Beers we loved this Spring

Kveik, Mild, Helles and Brut. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stumbled into the travel section of the Idler and were exploring potential retreats to a Scandinavian island. Thankfully not. Kievek, Mild, Helles and Brut are all in fact beer styles, and with brewers gearing up to showcase their takes on rather more challenging and on-trend styles during this year’s festival season, now is a great time to explore each. Pale ales and stouts are two a penny – the beers below are beers not to be missed.

Northern Helles by Donzonko Brewing

With every year in craft beer labeled as ‘the year of lager’, it’s important to never dismiss the classic and understated style of beer. Helles beers tend to have a sweeter and lighter edge – hell meaning ‘light’ or ‘bright’ in German. Unfortunately, it’s rare that anything actually lives up to the billing. Donzoko’s Northern Helles, however, does. Quite simply, if you don’t like this, you won’t like modern craft lagers. That’s a bold statement, I know. But Northern Helles is just about as good as it gets for a UK-based brew. Slightly malty and dark with a sweet edge, it’s a beer that flows down and one you can turn to time and time again. It’s so well executed you’d expect it to come out of Germany rather than Donzoko’s base in Hartlepool. It’s no surprise that Donzoko harbours a fixation with German brewing. The brewers label this “our version of a Bavarian Style unfiltered lager. Sweet malt, subtle floral hops and a crisp refreshing finish. Inspired by lazy days by the river Eisbach, this is our flagship beer that will change what you think about lager.” We can’t argue with any of that and, if Northern Helles is anything to go by, this really IS the year of the lager. Until next year, of course.

Haakon by Drop Project

Kviek is certainly riding a wave in the brewing world at the moment. It’s a type of Norwegian Farmhouse Ale yeast and, when used to ferment at certain temperatures, it “provides plenty of fruity esters and tropical top notes.” That’s basically a pale ale with a bit of funk, and it’s showcased wonderfully in Haakon, a full-flavoured pale ale by the new startup brewery Drop Project. The yeast is a little more sour, more acidic and more raspy (all in a good way, you understand), which leads to a more powerful beer. You still get all the classic pale ale notes but what you tend to get at the end of the sip is an interesting bite. Normally breweries would use bittering hops to give their brews a lingering flavour, but here Kviek takes over, making for something slightly different to your average brew. One to try from a brewery worth watching as they grow.

Zero Gravity by Lost+Found

Onto Brut. This little known beer style is exactly what you think it’s going to be… although if you’re thinking of an 80’s talcum powder you’ll be  disappointed. Brut beers have risen in popularity over the last year as breweries seek out a sweet spot somewhere between a lager and a pale ale. This style bridges the two well and at the same time brings an air of sophistication to both. The name comes from brewers using champagne yeast or similar to drive the dryness of a beer down to near desert levels. 

In the case of brut IPAs, all the wort’s sugar is converted into alcohol during fermentation thanks to a special enzyme called amyloglucosidase. With no sugar left to caress the palate, the resulting beer is totally dry. This all sounds rather specialist but in Zero Gravity Lost+Found have created a brut beer that’s as drinkable as the day is long. Too dry to be a beer but not winey enough to be wine, brut styles have historically been something of a flash in the pan. New styles keep popping up though, and with summer just around the corner you’ll be sure to find some somewhere near you.

Dark Mild by BOXCAR

When you think of a pint of mild, most minds conjure up an old midlands boozer with uninspiring cheap beer piled on every table as smoke lingers in the air mid-afternoon. “What’s wrong with that?!” I hear you cry. Admittedly not much… but the point remains that mild has long been in need of a resurgence, and it’s happening! BOXCAR are one of the most up-and-coming breweries in London (which itself houses a great many up-and-coming breweries), and they’ve taken on the challenge of making an exciting mild. The result is mild, yes. But not as you know it. Dark Mild has all the classic mild flavours but dialled up a level or two. It’s slightly sweet, brown and delicious. It’s about as far from a working men’s club as you could get – but, thankfully, still not a million miles from mild’s true roots. Look out for this – and a whole raft of other experimental beers – in good beer shops near you.