Nietzsche might argue that some things are neither Good or Evil, but to me this bright, crisp sessionable beer is not one of those things – it’s definitely Good – especially on a hot summer day. Coming from a long tradition of German lagers, the Helles style is thought to have first been brewed in Munich to compete with the Czech Pilsner, which was increasing rapidly in popularity at the time. It is close to a Pils but a bit less hoppy, a little sweeter and brighter. I’ve definitely become a fan over the years and I think this one speaks to my love of light-yet-flavorful easy-drinking brews.
On the Evil side of things, I just learned about a study by Orb Media that found 94% of all tap water in the US is contaminated with microscopic plastic particles:
https://orbmedia.org/stories/Invisibles_plastics
Also, every single beer tested in Germany was found to be contaminated with micro-plastics, a fact made more potent knowing that Germany has the most rigorous standards of beer purity. As I sit here drinking this beautiful lager next to the incredibly polluted Portland Harbour Superfund site, consisting of 394 acres of contaminated sediments, I can’t help but ask myself how many micro particles of plastic I’m ingesting per sip, and what the potential health effects of those pollutants might be. So I did some research and found the final human health risk assessment for Portland Harbour released by the state of Oregon:
Needless to say, this did not really put my mind at ease. The sky above me is a deep shade of grey from all the wildfires burning in Oregon and the air quality is dubbed “unhealthy” by officials. Still, my dog enjoys this place because we can hang out together, think about the state of human-caused planetary degradation, drink beer, and be generally at peace with the world. They also have a shuffleboard table. But there are definitely things I don’t love about this place…
Amendment: David the bartender just brought me a free Hefeweizen that someone forgot to pick up. So I now love this place.
LAGER LOVER 