How would you describe "malty?"

[chipwitch]

Commercial beer examples are, "okay," but I'd really like to hear how you would describe the flavor "malty." Is it the dominant flavor in chewing malted barley? Is it sweet? Bready? I've tried googling, but malty, flavor, describe, taste etc are simply too generic words to return helpful results.

I realize this is a tough question. It's kind of like trying to describe "red" to someone who has never seen red. But, I'm hoping someone is up to the challenge. I think "malty" would describe beers that are dark and not hoppy. Like Obscura, trader Joe's oatmeal stout, black toad? Maybe there are better examples?

 

[zippyclown]

To me, malty means "a lot of flavor & perceived sweetness from the malt. In many cases, to me, it would be a honey sweetness, or a caramel sweetness. Whatever the characteristic of the malt is being used, coupled with sweetness, is what I would call malty. I wouldn't say that the beer has to be under-hopped to be called malty. I've had plenty of IPA's and Double IPA's (Dogfish 90 minute comes to mind) that have a lot of residual sweetness that comes through with the hops. A beer can be super hopped up but also have a sticky syrup caramel sort of flavor. I'd call it a hoppy beer but also a very malty one. If you've ever had a very dry west coast style IPA that showcases all hops with no malt lingering on the palette at all... That to me is the absence of maltiness.

 

[dmtaylor]

"Malty" is a very generic term. It can mean: hay-like, doughy, biscuity, bready, crackery, honey-like, toasty, caramelly, roasty, or my favorite... "that special German lager flavor" a.k.a. "it". The "it" flavor has no other possible descriptor -- "it" is its own thing altogether. And "it" defines my favorite thing about what defines "malty". "It" is magical. But for everyone else out there who don't get "it", see list above for other more obvious related descriptors.

I should also tell you -- "malty" is NOT the same as "sweet". Totally different things. You can have a biscuity beer that is sweet or that is dry, but both are "malty". You can also add cane sugar to an IPA and turn it "sweet", but that of course is anything but "malty". I repeat -- "malty" is NOT the same as "sweet"! Any beer that is "sweet" is just plain "sweet". It is only also "malty" if it fits one of the other common descriptors.

 

[Psylocide]

"Malty" is a very generic term. It can mean: hay-like, doughy, biscuity, bready, toasty, roasty, or my favorite... "that special German lager flavor" a.k.a. "it". The "it" flavor has no other possible descriptor -- "it" is its own thing altogether. And "it" defines my favorite thing about what defines "malty". "It" is magical.

But for everyone else out there who don't get "it", see list above for other more obvious related descriptors.

I should also tell you -- "malty" is NOT the same as "sweet". Totally different things. You can have a biscuity beer that is sweet or that is dry, but both are "malty". You can also add cane sugar to an IPA and turn it "sweet", but that of course is anything but "malty". I repeat -- "malty" is NOT the same as "sweet"! Any beer that is "sweet" is just plain "sweet". It is only also "malty" if it fits one of the other common descriptors.

Wait... wut? Adding cane sugar to an IPA will make it less sweet, if anything.

'Malty,' to me, would describe a beer that presents the malt flavors in a way that are very easy to pick out. A beer that is predominately malty could have notes of bread, biscuit, caramel, toast, crackers, grain, honey, straw/hay, etc. etc.

You can have a beer that is hoppy and malty at the same time.

Whether or not a beer could be described as malty would depend on how well those malt flavors come through/are presented.

 

[dmtaylor]

Wait... wut? Adding cane sugar to an IPA will make it less sweet, if anything.

Sorry, I should have been more clear...... try adding a teaspoon of sugar to your glass right before you pour the IPA and drink it. Don't leave it to ferment for a week.

 

[Psylocide]

Sorry, I should have been more clear...... try adding a teaspoon of sugar to your glass right before you pour the IPA and drink it. Don't leave it to ferment for a week.

Haha... I was hoping that's what you meant.

 

[m00ps]

Malty is like the word Id use to describe something. You kinda just need to get an empirical sense of it. Its like asking to describe the color blue. Its umm....blue?

 

[chipwitch]

So, a beer is "malty" if you can taste the malted grains that were used? I'm assuming this is a subtle character, not exactly in your face malt flavor? Like I said, I like the taste of malted grain. But aside from maybe the coffee or chocolate malts, I can't say I taste the same chewed grain flavors in the beer. Is it analogous to tasting apricots or cherries in a (grape) wine? More of a hint than than a flavor?

And "cloying" is just sweet? I don't think I've had, nor can I even imagine a beer being overly sweet unless the yeast quit at 1.030 or something.

 

[BigEd]

I repeat -- "malty" is NOT the same as "sweet"! Any beer that is "sweet" is just plain "sweet". It is only also "malty" if it fits one of the other common descriptors.

Absolutely! This differential seems to be a common confusion. While there is a marginal aspect of "sweetness" that's part of the malty profile it's not a simple, sugary sweetness that you'd get from plain sugar or even honey. I call it a richness and complexity that comes from the toasty/grainy flavors of kilned barley malt backed up by the subtle but rich sweetness of a small amount of large sugars like maltotriose produced during malting.

 

[BigEd]

So, a beer is "malty" if you can taste the malted grains that were used? I'm assuming this is a subtle character, not exactly in your face malt flavor? Like I said, I like the taste of malted grain. But aside from maybe the coffee or chocolate malts, I can't say I taste the same chewed grain flavors in the beer. Is it analogous to tasting apricots or cherries in a (grape) wine? More of a hint than than a flavor?

And "cloying" is just sweet? I don't think I've had, nor can I even imagine a beer being overly sweet unless the yeast quit at 1.030 or something.

I think the type of malt and style of beer have a lot to do with it. If you want to experience maltiness it helps tremendously to have a beer made with rich, quality malt and with a low to moderate hopping rate. Beers like Marzen, Vienna, Dunkel, Scotch ales, as well as UK brown ales, bitters, ESB, mild and some others will let you taste the impact of the original malt when done right.

 

[slym2none]

Think Avery's "Ellie's Brown" or a good Irish red or any doppelbock. Not sweet, but malty.

 

[chipwitch]

Great. Thanks guys!

 

[chipwitch]

(Duplicate deleted)

 

[Stillraining]

Pretty easy to describe really... Malt flavor to beer is what beef flavor is to a steak. Its just there in the grain. It is the flavor of the grain. Chew some raw barley, rye, wheat grain next time you brew or at your LHBS..there is your malt flavor.

This beef analogy is all directly parallel to what we do with brewing, by choosing our "cut of gains" adding/choosing yeast profiles, hops , spices, adjutant flavors, cooking(mash) and fermenting temps etc, etc to our malt wort
.
You can get more of or subtract from your beef or your beers flavor by your choice of cuts of meat or your choice of grains. Your process of cooking/brewing will bring those flavors out or subdue them. What we add to steak such as spices, rubs, brine's, smoke, aging and finally sauce ( heaven forbid any type of steak sauce) can add or detract from that base beef flavor. Its not hard to ruin a excellent cut of meat and hide its real character nor is it hard to hide any appreciable base malt character from choice grains in a beer either.

All cereal Grain is a seed from a grass and have similar taste properties... We use these grass grains in making bread, so naturally bready , biscuity, toasty ,etc all play a roll in describing what most grains we use brewing taste like. That flavor will appear as the dominate base flavor in any beer made if not hidden by the brewer. Taste your raw wort next time you brew before adding any hops or anything else. That is straight extracted malt flavor your experiencing.

I want to taste my beef in my finished steak....I also want to taste my malt in my finished beers.

Brew & Season wisely ..

 

[BamaPhil]

I struggle with truly understanding "malty" as well so thanks for posting. I'll be watching this thread.

 

[mattdee1]

When I first started "thinking" about what beers actually taste like (i.e., when I stopped drinking AAL swill and started seeking full-flavor and variety) I asked the same question as OP.

Some beers have yeasty flavors but most beers I drink have just malt and hops providing flavor, with additional "notes and accents" from the "signature" of the yeast used. Hops are pretty easy to identify when they reveal themselves in flavor and aroma, which means that most of what is "left over" in the flavor spectrum is attributable to the malts. Once I realized that, it was pretty easy to understand what people mean when they say "malty."

 

[myerstyson]

McEwan's Scotch Ale.

 

[chickypad]

I think where some of the confusion comes is that many malty beers are also sweet, but as mentioned above they are not at all the same thing. I've had some dark German lagers that are actually quite dry but very malty. I think most use "malty' to describe that characteristic taste you get primarily from the base malts, but also confusing things is that different malts taste very different. For example the classic Munich malt taste is what I think of most commonly as malty. But folks also refer to the grainy type of taste from pilsner malt (which is quite different) to be "malty". Like BigEd mentioned certain beers bring out the malt flavors more easily. I think it definitely helps to get in the habit of tasting the malts you are using, then thinking about those tastes when you drink the finished beer.

 

[filthyastronaut]

I would consider "malty flavor" as any flavor that comes from the flavors in malted grain, and it can be just as diverse as hops and yeast. For generic maltiness, I would consider it similar to the flavor you get from a malted milkshake. That's what I typically get reminded of when I drink malty beers or a beer with malty characteristics. Imperial Stouts and Milk Stouts in particular remind me a lot of a really good chocolate malt. Speaking of which, brewer's malt extract makes really good milkshakes. Try it.