Is there any support here for strong, sweet beers?
My feeling is that usually, bitterness needs to be balanced with sweetness. Not always, because there are bitter beers that taste great without any sweetness to speak of, but more often than not. I also think a strong beer with a lot of alcohol burn benefits from sweetness.
I don't like beers that are gratuitously or clumsily sweet, and I don't like beers that don't have enough bitterness to taste like beer. I have only tried one milk stout, and I couldn't believe anyone would buy a second one. I had a Hazy Little Thing, and I thought it was okay served cold on a really hot day, but just okay. I thought it crossed the line into soft drink territory, as if it were made for people who loved Mountain Dew but weren't really beer lovers. I've never found myself at the grocery, thinking, "I should get more Hazy Little Thing."
Maybe it would be a great choice for grilling in July.
I took my stout recipe and jacked up the gravity to see if it would make a good imperial stout, and while I consider it a good beer, it's too sweet for me, and it's not balanced enough, so I'm changing the recipe. On the other hand, I make a couple of strong ales that are definitely sweet, and I love them. The one I'm drinking right now took about a pound of Special B, which is a crystal, and it's still great.
Are there any sweet, strong, like 8%+, factory beers that get a lot of respect here? Beers that make one pint a legitimate session?
My feeling is that usually, bitterness needs to be balanced with sweetness. Not always, because there are bitter beers that taste great without any sweetness to speak of, but more often than not. I also think a strong beer with a lot of alcohol burn benefits from sweetness.
I don't like beers that are gratuitously or clumsily sweet, and I don't like beers that don't have enough bitterness to taste like beer. I have only tried one milk stout, and I couldn't believe anyone would buy a second one. I had a Hazy Little Thing, and I thought it was okay served cold on a really hot day, but just okay. I thought it crossed the line into soft drink territory, as if it were made for people who loved Mountain Dew but weren't really beer lovers. I've never found myself at the grocery, thinking, "I should get more Hazy Little Thing."
Maybe it would be a great choice for grilling in July.
I took my stout recipe and jacked up the gravity to see if it would make a good imperial stout, and while I consider it a good beer, it's too sweet for me, and it's not balanced enough, so I'm changing the recipe. On the other hand, I make a couple of strong ales that are definitely sweet, and I love them. The one I'm drinking right now took about a pound of Special B, which is a crystal, and it's still great.
Are there any sweet, strong, like 8%+, factory beers that get a lot of respect here? Beers that make one pint a legitimate session?