a thin layer of white head and a considerable level of carbonation. The beer comes in 500mL cans of pale lager that contains 5% alcohol.

BH features a grassy and fresh nose. For the style, there is an ample amount of flavour, with grainy and grassy notes to beat the band. The finish is refreshing, but has very little hops, which hurts the balance a bit.

Drinking a helles lager in January isn’t quite ideal for me, but it tasted pretty good and left me feeling refreshed. In July or August, this stuff would be a welcome addition to my fridge.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

2017 Helles Golden Lager

In celebration of their 30th anniversary and of the the end of 2016, Amsterdam Brewery released 2017 Helles Golden Lager. According to the 473mL can, this brew is an Edel Helles, which is a subclass that I've never encountered before. It contains 5.2% alcohol and is lightly hopped at just 17 IBUs.

The golden lager proved to be a clear and amply carbonated number; straw gold in colour and topped with a durable white froth. 2017 has grassy and grainy aromatics. Its flavour is bright, crisp, and otherwise unremarkable. It lacks the grit of a good pilsner, but manages to be easily refreshing. A simple beer, but a nice enough one.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.

Benediktiner Original Helles Lagerbier

Benediktiner Original Helles Lagerbier is a wildly crushable pale lager. It's a clear straw coloured number from Lich, Germany and is brewed by Benediktiner Weißbräu. A Bavarian-style lager, these suds come in a pale blue 500mL cans and pour with a fluffy layer of white head.

With 5% alcohol but very little flavour, this beer goes down extremely easily, but doesn't offer a lot in terms of flavour profile--it's modestly grainy, with a touch of hops grit on the way out.

Fans of light beer or macro lagers will dig this stuff, since it has a similar taste, but has some European elegance. It's refreshing and crisp, but very plain.

Rating: 6.0 out of 10.

Heller Highwater

I'm gonna say that Kichesippi Beer Co.'s Heller Highwater is the best-named beer I've downed in some time. A pale lager from Ottawa, Ontario, this helles is a yellow-gold colour, slightly hazy, and pours with a thick shroud of bright white head. It's sold in 473mL cans and contains a very quaffable if slightly low octane 4.8% alcohol.

H2 has an unexpectedly forceful nose. There are assertive notes of hay and sweet grass, built on a foundation of classic, restrained Bavarian hops. The flavour is agreeable, though a bit on the sweet side. This beer is basically hay liquified--it has a grainy, grassiness that calls to mind a horse pasture. There is a faint nod toward hops at the finish, but this is nearly imperceptible.

Grassy and bright, Heller Highwater is a well conceived and decently executed Ontarian take on the heller/helles style. It's too sweet to be crisp, but it is definitely refreshing. As my pint was winding down, I didn't find myself wishing for a second, which is generally a bad sign, but in this case, I don't think it'll stop me from revisiting this lager. It provides something that hasn't been well represented in this province's beery culture, so cheers to that.

Rating: 7.0 out of 10.