Am I tasting CaraMunich?

[brick]

I'm just going to apologize in advance, because I'm probably giving the forum an impossible task: figure out what it is that I'm tasting. This is kinda like my favorite game on automotive forums: "What's making this noise?" except I can't figure out how to YouTube my tongue. At least not in a way that would help, and not without getting thrown off the forum.

With that out of the way, I could use some help figuring out what I'm tasting in a pair of Schmaltz beers that like so much. There's a complex, very malty undertone supporting both their RIPA (Rye Double IPA) and Genesis ale. They have conveniently listed the malts on the bottles, and those in common (other than 2-row) are wheat, darker crystal malts, and CaraMunich (60 and 40, respectively). The only thing I can remember with this characteristic was a bock, which was absolutely dominated by it. (I didn't much care for the bock, but I love both of these...presumably because of the massive hop presence keeping the malts in balance.)

Could it be the CaraMunich that's coming through? Could that be responsible for a really assertive malt character?

 

[thadass]

It's quite possible, caramunich would absolutely provide a good strong malt character in a finished beer, depending on the amount used.

Do you have a LHBS with bulk grains? It can be useful just to taste some to see if the character matches at all. I was just at mine today eating malts with SWMBO to find what kind of flavors/notes she might be interested in. Eat your wheaties (and malt)!

 

[brick]

That's not a bad idea! I do have a well-stocked LHBS not too far from here, so I'll have to pay them a visit. Sampling local microbrews is a great source of inspiration, but I can't quite deconstruct what I'm experiencing yet.