Leinenkugel's Hoppin' Helles Review

Name: Leinenkugel's Hoppin' Helles
Style: Munich Helles
ABV: 5.5%

Leinenkugel's just added a new beer to their year round line-up called Hoppin' Helles. While it's nice to see that Leinenkugels is diversifying it's portfolio, I do find it rather odd; Especially when you consider Leinenkugels other year round offerings and let alone a large brewery adding a Helles-style beer to it's permanent line-up.

With that being said, I'm not really one to judge.....Ok, that doesn't really make a whole bunch of sense because I AM one to judge because we WILL be reviewing this beer.

Hoppin' Helles pours a pale yellow color with some mild looking carbonation. The head on this is filmy but has some foamy volume to it. As for lacing, there isn't a whole lot here.

The aroma starts out with a pale malt scent with some strong lemon zest, mild citrus hop notes, and grains/barley.

The flavor is very earthy and starts with some strong grassiness, lemon zest, citrus hops, barley, and a light malty backbone. Aftertaste is bitter yeasty/mild citrus hoppiness with a dry finish. For a beer that claims to be brewed with 5 types of hops, I didn't really get much of a hoppiness here.

The body is thankfully lightly carbonated and the overall weight of the beer is pretty light. It goes without saying that this is easy to drink.

I know Munich Helles aren't supposed to be overtly hoppy or malty, but Hoppin' Helles seems to be lacking those in both departments. Despite these complaints, this is actually not a bad beer but one that is very easy to drink and enjoyable as long as you don't expect too much.

Leinenkugel's Hoppin' Helles - 7/10