I hate coffee, brown french fries, and dark toast, so I'll never find a stout I like right?

[O-Ale-Yeah]

I hate coffee, brown french fries, and dark toast, so I'll never find a stout I like, right? Stouts are just burnt beer, right?

 

[Qhrumphf]

Well coffee is a dominant character in most stouts, so you may be right, if you hate that character you may struggle to find a stout you like.

Do you also hate chocolate? Another dominant character.

Black malt tastes burnt to me. Other roasted malts do not. Calling stout "burnt beer" is pretty off the mark.

 

[kh54s10]

I would just say no to the burnt beer. You may not find one you like though.

I made a Russian Imperal Stout that I used oak chips in. I would say I detected no coffee. Not burnt. But definitely WOOD.

See if you can find a commercial Oatmeal Stout. More like breakfast than coffee.

 

[Keith81]

If you do like chocolate I'd suggest looking into porters. To me they tend to have more of a chocolate flavor than coffee.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Some Porters tend further into ashy/burnt than most Stouts. That may exacerbate what the OP doesn't like.

Schwarzbier would be another style to try. It's got some roasty/coffee notes but they're mild.

 

[MaxStout]

Find a store that has a good selection of single bottles of craft and import beers. Buy a bunch of stouts and see which, if any, you like. Try different subcategories--dry Irish, extra stout, oatmeal, sweet English, American stouts, etc. If you find one you like, look for a clone recipe.

 

[Lefou]

Porters or English-style brown ales could be alternatives.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Yep, stouts are just burnt beer.
Sushi is just raw fish...

I suggest that you stay away from them as it is obvious that you will not like them, and never will. It is far too complex for your pallet and you only frustrate yourself wasting time and money on failed tastings. Beware of the darkside!

Just kidding!
If you do dare to try to expand your horizons, I suggest a local brew pub that can pour you a small taster of something before you commit to a pint. Make nice with the bartender-most of the time if they are not slammed they are happy to help you find something you will like.

Key is drink what you like, not what you think you should be drinking to be cool.

 

[O-Ale-Yeah]

I would just say no to the burnt beer. You may not find one you like though.

I made a Russian Imperal Stout that I used oak chips in. I would say I detected no coffee. Not burnt. But definitely WOOD.

See if you can find a commercial Oatmeal Stout. More like breakfast than coffee.

I've been thinking of trying an oatmeal stout. Thanks, I think I will.

 

[O-Ale-Yeah]

If you do like chocolate I'd suggest looking into porters. To me they tend to have more of a chocolate flavor than coffee.

I do like chocolate, but only around 70% cocoa -bitter. I'll try a porter.

 

[grampamark]

Dunkelweizen. Just a dark Hefeweizen. I brewed this one about 3 weeks ago. More chocolate than coffee. A little milder than most stouts or porters.

 

[Yooper]

I hate chocolate. Absolutely hate it. But I love coffee. I don't like a lot of really strong roasted stouts (or porters), but done well, they are wonderful. As an example, I love Edmund Fitzgerald, a porter by Great Lakes. It's got definite roast, with a chocolate-coffee note, so you'd think I wouldn't like it. But I do. It's robust and complex, but not acrid/burnt at all, and it's very nice. I still wouldn't drink more than one at a sitting, but I really enjoy having one now and then.

 

[bracconiere]

just black coffee? do you like it with milk? i've heard people use lactose in brewing....and remember, all beer is equal, and don't just judge it by the color it is in the glass!

 

[brownni5]

I don't understand the question. Do you want to like a stout? I don't like peas, but I want to. No amount of wanting to is going to make me like peas.

For a time I wanted to like Double IPAs, then I said "screw it - where's my Saison?"

 

[isomerization]

Well coffee is a dominant character in most stouts, so you may be right, if you hate that character you may struggle to find a stout you like.

Do you also hate chocolate? Another dominant character.

Black malt tastes burnt to me. Other roasted malts do not. Calling stout "burnt beer" is pretty off the mark.

Paging Dr. Porter

 

[shoengine]

Stouts can be perfectly fine with no coffee or chocolate flavors. However, even though I detest coffee flavors with every fiber of my being, when I started brewing I determined I can't write any beer off. Even pumpkin beers. I may not like them, but I'll try practically any beer.

 

[Lefou]

I'll try 'em - but I don't hafta drink 'em.
Half the fun is figuring out they're not worth drinking, and the other half is fobbing them off on someone else.

 

[Soulshine2]

I hate coffee, brown french fries, and dark toast, so I'll never find a stout I like, right? Stouts are just burnt beer, right?

funny, I've almost always "hated" IPAs . Just seemed like someone didn't know how to brew good beer then decided to cover up their mistakes or inability with more hops than necessary. I just didnt like the IPAs I had up to that point. But, in the last 2 or 3 yrs there are a few that I can drink and would drink again...very few would I drink as session.
Don't shut the door completely to all stouts. Next time you go to a well stocked "tap room" I suggest you ask for a sample of nearly every one of the dark beers they offer over a few or many visits. Your taste may evolve over time. You may actually surprise yourself . Like my mother used to say to get me to try new foods, just because you didnt like it in the past doesnt mean you wont like it eventually. Like broccoli ,asparagus and brussels sprouts. I'll eat those no problem.
I still hate lima beans and cauliflower...
try a milk stout or vanilla porter. coconut porter.

 

[kh54s10]

I will try anything. So far there are only 2 styles that I don't like. One is NEIPA. I have tried a few commercial ones. I will drink them but did not really like them. The other is sours. I have only tried one or two because for the most part they are too expensive. I didn't like the one I tried.

 

[Soulshine2]

well, most importantly , you know what you dont like. still, go back every now and then and retry them. Might have to do with what youre eating at the time.

 

[khannon]

Start visiting breweries and do the spler flights.. try the styles you like and 1 that you are unsure of.. 4oz of beer is not too much to waste, and almost every time I've had a waitress come back and see 3 empties and 1 mostly full there is a conversation about why that one is still full. This, sometimes to the dismay of my wife, has led to meeting the brewery if they are around, which often leads to another pint and more talk about beer.

 

[Jayjay1976]

When I started brewing I had zero interest in making or drinking any dark beers at all. Guinness was the only dark beer I'd ever liked and I really had to be in the mood for one to enjoy it. Fast forward to a year later, I've brewed a lot of beers and gotten kinda bored with pale ales and lagers. My beer palette has broadened significantly and I've acquired a taste for dark beers and other styles I used to avoid like IPAs. I've only brewed a few dark beers so far but they have turned out really good. One thing that I do to minimize the acrid/burnt/bitter character in stouts is to crush the dark malts separately and cold-steep them overnight before brew day. Mash the rest of the grain bill as usual, then strain and add the steeped roasted malt liquid just before heating up to a boil. Just like with cold-steeped coffee, the result is rich in flavor but far less bitter. I was skeptical about how efficiently the cold water would extract the dark malts but was impressed by how dark and syrupy the result was, and how smooth and rich it tasted without being bitter. This also means the beer will need less aging, as many dark beers take months to smooth out the harsher roasted/burnt flavors.

Find a beer joint near you that has dozens of beers on tap and a discount night; one by me has $2 anything on Thursday nights. Sometimes you'll get the end of a keg and it'll be stale, I think they do these discount nights to keep all the taps turning over, but you can try a lot of different styles for a small investment. Tell the server that you want to try a bunch of dark beers and ask for recommendations.

 

[rhys333]

I guess stay away from your Guinness-style dry stouts as they're all roast and coffee. But there are other types that might work for you. Oatmeal stout, for example. Usually smoother tasting and often with a complex flavor that's not all roast. You also don't have to used roasted barley, which tends to produce that coffee-type flavor and dryness that some people find harsh. I brewed a stout recently that uses 50/50 chocolate malt and black patent for the roasted grains, and it's pretty smooth.

 

[O-Ale-Yeah]

I don't understand the question. Do you want to like a stout? I don't like peas, but I want to. No amount of wanting to is going to make me like peas.

For a time I wanted to like Double IPAs, then I said "screw it - where's my Saison?"

I was trying to decide, that in the next 10 beers or so, should I try different stouts or just give up on them. I don't want to miss something great but also wouldn't want to waste time and money if it is the case that stout is equivalent to coffee and heavily toasted flavors.

 

[O-Ale-Yeah]

When I started brewing I had zero interest in making or drinking any dark beers at all. Guinness was the only dark beer I'd ever liked and I really had to be in the mood for one to enjoy it. Fast forward to a year later, I've brewed a lot of beers and gotten kinda bored with pale ales and lagers. My beer palette has broadened significantly and I've acquired a taste for dark beers and other styles I used to avoid like IPAs. I've only brewed a few dark beers so far but they have turned out really good. One thing that I do to minimize the acrid/burnt/bitter character in stouts is to crush the dark malts separately and cold-steep them overnight before brew day. Mash the rest of the grain bill as usual, then strain and add the steeped roasted malt liquid just before heating up to a boil. Just like with cold-steeped coffee, the result is rich in flavor but far less bitter. I was skeptical about how efficiently the cold water would extract the dark malts but was impressed by how dark and syrupy the result was, and how smooth and rich it tasted without being bitter. This also means the beer will need less aging, as many dark beers take months to smooth out the harsher roasted/burnt flavors.

Find a beer joint near you that has dozens of beers on tap and a discount night; one by me has $2 anything on Thursday nights. Sometimes you'll get the end of a keg and it'll be stale, I think they do these discount nights to keep all the taps turning over, but you can try a lot of different styles for a small investment. Tell the server that you want to try a bunch of dark beers and ask for recommendations.

Thanks for the info JayJay, I have noticed an evolution of=ver the last few decades; things I drank 20 years ago I don't like now and vise versa.

 

[Homergah]

I suggest you try Prairie Birthday Bomb. Yes it has some coffee to it but it is so slight and blends so well with everything else going on. If that doesn't fetch you, start working your way down to lighter versions of the style. However, I have found that the lighter versions tend to be a bit more "acrid", there's just no place for the heavily roasted grains to sit nicely in the mix. If Prairie is not available in your area, maybe you can work out a trade.

 

[kevin58]

For over 100 years stouts were made with no flavorings like coffee. Even oatmeal stouts often had very tiny amounts of oats in them. Some milk stouts had so little milk/lactose sugar in them that lawsuits were filed between breweries over which had the right to call their beer "milk" stouts.

So you don't need any of those additions to make a stout. An 1858 recipe from Tetley's has just two grains... 92 - 93% pale malt as the base, and 7 - 8% black malt for color.

 

[bleme]

Most stouts have coffee flavor, but not all. Last weekend I tried The Patsy by Barley Forge and it was great, with no coffee flavor at all (although I do love coffee flavor too).

One of my favorite recipes on here is Deception Chocolate Stout, so called because it doesn't have any actual chocolate in it but has a great chocolate taste.

 

[Home_alone1]

I've been thinking of trying an oatmeal stout. Thanks, I think I will.

I had a peanut butter stout the other day where I didn’t taste any coffee or burnt flavors , tasted like peanut butter , chocolate and cream . I need to see if I can find the name of the beer .

 

[NGD]

I hate coffee, brown french fries, and dark toast, so I'll never find a stout I like, right? Stouts are just burnt beer, right?

Only if its made by Starbucks