Suggest a beer style: malty but not sweet

[MichaelBrock]

I am starting to realize that I'm a fan of malty (bready, grainy, toasty, etc.) flavors in beer but I'm not overly fond of sweet beers. For example, I like the occasional doppelbock and barleywines but I find them too sweet. I have been sampling various styles (and brewing them) and will continue the hunt but I was curious if anyone had any suggestions for particular styles to try. What are the maltiest, but not overly sweet, styles?

 

[drkaeppel]

I made KingBrianI's Common Room ESB. Took a while to age, but ended up being very earthy, malty, and quite dry. Recipe is here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/common-room-esb-83878/

 

[edmanster]

I like abbeys and trappist for a high abv% and great malty backbone

 

[dbhokie]

Abbey, Trappist style brews +1. Generally you use a highly attenuating yeast.

I made a Belgian Golden Strong, added some honey on 3rd day of fermentation and it ended up being quite dry and quite malty as well.

It is a difficult balance on the palate, because many people confuse the maltiness with sweetness. St Bernadus ABT 12 is a favorite beer of mine. It's a quad, full of malty flavor and body, with a good finish.

 

[Bensiff]

Scottish ales, Scotch ales, English brown ales, Maibock, hellesbock, traditional bock, Oktoberfest and Vienna lager done right have a nice maltiness as well.

 

[TyTanium]

Oktoberfest/Märzen.

 

[MichaelBrock]

@drkaeppel: I'll have a look at ESBs. You appear to have posted the wrong link but it looks like a nice kettle!

@edmanster: I have been sort of ignoring the belgian beers as I'm not at all a fan of "sour funk" (and I know not all belgian beers are sour, just a prejudice ) I'll have a look.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[MichaelBrock]

Wow, thanks for all of the suggestions! I should have known better than to reply without waiting a bit longer. I'll add to my list.

Brown ales, bocks, & vienna lagers are definitely among my favorite styles. Maybe I'll try brewing a "mock" octoberfest. I just bottled a schwarzbier and it will be a while before I get my pipeline caught up again. Will be a while before I brew another lager!

 

[StoneHands]

IMO, Oktoberfest is the definition of malty but not sweet.
Helles is another.
I'd second ESB, a true English ESB, is nice and malty as well if you're looking for an ale.

 

[julioardz]

My ESB has a nice bready flavor. I don't have the recipe in front of me but it uses Marris Otter as the base malt. Lately I've been replacing some of the Pale Ale or Pilsner malt with Vienna and/or Munich in my different recipes to make them more malty. Right now I have a Belgian Ale and Hefeweizen fermenting with more malt character than normal. I didn't use any Pilsner in the Hefeweizen and added Pale Ale and Munich, over pitched, and it's fermenting at a cooler temperature to limit the banana. It may be out of the style of a hefeweizen, but I'm shooting for bready clove flavored wheat beer. I haven't tried Biscuit malt yet, but I do want to use in a recipe sometime.

 

[MichaelBrock]

I tried an ESB recently but wasn't that impressed. I think it was Redhook (probably should take notes on these things...) and it might not have been very representative. I'll seek out a different ESB to try.

 

[homebrewdad]

+1 on English browns and Scottish ales - malty but not sweet.

Also, Belgians being sour??? Some can get rather sweet, but I don't think sour is a common characteristic.

 

[daksin]

I would second (third, fourth?) a good ESB. I like mine very dry (a la Alesmith Anvil) but with a solid malt backbone. It was a great learning experience finding out that dry and malty don't have to be exclusive.

@MichaelBrock- Redhook ESB is not a good example of ESB, IMO. Nor is Fuller's (it's a super sweet beer that doesn't fit any style I know of), but there are a lot of great ESB's you can find labeled just as "English Pale Ales." My favorite is Alesmith's Anvil, if you can ever find it in a bottle shop, grab as many as you can. Definitely in my top two beers of all time ([Kanye voice] of all time! [/Kanye voice]).

 

[MichaelBrock]

ESB seems to be getting the votes! I'll keep an eye out for Alesmith Anvil (and any other non-Redhook versions I can find). I think I'll stick this into rotation for my next brew. Now to find a recipe. Has anyone tried the version in BCS?

 

[cjb]

American Amber can fit the bill as well. I have one on tap right now that's similar to Denny's Waldo Lake Amber recipe - very malty, not at all sweet. I think the Wyeast 1450 strain ("Denny's Favorite") is a big part of this flavor profile:
It is unique in that it produces a big mouthfeel and accentuates the malt, caramel, or fruit character of a beer without being sweet or under-attenuated.

 

[Savage06]

You Should look into some New Belgium Fat Tire Clone Recipes.

 

[drkaeppel]

@drkaeppel: I'll have a look at ESBs. You appear to have posted the wrong link but it looks like a nice kettle!

@edmanster: I have been sort of ignoring the belgian beers as I'm not at all a fan of "sour funk" (and I know not all belgian beers are sour, just a prejudice ) I'll have a look.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Link fixed!