Are malts the next big focus?

Wait, isn't beer made with water, hops, yeast and grains ? There all important.

 

As long as it isn't sheep-shit smoked malt.

Or slugs.

 

That horse you're always riding on is hella high, my friend.

 

May just be that I pay attention to it, but I feel like there are alot of breweries that list the specific hops and malts on their bottles, though certainly not the majority.

 

Good points raised. I give US brewers a little more credit though. I've found many delicious US pilsners by many breweries including small ones. But milds, oktoberfests, and pilsners just aren't the whats selling today. Its IPAs and big stouts. I think many breweries can and do do well exceptionally well, just without the recognition.

I 100% agree there are too many that do miss the mark.

 

Just having a bit of fun. I actually love CA...at least the parts of it I have been to.

 

I tried a Gibbs 100 ESB today that was perfect for me.!

 

Any more off the top of your head? I don't think we have any here in MD. I'd love to see Burley Oak do some though.

This is what I'm talking about. There is a great initial post on the experiment here, but I haven't seen any follow-up on how it panned out.

It seems he has 5 in his series:

o Best Malz – Pilsner
o Best Malz – Vienna
o Best Malz – Munich
o Best Malz – Heidlburg
o Best Malz – Red X

 

Oh, there are some good ones around- Anderson Valley is a long favorite of mine- but they just seemed to be ubiquitous in the mid 90s, like every brewpub had to have one. I can still get Southern Tier Harvest, which is technically an ESB, and it's a seasonal so you know it's fresh. But it does seem like they are too few and far between.

 

The Gibbs was unfiltered and put in bottle for sampling. It was a beauteous cloudy fresh ale made just around a corner or two. It was very dry, rich, with a modern peppery hop bite with the great malt. Like beers in England all over the place in the "old" days!

 

I confess that I am an absolute hop head but I would love to see what some of the modern day brew masters would come up with. I'm always open to new extremes. Just look at what Schmaltz did with Bittersweet Lenny's.

 

Every single thing that goes into the beer should be the focus.

 

Considering that IPAs are currently the biggest selling style in craft beer, I find it hard to believe that malt-forward beers would suddenly overtake IPAs, since they're pretty much opposites in flavor.

However, if you're wondering whether beer geeks will become as obsessed over types of malts in beer as the currently are over types of hops, I don't doubt that.

Depends on whether you're talking about tasting them or discussing them.

 

I don't think malt is being ignored by the brewers. I just don't think the marketing sides of many of these companys are focusing on malts because it doesn't really move the needle for the average consumer...

I seem to remember southern tier making 2xone recently - a single hop, single malt beer. There harvest esb is also fantastic.

Also black ipa, red ipa, white ipa are all ddefined more by the malt than the hop.

Also the stone master of disguese - a blond coffee cocoa stout is certainly malt centric for the brewer as the absence of roasted malt is clearly the focus

 

Heady Topper uses imported Pearl malt from the UK. If one visits breweries and looks around the brew house , one can often see bags of malt from the UK and Germany. Some breweries also have brewers wearing the coveted red overalls from Weyermann, which have to be earned.

The statemennt that malt is not transported long distances is false.

 

“You don't have to pick a side. Malt and hops are everywhere.”

An old saying: Malt is the soul of the beer, while hops are the spice.

Cheers!

 

In Massachusetts there's a great micro-maltster (??) called Valley Malts that makes some really distinctive malts. Many local breweries have used it like Ipswich, Wormtown and Jack's Abby. To my taste buds, very unique. And I've always liked the local angle.

 

to the OG question, no!

 

I suppose with such an old term it is understandable to see different spelling and pronunciation due to different dialects - even in the same country.

 

So-called "drain pours" bring new meaning to "pouring out one's soul."