Redwood Lodge Munich Helles

Brewed by Redwood Lodge Brewery
Style: Dortmunder/Helles
Flint, Michigan USA

Sample on tap...Filtered golden yellow color with a disappearing head. Everything about this really reminds me of a Pale Lager rather than a Helles. I got very little hop bitterness, mainly just a sweet malt taste. Nothing much going on here, although it did go down really easily.

Sample at the brewpub: Pours a clear dark gold color with a medium thin light beige head with little retention. Thin rings of lace on the sample glass. The aroma is mostly malty with a fair amount of hops. Clean body with equal parts sweet malt and bitter hops. The finish is moderately bitter hops and lingers awhile. Overall this is a decent Helles.

Draft, on premises.Has a very light lager taste, but without the yeast bite. The advertised 33 IBU's were not very pronounced, but they contributed to a nice warming aspect. I only had a sampler glass, but I got a good clean Helles smell when I put my nose into it.

The have a trio of lightish brews set to draw the flies, so it was with some skepticism that I gambled on this one (never had a microbrewed "kolsch" I enjoyed and why bother with a microbrewed light?). Pleasant surprise - there ARE hops in this thing and enough crispness to allow them to stand out, not dominate. I'd run through the darker stuff before I decided to gamble on this, and the style didn't keep me interested long, but this is not bad beer and folks who actually know something about this style (I don't) should try it out, by all means.