Cigar City Hotter Than Helles Lager (Staff photo / Alan Shaw)
Beer: Hotter Than Helles Lager
Brewery: Cigar City Brewing, Tampa
Notes: This is one of Cigar City's four year-round beers. It's a Munich-style lager. Helles is German for bright. It's certainly a bright beer: Light golden in color with a nice mild aroma of hops and bread.
The taste is nice and clean, with a light hop bitterness and flavor (think grass or hay) balancing the classic lager malt flavors. The body is creamy and also nice.
Overall this is a fine Munich lager, and a great hot weather beer.
On a side note, I think that Cigar City may need to re-name this beer. Being a beer geek, I never realized that the name makes people think the beer is spicy; but I've had people ask me if it's made with peppers. When you have to explain twice on the can's label that the beer doesn't have any hot peppers or spices in it, I think you have a problem.
Have you had Cigar City Hotter Than Helles Lager? What did you think? Use the comment field below to sound off.
