The old styles are on their way back: unfiltered Helles

There are discussions in the brewing world which might never ever stop. To filter or not to filter is the question of this hour. Some say it’s better to filter, because it gives stability. Other will tell you that filtering a beer will kill its character. I would say there is a 50/50 chance and it often depends on the beer.

This time I’m having a Kloster Urtrunk on the table. The label states itself as Export style Helles. I haven’t tasted any unfiltered Helles till now. Actually unfiltered Helles has become very unusual nowadays.

Pured from a bottle at 6° C the foam stays for a long time (check the photos). I guess their mashing procedure is a decoction mash method, but I could guess wrong. From the colour it could be clearly seen that this is an unfiltered one. The label calls it “ur-belassen” (ur [german] = old; ur-belassen means left like it was) and that refers to the unfiltered state.

Taking a big breath in isn’t that necessary with the Kloster Urtrunk. There aren’t that much compounds to detect. It’s a mixture of malt, grass and yeast. Let’s take a nip: As expected there is some bitterness, good mouth fullness, some sugar, a good balanced body and some nice warming all the time.

This beer goes well with a good German Bortzeit and crisps. It’s not that special as I thought about in the beginning. The topic unfiltered Helles shouldn’t be overestimated.