Zeelandt Jerry Rig Helles

Hmm, this review has sat on my mind for a few days. I haven't written a negative review before and I guess this isn't quite going to be a negative review, but the overall gist is that I was a bit disappointed. Zeelandt are a local brewery and they pride themselves on making European beers true to style. When I tried their Pilsner, it really hit the craving I had for a Czech Pilsner like a Pilsner Urquell or a Budvar. So when I had this, I was expecting a trip down memory lane to Bavaria, to Oktoberfest, to Augsburg (my father's home town), and to the amazing beers classic to the region... and it didn't quite deliver. 

Helles is the German word for "light" - and in general ze Germans (well at least ze Bavarians back when I was last there in around 2009) consider their beers into four categories: Helles (light), Dunkel (dark), Weizen (Wheat bear) and Pils (German Pilsner). They're not too interested in any other styles, but each of those styles is amazing, and in general over there you don't get bad beers. The difference over there is that rather than the big breweries dominating like we have in most other beer drinking countries, they have small microbreweries scattered everywhere, including most restauraunts, and so everywhere you go you generally drink the local beer, just ordering by the style rather than the brewery. Zwei Helles bitte (two lights please)! A Bavarian Helles is a light beer, with a good malt character, a noticable but reasonably mild hops character with noble German hops giving a slight bitterness and very subtle aroma, usually a bit grassy, and a subtle taste of the yeast coming through. Overall the whole thing is perfectly balanced, and to me is the essence beer in it's most classic form (but I'm half German, and Germans always think that anything German is fantatic). I'll have to make a mention of my favourite Oktoberfest song, which typically the Oompa band plays on the hour, every hour - YouTube it if you haven't heard it - "Ein Prosit, ein Prosit, der Gemütlichkeit, Eins Zwei Drei G'suffa!" - It translates roughly to "A toast, a toast, to fun times... One two three... Drink!" - but g'suffa is a Bavarian slang version of "gesaufen," which is the word you use for an animal [like a pig] drinking... Some subtleties that don't quite translate as intended. And with a thick Bavarian accent, "Eins" (should rhyme with pints) comes out sounding more like Eddie Vedder screaming "Once", and "Zwei" (which sounds like the end of "that's why") sounds more like "swore".  

So... It may be fair to say that I had high expectations for this Helles, maybe even unrealistically high. And it was a nice beer; a nice clean lager with nothing to complain of... but it just didn't really take me back to Bavaria in any way. The malt flavour didn't shine through, there wasn't much bitterness, and ther wasn't really any aroma. The classic Bavarian Helles is by no means a hoppy aroma beer, but as I said generally does have that hint of herby or grassy German noble hops hidden under a bit of bitterness, and definitely has that fullness of malt and even a hint of yeastiness coming through that I think this beer just didn't quite deliver with...

So, while I'm reluctant to write a negative review about a nice beer, I just can't say that this beer lived up to my (perhaps unrealistic) expectations of a Bavarian Helles, and definitely didn't quite give me the style the way their Pilsner delivered the Czech Pilsner. Big rant aside, it was a nice beer, and did taste like a nice easy drinking European lager.

I'd be keen to hear what anyone else thinks about this, so please comment away.

On a side note, I did make a "Marzen" style Helles myself once (a strong Oktoberfest special version of a Helles). I made it March, and had it lagering until October, when I had my 30th as an Oktoberfest party. The 19L keg lasted about half an hour between a small party of around 30 people. It was about 7% (strong for a Helles), hopped with NZ grown Liberty hops (a descendent of Hallertau German hops - added at 60 mins, 30 mins and 15 mins into the boil), with a Munich yeast and German Pilsner malt base (with 5% Carapils). In the end was probably a bit strong on the malt flavour, but almost bang on with the hops (they were subtle but notable), and didn't taste as strong as it was (which made for a good party), but unfurtunately despite the months of aging and long preparation, it was consumed rather quickly and without much apprecation of the flavours - but was a hit with a good group of Kiwis dressed as Bavarians! We also had pretzels, bratwust, sauerkraut and kartoffelsalat (potato salad - we had to have two styles, the German style with vinegar and oil and the Kiwi style with creamy mayo and capers).

Hmm... back to the beer.


www.zeelandt.co.nz

ABV: 5.0%
Brewery: Zeelandt Brewery
Region: Hawke's Bay
Style: Munich Helles
Wife check: She wasn't with me when I tried this, but I think she'd have said something along the lines of "it's fine, but nothing special"... but then again I'm a believe that men shouldn't speak for women... so if she tries it some time i'll update this