Pitch Lined Helles
Notch Brewing in Salem, Massachusetts, United States 🇺🇸
Lager - Helles Special|
Score
6.92
|
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After lagering in our pitch lined barrels for over three months, Pitch Line Helles is here! Draft only. No cans or quart cans to go.
PITCH!
Pitch is a combination of pine resin and paraffin, used to coat the inside of wooden beer barrels, and to protect the beer from the influence of wood. Pitch was once used by every lager brewery (even in the US) before metal tanks and kegs became the norm. Today, it is only used at a few breweries in Germany and the Czech Republic, and Notch was the first to re-introduce this process for lager production in the North America after a long absence.
WHY DO IT?
Everytime modern brewing technology is introduced to save time, money and labor, something gets lost along the way. Pitch imparts a distinctive yet subtle resin character to the beer that is impossible to reproduce otherwise. So, Notch looks at this as a history project to remind ourselves what lager beer once tasted like. And it’s delicious.
PITCH BARRELS
The barrels we use are beer barrels, as these have thicker staves than a wine or whisky barrel and help prevent oxidation and hold carbonation. These barrels were sourced directly from Munich’s last wooden barrel manufacturer and made specifically for Notch. We have nine 200 liter barrels for lagering, and four 32 liter barrels for serving.
HELLES
We filled the barrels with Hexen Stadt, our Munich style Helles brewed in Salem, so taste for comparison. Also, we selected Helles for this round of the Pitch Line Project to showcase the impact of the pitch on the finished beer, and to take you back to the original Helles in Munich biergartens and bierhalls.
PITCH!
Pitch is a combination of pine resin and paraffin, used to coat the inside of wooden beer barrels, and to protect the beer from the influence of wood. Pitch was once used by every lager brewery (even in the US) before metal tanks and kegs became the norm. Today, it is only used at a few breweries in Germany and the Czech Republic, and Notch was the first to re-introduce this process for lager production in the North America after a long absence.
WHY DO IT?
Everytime modern brewing technology is introduced to save time, money and labor, something gets lost along the way. Pitch imparts a distinctive yet subtle resin character to the beer that is impossible to reproduce otherwise. So, Notch looks at this as a history project to remind ourselves what lager beer once tasted like. And it’s delicious.
PITCH BARRELS
The barrels we use are beer barrels, as these have thicker staves than a wine or whisky barrel and help prevent oxidation and hold carbonation. These barrels were sourced directly from Munich’s last wooden barrel manufacturer and made specifically for Notch. We have nine 200 liter barrels for lagering, and four 32 liter barrels for serving.
HELLES
We filled the barrels with Hexen Stadt, our Munich style Helles brewed in Salem, so taste for comparison. Also, we selected Helles for this round of the Pitch Line Project to showcase the impact of the pitch on the finished beer, and to take you back to the original Helles in Munich biergartens and bierhalls.
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7.6
CosmicCharlie (9644) reviewed Pitch Lined Helles from Notch Brewing 1 year ago
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 7 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Pours clear gold into a willi. Bright white micro head with excellent retention recedes leaving sheet lacing. Straw, resin and biscuit aromas. Medium bodied with sweet honey, straw, mineral and earthy seared vegetables upfront turning to bitter earth and bark in the dry, medium length finish.
Tried
on 27 Nov 2024
at 22:00