Unconventional rocky tan-headed amber-hazed medium-bodied Munich-styled helles lager (nicknamed after Krampus, a fanged Christmas devil) reveals ambitious moderate-bodied India Pale Ale character hop-heads will find unexpectedly profound. Brashly inventive, its woody Chinook hop bittering, usually reserved for dryer pale ales, adds wintry evergreen pining to floral fruited frequency of inventive hybrid. Sugared malts sweeten apple-candied peach-pineapple-melon tang and juicy grapefruit sourness girding boozy 9% alcohol whir. Herbaceous white-peppered ginger-spearmint reminder adds further depth. ‘Diabolical,’ indeed.
Tag Archives: helles lager
GREAT LAKES LOCKTENDER LAGER
SPATEN PREMIUM LAGER
HACKER-PSCHORR EDELHELL MUNICH LAGER
STOUDT’S GOLD LAGER
CRICKET HILL EAST COAST LAGER
Unobtrusive light-bodied pale lager matches dank sour whiff to acrid orange peel bitterness, sunny lemon-lime twist, and fizz-hopped alacrity. Cloy corn cusp deceives husked wheat dryness and arbitrary roasted barley-toasted honey sweetness mid-palate. This was the approachable helles lager that started it all for Cricket Hill in 2002.
HENNINGER PREMIUM LAGER
(TROIS MOUSQUETAIRES) D’ARTAGNAN BLONDE LAGER
HOFBRAU ORIGINAL LAGER
(TROUTBROOK) THOMAS HOOKER MUNICH STYLE GOLDEN LAGER
(CLIMAX) HOFFMANN HELLES LAGER
Mild amber-hazed Munich-styled lager sustains sharp citric-hopped bite, leaving dry lemony grapefruit tartness. At finish, dinky floral-spiced dash adorns bitter berry bluster and modest alcohol pungency.