Are all Maris Otters created equal??

[hokieengr]

My wife and I recently returned from a trip to London where I sampled a number of fantastic British ales. My personal favorite (and has been for years) is Young's Original Bitter. It is only available in proper form in their pubs--the bottled version they sell is nearly 25% bigger than the delicious cask ale they serve at their establishments.

Obviously, I started doing some research into making such a beer here in the states. Their website says:

"100% malt brew: Maris Otter and crystal malt with Fuggle and Golding hops."

So, I put together a simple recipe with MO for a base along with 60L, Fuggles, and EKGs. But upon tasting this, it is way more bready/toasty than the actual beer in England. This has been a problem with most of the bitters I have made to date, which brings me to my question:

Are all Maris Otter's created equal? Is it possible that what I get from my LHBS is significantly different from the standard MO used in the UK? Are breweries over there using a blend of British 2-row and to cut down on the breadiness?

Thanks!

 

[bierhaus15]

Maris Otter is a variety of barley and each malting house's version tastes a bit different. Some, like Thomas Fawcett and Crisp malting, are very similar while others like Bairds and Muntons are more distinct and so on. Also, many UK breweries will use a mixture of Pale/MO malts depending on what is available.

If you are looking to clone Young's, be aware that your water profile, yeast choice, and fermentation will impact the beers flavor much more than just the basemalt alone. Some yeast strains in particular really let the malt come through, while others favor esters and hops..ect. The Youngs VSS strain is currently available through wyeast. It makes an excellent bitter.

 

[stat]

My lhbs has crisp and muntons and there is a definite difference between the two. I'm too dumb to explain what that is, but they sure do taste different.

 

[hokieengr]

Yeah, that's what I think I'm noticing. I've made many bitter with a few types of yeast (this one is S-04) and I get that same extra bready note each time. Hence the post.

I already put in an order for the Youngs strain at my LHBS. I'm pretty excited to give it a shot.

Does anyone know specifically if Youngs uses a blend of MO and 2 row or 100% MO? I've got an email out to them but I have a feeling I'm not going to get an answer I can use.

 

[hokieengr]

One other idea: Id have to look through my notes, but I think that I've only made this kind of bitter using S-04. Perhaps this is the culprit for the bread taste and not the MO??

 

[dannypo]

MO is quite bready but I would bet the flavor you are talking about is s-04. I get some unpleasant flavors from that yeast unless the beer is bursting with malt and/or hop flavor.

It's funny how everybody has very different opinions of marris otter by different maltsters. In my opinion Crisp, Simpsons and Muntons are similar while Thomas Fawcett is a more flavorful version of the others.

 

[hokieengr]

I can't say that I've tried them all myself. In fact, I just confirmed with my LHBS that the MO I'm getting is Crisp.

I really starting to think this might be yeast related. I've put in an order for 1768 which is supposed to be the Youngs strain. We'll have to see where this goes.