Thanks for all of the great ideas! I am probably one of the few here who do not care for the current trend of loading on the hops. How many times I have bought American brews with a pucker and smell factor that was totally off the charts. Yeah, I tend more towards a balance of the ingredients so that each complements the others. Same with caramel flavors and aromas. I want to experience all of the ingredients. Even the rising trend of in your face alcohol flavors that dominate the high proofs just leave me cold. Okay, I'm getting to be an opinionated old fart!
Over the past several months I have enjoyed something of a crash course in tasting across the style spectrum. IN so many ways, I'm reminded of my cooking where a well made dish may well use spices and many ingredients, but a truly delicious dish reflects harmony. Even in oil painting, the colors have to express themselves without turning to mud through poor mixing. Far too many disappointments wherein beers that were supposed to be a particular style were more the product of someone's drive to get hop juice or a high alcohol buzz.
My tastes have brought me repeatedly back to the porters and browns. For daily enjoyment, the stouts are too big, but the Newcastle Brown too watery. Too, I am not a great lover of in your face chocolate malt that has the burned flavor right out front. This is all why I am considering a good Brown/Porter, something in that middle ground with depth and body where everything is balanced but not just mud. Not sweet, not burned, not bitter, not caramel thick, and not dominated by alcohol. Hitting this with a few a day brew that is just beyond a session beer and neither watery nor boring is my goal.