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Styles · Helles Bock

Beer style · BJCP 2021 4C

Helles Bock

Pale Malty European Lager

Published ranges These are the ranges the BJCP 2021 guidelines publish for this style.

Original gravity
1.064–1.072
Final gravity
1.011–1.018
Bitterness
23–35 IBU
Color
6–11 SRM (12–22 EBC)
Alcohol
6.3–7.4 % ABV

What it is

A pale bock — all the malt intensity of the style without the darker toast and caramel. Pilsner and Munich malts give a rich, lightly toasty sweetness that the alcohol warms rather than overwhelms. Hopping is a touch firmer than a dark bock so the finish lands drier and cleaner.

Flavor

What a Helles Bock should taste like, on the three wheels the studio scores every recipe against. The shaded ring is the style’s range on each axis, from 0 at the center to 5 at the edge.

Hops

Room for floral, herbal or spice.

Malt

Grainy, bready/biscuit, toasty and sweet/honey.

Fermentation

Clean, with room for sulfur.

Hops that suit it

The traditional choice

What Helles Bock has classically been brewed with.

Also right on character

Varieties whose loudest notes all sit on this style’s hop wheel, best fit first. How much to use is the recipe’s question; these are the ones that taste right.

And 2 more hops whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Yeasts that suit it

Strains the lab made for beers like this one, whose fermentation character sits inside the style’s wheel. A strain sold by several labs is listed once; its page names the others.

And 37 more yeasts whose character fits. These are the 24 that fit best.

Style numbers, names and vital statistics are from the BJCP 2021 Beer Style Guidelines, where you will find the official descriptions. The descriptions and flavor wheels here are Beerwright’s own. Beerwright is not affiliated with or endorsed by the BJCP.