Thoughts on blonde/golden stouts?

Interesting. I've seen 'em a few times but never pulled the trigger, now I really want to try them after learning a bit. Would love to do a true blind tasting next to roasted malt stouts to see how not being able to see the color influences enjoyment of them.

 

This would make sense to me. It's a catch-all category.

 

Never heard of it, but Stouts and Porters are differentiated (traditionally speaking) from "blonder" ales because of their dark colour and roasty characteristic. Just like taking away a main characteristic from any other style, I don't think a Blonde Stout is Stout anymore. Similarly, brewing an IPA with dark malt makes it a "Black Ale", I think that we could just make it easy and draw up the new style of "Blonde Stout".

 

I would definitely assume that it would be the case. Whether we realize it or not, we certainly "drink with our eyes". I borrowed that term from the cocktail world, but I think the same applies to beer.

Give it a try a let us know

 

Apologies... I missed a word when reading and completely skipped over the real meaning of your comment haha...

 

I've had a few, and to be honest I was quite surprised at first. But they're interesting, and I'd say overall I like them. Would I have two in a row, probably not, but if they had one on tap at my local I'd hit it up every so often. I think the last one I had was at Chatty Monks in Reading, PA and I thought they did a great job with it. Of course all of their other beers were very good as well. I've never seen one in a bottle though as far as I recall. I'll have to do some research and seek some of them out.

 

Of course.The same over here ,the assumption would be that Stout is a dark beer.The temptation is to think that things have always been the same if the names are the same. Many people are surprised to see a Pale Mild though pre 1914 most Milds were pale. And also strong and heavily hopped.

 

They're not Stouts. Golden Ale (and some other similar styles) with some coffee added. Out of all the "gimmicky" styles, Blonde/Golden/White Stout is the worst.

 

That beer you remember in your store was Sierra Nevada Fade to White. It was a Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beer brewed by Total Wine store personnel who attended that Camp in September 2014. The beer came out in February 2015 on draught only at some TWM growler stations across the country.

The "White Stout" style (or at least this particular beer) was inspired by a pale stout beer that originated in England in a prior era (as @marquis shares above). This Beer Camp beer was, indeed, a strong ("stout") pale beer that had coffee as one of the flavor characteristics. Beer Camp beers are all about experimentation, and experiment is exactly what we did. This was before the cloudy NEIPA craze, but during the IPA craze none-the-less, and we wanted to NOT brew another IPA at the time.

 

Yep - and of course, "mild" basically meant "not aged", by which definition most modern beers could be called mild. I think the main thing here is that beer terminology is defined by usage not etymology, so if "golden stout" or "black IPA" help people to understand what they're going to get when they order a beer then they're perfectly valid descriptions.

As to the actual beers, I've had a couple, they were okay but apart from the novelty factor I wasn't sure that the paleness actually added anything over just ordering a regular stout. Unlike black IPA, which actually adds a new and interesting element to the flavour.

 

The Butcher and the Brewer in Cleveland has an Albino Stout, and it's damn delicious. It looks like a blond ale but really tastes like a stout. It did remind me of a coffee blond as well, but definitely stout-like. I wish they bottled/canned it. It's very drinkable.

 

As another post mentioned here AZ Wilderness did a Blonde Stout and it was very good. With that said they are a rare item to see and I don't think it will go beyond a one off for most breweries.

 

. . . not a stout.

 

Wouldn't say it's the worst, but it's certainly nothing more than novelty.

 

More than that,traditionally Stouts and Ales were two entirely separate brewing traditions and industries..Many beer enthusiasts have palpitations when Porter and Stout are called Ales.They share top fermentation, true but the US and Canada share North America yet manage to be considered separate,

 

I have had a golden stout and I class it with black IPA - they are both fine beers but the first is not a stout and the second is not an India Pale Ale.

 

Checked this out back in 2014...

Stone's imperial golden stout (w/ cocoa and coffee) - not awful, but also not at all to my liking - I haven't opted for a "golden" or "pale" stout since.

Reiterating what I said in the black IPA thread, I'm partial to bitter, hoppy pales and dark, roasty stouts - I don't care much for beers that try to blend the two into one.

 

The Oro Blanco variant is probably the tastiest I've had of this sub category.

Definitely the first one I've had of this 'style,' and remembering being awestruck by it, but not necessarily impressed by the depth of flavor.

Yep, this is the first one that popped in my mind as it had the most stout-like flavors and aromas while also the lightest color--very deceiving. If I'm not mistaken they went over to Saucy Brew Works and are now brewing a white stout called Fauxbia.

All that is to say, I've had them, and have no idea how to classify them. If the brewery wants to call them a stout, and they taste pretty similarly to a stout, I guess it's fine with me, as long as those flavors are derived from malt somehow. But if they're making a blonde ale with coffee, then that's misleading.

As far as I know, Butcher and the Brewer uses white oats, and by extension I'm guessing so does Saucy. I have no reason to believe they're being deceptive, although since Jackie O's White App and Stone's Master of Disguise mention the use of coffee, maybe they're failing to be forthcoming on the matter...

 

The only blond stout that I have tried is the aforementioned Double Sunshine Stout referenced by the OP. Given that small sample, my reference is limited and potentially unreliable regarding my opinion about the style.

To me, the difference extended beyond color. With a stout I expect some of the following: roast, char, dark chocolate and/or milk chocolate. In the blond stout I tried, I got zero of that. So I wouldn't call it a stout without making "blond stout" its own style.. The first time I drank the beer I disliked it because I went into it with expectations that were not appropriate. When I tried it again with more realistic expectations, my experience was far more favorable.

What style would I currently consider it? I would go with blond ale before stout, and that is still very misleading.