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See you when Helles Chills over - Steve Segletes (July 1998)
Achtung!
We're all going to Helles this month. No, this isn't the Apocalypse; it's the July competition for Munich-style Helles (or Pale) Lager. The Bavarian line of Lagers is one of three branches on the Lager tree, along with the Pilsner and Vienna families. Munich Helles lies on the Bavarian branch, from which sprang such notable styles as Munich Dunkeles (Dark), Rauchbier (smoked beer), and the several styles of BOCK beer. The Helles, or Pale, style of Munich is a more recent (only since 1894) complement to its older, darker brother, Dunkel, and seems to get less respect, sad to say, because of its relative youth. The hallmark of a Munich Helles would have to be the malty accent (in contrast to, let's say, the noble-hop zing of a Pilsner). According to Michael Jackson, the Munich Helles favored by locals is made by Augustiner Brewery, one of Munich's "Big Six," along with Paulaner, Spaten, Hacker-Pschorr, Lowenbrau, and Hofbrauhaus.
I'm sorry to get diverted so early in my article, but I've always ruminated on the possibilities of tracing geopolitical history solely as a consequence of the local beer history (not the other way around). The rich 500-year Lager history of Munich and the geopolitical dominance of the Habsburg family empire over Europe for 500 years seemed too coincidental to ignore. The Lager tree of beer, like the Habsburg Empire, is rooted in central Europe. The lager styles, many so light, crisp, and clear, seemed I'm sure simply imperial when placed head-to-head (Arghh!) with their more opaque Ale brethren. I had already known that some of the best examples of Vienna Lager style are today found in... (that's right) Mexico! Emperor Maximillian, who ruled Mexico in the 1860's, was a Habsburg and likely imported the Vienna style to Mexico ("The Emperor wants a Vienna Lager... What's that? You only brew Aztec Amber? Well, off with your head!"). Was Maximillian's short-lived reign a direct consequence of Mexico's heat and lack of refrigeration facilities for lagering?
So at this point, I delved deeper into my Funk and Wagnalls (and Michael Jackson) to buttress my Habsburg-Lager theory. Jackson indicates that the lagering method was first mentioned in the minutes of the Munich Town Council in 1420. A quick examination of history shows the Habsburgs struggling, with minimal success, to gain title to the Holy Roman Empire before 1420, including a 130 year dry spell. But Albert II changed all that in 1438 when he (and the next 16 heirs of his) regained the Holy Roman Empire and held it for all but 5 of the next 368 years. Albert II would have been 23 years old when lagering was introduced... prime drinking age. Coincidence? The 18-year gap between lagering's inception and Albert's rise to the throne could have been the lag time for Lager Beer to spread across Europe by horse-drawn wagon. Was Lager the secret tool of the Habsburgs?
Even after the Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806, the Habsburgs continued to rule parts of the world for the next 110 years as kings of Hungary, Austria, and Mexico, until the end of World War I. Archduke Ferdinand, whose untimely assassination had precipitated that great war, was the Habsburg heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Was Munich Helles' rise to popularity, only after the 1920's, too little, too late to save the Habsburg's foundering political fortunes?
Don't be too sure. The 13 June issue of the Baltimore Sun reports that Gyorgy Habsburg, youngest heir to the would-be Habsburg throne, has been an active political player in the upcoming European Union. Are we to believe that his marriage, last October, to the German Duchess Eilika von Oldenburg was not meant to resolidify the Lager-politico alliance which, I have surmised, once made the Habsburgs the most powerful family in Europe for half a millennium?
C'mon, who are they trying to kid?
