Barrelhead Brewery Hopburgh Helles

ABV: 4.7%

Style: Helles Lager

Origin Country: Dublin, Ireland

Tasting Notes:

Appearance: Clear, pale gold, with a persistent creamy white head

Aroma: Clean biscuit-y sweetness from the malt, subtle spicy hop notes. 

Flavour: Grainy sweetness, subtle soft bitterness on the finish. 

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and medium carbonation. A smooth lager. 

Brewery Information:

Barrelhead Brewery was established in Dublin in 2006, as a side project of Dublin's JW Sweetman's head brewer. Made with lager malt and hops from Germany and North America which then spent 4 months of cold conditioning, to produce a softer, natural carbonation, with a smoother mouthfeel and a white fluffy head.  Crisp and pure golden with an attractive mix of honeycomb, floral bouquets, and lemon zest. Unfiltered, unpasteurised, and unfined. Originally producing draught and cask beer exclusively, in December 2020 we embarked on our first bottling venture; batch #458 HopburgH Helles.

Helles Lager Beer Style:

Helles (pronounced "HELL-us") is a pale golden lager that is the everyday session beer of Bavaria, Germany. The German word “hell” or “Helles” simply means “pale.” In most German-speaking regions ordering a “Helles” or “ein bier, bitte” in a pub would simply produce the standard light-coloured beer on tap, which is, more often than not, a Pils or pilsner. But in Bavaria, style definitions are more differentiated. There, the order of “ein bier, bitte” would most likely be followed by the probing question, “And which beer do you want?” 

A Bavarian Helles is considerably lower in bitterness than a German Pils. It is lighter in body and character than a märzen. Helles is a medium-bodied, usually straw-blonde beer with an emphasis on clean, bready, malt flavours and floral hop aromas with mild bitterness. In Bavaria, many consider Helles the very essence of the summer beer garden. The best have a slightly sulfurous character reminiscent of brewery fermentation rooms.