OK,  so my plan was to brew Mai Bock for my next spring seasonal. Demon D’Or came on early this year so there was room for a nice high gravity Bock beer. Then spring decided it would show up in, what? February? What’s up with that? Not that I’m complaining, but we here in Atlanta all know what an early spring means….lots of pollen…no, well yes, but…A LONG HOT SUMMER. Oh yes we are all dreading the repercussions of such a mild “Winter”.

So as I stood poised over my stacks of Pilsner, Vienna and Melanoidin malts, ready to dump them cautiously through the grain mill, I had a thought. “Do I really want another big, heavy, high gravity beer right now?”  I mean, at one point I had four on at once recently. Delicious sure, but I was sweating just thinking about picking up the 1000 odd pounds of malt that go into the Mai Bock. What would really taste good as the heat rises would be something lighter, subtler. My brewer’s mind raced, but not for long. All this malt in front of me could easily be re-arranged into a Helles style beer…yes a Munich Helles! Delicious! Refreshing! Lower alcohol so I can drink more, thus even more “refreshment”! At least that’s the excuse I’m using to drink more : )

So I quickly made some recalculations and proceeded to make WHAT THE?! Munich Helles- Style Lager and man did it come out great! It’s got a beautiful deep golden color, a slight sweetness that is dried out by subtle toasted malt notes. Clean, complex and just super yum…did I just say “super yum”? I’ve got to lay off the Rachel Ray….