Pronounced “HELL-us”, the German word “Helles” translates as "bright", "light", or "pale". And that’s really what this beer is all about, our Helles Lager is light gold in colour and brewed to be a super approachable, easy-drinking, everyday lager.

With a good Helles style beer, it’s all about balance and drinkability, the grainy-sweet malt character is in perfect balance with a restrained hop bitterness that leads into a soft, dry finish. It’s the kind of beer that pairs well with almost any food, especially seafood and BBQ, and is the ultimate refresher on a hot summer day.

We first introduced our Helles Lager in the spring of 2017. It quickly became a local favourite and went on to win a Gold Medal at the 2018 Ontario Brewing Awards and a Silver Medal at the 2019 Canadian Brewing Awards. Since then it’s become a staple in our year-round lineup, available in both 355ml short cans and 473ml tall cans.

A big part of what makes this beer have such a nice soft and gentle mouthfeel is our water. When we renovated our brewery in 2016 we also added a state-of-the-art water treatment process that allows us to dial in the specific water profile to match the mineral content that a traditional Helles lager should be brewed with. This not only helps the beer have a distinctly smooth and rounded mouthfeel but it helps that distinctive crisp hop character on the finish to stand out.

We also take our time making this beer, we lager each tank of Helles Lager for a full 4 weeks giving it that distinctive clean and crisp character that our fans have come to expect. Around the brewery and in our tap room, folks will often just call this one a “crispy” and who are we to argue?

FOOD PAIRING

Crisp, and smooth, this classic German inspired light lager is the perfect beer for relaxed summer evenings on your deck. 

Helles Lager pairs beautifully with rich shellfish like, snow crab, buttery scallops or fresh briny oysters. The bubbles in the beer cut the richness in the seafood and the sweet malty undertones highlight the buttery sweetness of shellfish. Equally delicious with fried calamari- the effervescent beer cleans the palate and does not interfere with the delicate flavours of the seafood.

Helles Lager Braised Short Ribs

This is the long game. These bone-in short ribs featuring Honey, Korean chili flakes, and smoked paprika are braced for hours in our Helles Lager adding a touch of bready sweetness to this fall off the bone dish. served with fingerling mashed potatoes this is one worth waiting for.

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