Bavarian Helles: History, Brewing Techniques, Recipes (Classic Beer Style Series, 17.)

When I was in the military, I was stationed in Augsburg, about 40 klicks NW of Munich. The most common beer in Augsburg was the local Helles lager. In Bavaria every little town has their own version of beer and the breweries date back hundreds of years, some to before the Reformation. The only way to get a real Bavarian Helles in the United States is to brew it yourself. I stopped into the local craft brewer, who brews nothing but lagers and asked him that question, and he said it really doesn't fit within the American concept of either the "whatever you want to call the stuff produced by the major breweries" or it is too subtile for those who drink the majority of the craft brewed ales.This is a great book and it gives a good history about the development of this type of beer -- in Munich. It ignores the rest of the diversity of most Bavarian beers, but where do you stop? In southern Germany, beer is considered one of the essential food groups, Slowly American tastes are changing and skunkie aftertaste ales will begin to loose some of their charm. The crisp clean aftertaste of a good Bavarian Helles will help change the perceptions you of your friends.I am just beginning my home brewing craft, and my direction is to move to Bavarian Helles as quick as my knowledge and equipment allow. If you already are set up to brew real lagers the right way, or even the way they did it 500 years ago, buy the book, make the beer and enjoy!PS: I changed this title a little bit, the most commonly available brew I am aware of in North America that is somewhat like the Bavarian Helles, is Labatts, but it is brewed with a different hop blend.

Again as I wrote on Vienna Marzen Oktoberfest, I'd highly recommend New Brewing Lager Beer by Greg Noonan for a more indepth understanding of how to produce this style.These books are more of a contextual on the history & parameters of the style, while it gives a few recipes they are on par with Papazian recipes.The truth is, most of the best examples of this style are simply not available in the US, making the techniques that much harder to come by.

The various books in the Classic Beer Style series are as mixed of a bag as their subjects. While each makes an effort to provide a bit of a history lesson, some technical background and a few recipes for the homebrewer, each author seems to have been pretty much left to work out the details. As a result, some examples got lost by being muddled with too much history, too many technical details or recipes that are at the extremes of the complexity scale.Dornbusch managed to get a great balance of the three in this book, and he presents it in a style that shows that he downright enjoys his subject. The result is a book that, from a homebrewer's standpoint, is actually fun to read. But most importantly, you can make some pretty good brews from his recipes.

A thorough exploration of helles beers - history, technique, recipes (home brew and large scale).If you've grown tired of the higher and higher IBU and over-hopped IPAs that are so en vogue, try a proper helles. A balance of malt and bitterness which shows the real skills of a brewer.

Is ok. More full of enthusiasm than new (or even correct!) information. I learned a little but not much. The history section was the most informative for me.

Very great resource of information about Helles. The history chapter is very exciting and gives you a knownledge invaluable about helles' origin and culture. This book is about more than helles, the author explain a lot of technical stuff involved in the brewing proccess not only for the bavarian lager, but beer at all.

Excellent tool for making even best brews from now forward.Clear explanations, a bit of history, and a deep knowledge on the process provide the beginner and the initiated resources enough to experiment this style so lovely described by the author.The challenge is now to achieve something at least similar to what has been presented to us. Its good explanations encourages us to think that it's worth a try.Sorry for my English.

Simple and direct. No wasted space and provides lots of history and helpful information.A must read for a serious German beer enthusiast.

All you want to know about Helles and more than you would think to ask. For brewers on any scale it is a great knowledge extender and thoroughly entertaining!

Breve storia della birra di Monaco, poi descrizione del processo per produrre le helles con qualche trucco e consiglio, infine qualche ricetta (ma in realtà la helles hanno una sola ricetta, quindi sono solo 4 o 5 varianti). In aggiunta un po' di appendici con tabelle di conversione, formule e qualche altra curiosità.Libro per un appassionato homebrewer, un po' datato, e con un taglio per il lettore americano.

Schrott

I found the book to be a very interesting read! Simple and concise, it gives a very good account of the history of the Bavarian Helles beer.