Naked Dove Brewing Company Helles

By Mark Tichenor, Rochester Beer Correspondent

Color matters in the beer world. It's a disappointing truth, but some people make snap judgments about, and shy away from, some styles just because of the color of the brew. It's ironic because of the inherent self-deprivation; tragic because some drinkers who turn up their nose at all liquids not obsidian black would miss out on as wonderul a beer as Naked Dove Brewing Company Helles.

Helles is the iconic golden lager style of Munich. It's the rejuvenator you get a liter of when you drag your jet-lagged tourist butt into the Hofbräuhaus. It's proof that a beer's hue isn't always an indicator of character, body or flavor.

The Helles offered by Canandaigua, New York's Naked Dove Brewing Company indicates a deep grounding in Bavarian brewing tradition. You get that in the first whiff. The aroma hints at freshly baked bread and green hay.  Although strikingly pale (more so than any German example) the beer is a river of alluring grain sweetness and clear finish, both hearty and refreshing, with a slight viscosity that gives it heft on the tongue. This is the kind of beer that supports the old cliché about 'liquid bread.'

In that sense, Naked Dove Helles is a great beer for the other extreme of color-shyness. It looks like a refreshing golden beer, so it's perfect for introducing the beer-averse to something more interesting and present than the big-box stuff. 

Naked Dove Helles is a limited release, so please, cling tightly to your prejudices of beer color. That way there will be more available for me. 

Producer: Naked Dove Brewing Company 
Style: Helles 
Stemware: Straight 16oz pint
ABV: 5.5% 
Price: $5.00

 

 

(4.5 out of 5 | Outstanding and Delicious, Highly Recommended to Extraordinary, Can't Recommend it More)

(*Ratings Guide)

Comments

[Peter Bell / Fox Run]

Wow, I'm going to get my ass over there! Thank you. I agree with your assertion that the more classic beers don't always get the recognition they deserve. Julia, want to weigh in here?

[Julia Burke]

Peter and Mark, it's a great point. I absolutely love paler classic German styles such as maibock, helles, and kolsch; though I don't know anyone who drinks exclusively onyx-hued beers as Mark mentions, I do know several who look at a lighter-colored beer and immediately think "macro." That's sad. If drinkers ignored lighter-looking beers in this year's Beers of the Year lineup, they'd miss (at the very least) Horseheads Hot-Jala-Heim, one of the coolest and most original brews I tried this year.

[Alexandra]

I will look for this beer to try. Although I do not drink alot of beer and more on wine, I like the lighter ale. This beer sounds like my kind! Thanks for the review.