Helles or hell is a traditional German

pale lager Pale lager is a very pale-to- golden-colored lager beer with a well- attenuated body and a varying degree of noble hop bitterness. The brewing process for this beer developed in the mid-19th century, when Gabriel Sedlmayr took pale ale brew ...

beer, produced chiefly in

Southern Germany Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

, particularly

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. The German word ''

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

'' can be translated as "bright", "light", or "pale".

Flavour profile

Helles-style beers typically are full-bodied, mildly sweet and light-coloured, with low bitterness. The beer is clear due to filtration prior to bottling, although some restaurants and breweries do offer an unfiltered version.Schanzenbräu Hell
/ref> Munich-style helles is a yellow beer brewed using cool fermentation with a

lager Lager () is beer which has been brewed and conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be pale, amber, or dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer. The term "lager" comes from the German for "storage" ...

yeast such as ''

Saccharomyces pastorianus ''Saccharomyces pastorianus'' is a yeast used industrially for the production of lager beer, and was named in honour of Louis Pasteur by the German Max Reess in 1870. This yeast's complicated genome appears to be the result of hybridisation bet ...

'', bitter hops such as

Hallertau hops This is a list of varieties of hop (''Humulus lupulus''). As there are male and female plants, the flowers (cones) of the female plant are fertilized by the pollen of the male flowers with the result that the female flowers form seeds. These se ...

, and an original specific gravity (prior to fermentation) between 1.044 and 1.053 (11 to 13 degrees plato), and between 4.5 and 6%

alcohol by volume Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

. Helles has a less pronounced hop flavour than pilsner beers.

History

Until the 1960s, Helles was universally available in German-speaking regions. In many regions, Helles was slowly replaced by

pilsner Pilsner (also pilsener or simply pils) is a type of pale lager. It takes its name from the Bohemian city of Plzeň (german: Pilsen), where the world's first pale lager (now known as Pilsner Urquell) was produced in 1842 by Pilsner Urquell Brewe ...

-style beers, which was also driven by changing consumer preferences from draft beer to bottled beer. In regions outside of Southern Germany, Helles is regaining popularity, particularly

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where the beer's traditional image has become trendy.

Distribution

Helles enjoys great popularity in the

Southern German Southern Germany () is a region of Germany which has no exact boundary, but is generally taken to include the areas in which Upper German dialects are spoken, historically the stem duchies of Bavaria and Swabia or, in a modern context, Bavaria ...

regions of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Franconia Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconian dialect: ''Franggn'' ; bar, Frankn) is a region of Germany, characterised by its culture and Franconian dialect (German: ''Fränkisch''). The three administrative regions of Lower, Middle and Upper Fr ...

, and

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...

. It can be referred to as , , , "Munich lager", or "export". No clear distinction is drawn between lager and export, although export typically is closer in style to

Dortmunder Export Dortmunder Export or Dortmunder is a pale lager originally brewed by Dortmunder Union in Dortmund, Germany, in 1873. It is a soft-textured beer influenced by the Pilsner lager brewed in Pilsen. History After World War II, Export was the most p ...

, which has a slightly higher

ABV Alcohol by volume (abbreviated as ABV, abv, or alc/vol) is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of an alcoholic beverage (expressed as a volume percent). It is defined as the number of millilitres (mL) o ...

of 5.5% for extended shelf life.

Examples

Andechser The Klosterbrauerei Andechs is a monastic brewery in Andechs, Upper Bavaria, Germany, well known for its Andechser beers. The brewery is run by the monks of Andechs Abbey, a priory of St. Boniface's Abbey, a Benedictine abbey situated 40 km awa ...

Hell * Augustiner Bräu Lagerbier Hell *

Ayinger Ayinger Brewery ( ; german: Brauerei Aying) is in Aying, Bavaria, Germany, about 25 km south of Munich. Ayinger beers are exported to Italy, the United States, and the rest of Europe. They have been frequent award winners in international ...

Lager Hell * Bayreuther Hell * Chiemseer Hell *

Dinkelacker Dinkelacker is a brand of German beer brewed in Stuttgart, Germany. The Dinkelacker brewery was founded by Carl Dinkelacker in Stuttgart's Tübinger Straße in 1888. The company still brews at that location. By the end of the 19th century Dinke ...

Hell *

Erdinger The Privatbrauerei Erdinger Weißbräu Werner Brombach GmbH (also known as Erdinger Weißbräu) is a brewery in Erding, Germany. Its best-known products are its namesake Weißbiers (wheat beer). History Erdinger is the world's largest wheat ...

Brauhaus Helles * Flötzinger Hell *

Giesinger Giesinger is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (born 1947), Austrian politician * Max Giesinger (born 1988), German singer-songwriter * Stefanie Giesinger (born 1996), German model {{surname German-language surnames< ...

Münchner Hell *

Hacker-Pschorr Hacker-Pschorr is a brewery in Munich, formed in 1972 out of the merger of two breweries, Hacker and Pschorr. Hacker was founded in 1417, nearly a century before the enactment of the ''Reinheitsgebot'' beer purity law of 1516. As one of six bre ...

Münchner Helles * Hofbräu München Original *

Kichesippi Beer Co. The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin language, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major tra ...

Heller Highwater * Löwenbräu Original * Oberdorfer Helles *

Nashville Brewing Company The Nashville Brewing Company originally operated from 1859 to 1890 in Nashville, Tennessee. It was later renamed the Gerst Brewing Company and operated until 1954. The brewery was revived in 2016 by beer historian Scott R. Mertie, who had wr ...

's Nashville Original Lager *

Paulaner Paulaner is a German brewery, established in 1634 in Munich by the Minim friars of the ''Neudeck ob der Au'' cloister. The mendicant order and the brewery are named after Francis of Paola, the founder of the order. Paulaner is one of the ...

Münchner Hell * Spaten Münchner Hell * Schönramer Hell * Stiegl Hell * Tegernseer Hell *

Weihenstephaner The Bayerische Staatsbrauerei Weihenstephan (''Bavarian State Brewery of Weihenstephan'') is a German brewery located on the site of the former Weihenstephan Abbey in Freising, Bavaria. In 2014, the total output was . The brewery advertises itse ...

Original * Ølsnedkeren Sikkert og vist *

Penn Brewery Penn Brewery, also known as the Pennsylvania Brewing Company, is a brewery and restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was founded by Tom Pastorius in 1986, and is located at 800 Vinial Street in the Troy Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, on ...

Gold * Tonewood Brewing Lumberyard

References

{{Beer styles German beer styles German cuisine Pages translated from German Wikipedia

Flavour profile

History

Distribution

Examples

See also

References