What's the last malt-forward beer that impressed you? (That's not high ABV or barrel-aged.)

Humbucker by Metropolitan. It is a fantastic Dortmunder!

 

The best malt expression for me recently has been
Notch Brewing Destika
So much packed in this lovely offering
Refined kept coming to mind
Cheers

 

I bought a six-pack of Dead Guy Ale this week because I hadn't had it in over a year. I'm drinking one right now, and am reminded of how smooth and flavorful it is. It's definitely malt-forward, but it's also well-balanced. I think it would pair nicely with a wide variety of foods.

 

I have to comment on the new Aldi replacement for Bacher, Brens. The original tasted like a Beck's clone. The new one, has quite a malt backbone, and is actually far superior to what it replaced. It's quite an upgrade. And superb for cheap. And it's an original now and distinctive. It tastes superior. And better balanced.

 

I don’t know if it’s been mentioned yet but Stet by Fox Farm, altbier, was amazing. I had Augustin 13 from Schilling and I liked that a lot considering I don’t overly care for the style.

 

This year's Burton on Holt release from Civil Life. They released it for the holidays, and I drank as much as I could get my hands on through the season. Unfortunately, I'm on my last sixer. It's still great!

 

Bistre in shade with deep redwood hues, and ruby highlights - The mechanics embed rich malt with designations in seared rye bread, pleasant laugenecken, and double-nut toffee. Mid-sense considers a mild hop bite against the fruited sweetness in softened plums & grapes. But the emphasis sticks to sweet toasted malt, while steering further into complexity and maintaining the elegance in development over vanilla raisin clusters, chocolate leather, apple taffy, and a touch of Slo Poke Caramel

The structure is earthy with a woodsy landscape, and a crisp, bready feel = A clean line of attack, with a timely dry finish, post the smooth and warming defense against charred ruggedness

 

As I was reading through this thread I realized that vast majority of the malt forward beers recommended are lagers (no surprise), but would be awesome if people could try to find more really good malt forward ales. Will take some digging for sure in this hop centric time we live in.

 

Don't forget, the title of the thread is what was the last malt forward beer that *impressed* you?

I drink a lot of malt forward beers, but many of them have been old favorites, so I don't consider them as impressive as they may have been the first time I had them... say 20, 30 years ago.

To me, it would have to be a new beer that stands out as completely wowing.

That said, early on I mentioned Guinness' new Over the Moon -- definitely not a lager.

 

Founder's Dirty Bastard is, maybe, the best malt-forward beer available at its price point.

 

Hoppy for the style but malty for me. And delicious.

 

Just had a Copper Compass Amber Ale from "Central Virginia", a pseudonym for the brewery producing Lidl private labels. This is a competitively priced amber ale that is easy to drink: nice look, balanced malty flavor, and neutral aftertaste. It's 5.1%, so could be a session beer if you are near a Lidl outlet. For this beer I'd apply a Jimmy Breslin quote (from a 70's era Piels commercial), "It's good beer. . . . It's better than good! It's good drinking beer."

 

Yup, according to the TTB COLA for the beer:

Although, "Crozet, Va" does sort of give it away. (I believe private label and contract-brewed brands are supposed to be listed under the owner not the brewery).

 

My reviews have identified Starr Hill, but weren't certified by the JessKidden reasearch team. Thanks.
(Although Jimmy Breslin was a celebrated newspaper writer, I would describe his description of late '70s Piels a bit too enthusiastic.)

 

Like in the old days when, regardless of brewery name, "Rochester, NY = Genesee", "Utica, NY = F X Matt" "Wilkes-Barre = The Lion" "Hammonton, NJ = Eastern", etc.

"Cincinnati", "San Antonio" and "Philadelphia" were one of two choices, etc.

 

Just read your review, I'll have to keep my eyes open for this one... but I can't recall if RR is available near me.*

*Bah. No.

 

Russian River Porter came to mind when I saw the thread title. Great label too.

Even more recently: Owl Theory, a euro dark lager by Fieldwork. It inspired me to write a review for the first time in years.

 

Ya that was an amazing brew

 

I visited the Fieldwork's website to learn (with emphasis in bold by me):

“Owl Theory

Czech Dark Lager

6% ABV

Rich, dark, and malty Lager with very little roast character and an interesting and complex flavor profile bouncing between doughy, toasty, and floral.”

That does indeed read like a tasty beer. I appreciate that they decided to keep the roast character subdued; it seems like too many US craft breweries feel the need to ‘amp up’ the roast aspect when brewing their dark lagers (e.g., Schwarzbier).

The Czech Dark Lager is not a popular style for craft breweries to produce so every year I homebrew a batch to satisfy my fix. I drank one last evening and needless to say my version is not roasty and in addition to the flavors detailed above it has a very subtle but noticeable flavor of Coca –Cola in the background which just plays very nicely with the flavors of dark bread, toasty, dark chocolate and the flavors provided by the Saaz hops (floral/herbal/spicy).

You are fortunate to have a local brewery willing to brew the Czech Dark Lager (and brewing it to style).

Cheers