Beer recommendations for a newbie malt-head?

Have you tried many Old Ales ?

 

How about some styles?
stouts
scotch ales
porters
marzen
bock
doppelbock
just to name a few.
Stand outs to me for those styles include...
left hand milk stout
Bristol laughing lab
Odell cut throat porter
paulaner marzen
Boulevard boss tom's bock
ayinger celebrator

 

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/79/

 

Do you like lagers? When it comes to malts, for some reason well-made Helles lagers really do it for me. People report flavors of honey, graham crackers, and biscuit. Weihenstephaner Original is a nice example, if available, other German ones such as Benediktiner helles is another personal favorite. Mention lagers in general as you mentioned SA's Oktoberfest, which is a great Marzen.

Also along that line is the style of doppelbocks. This style you may love as it is a lager, but very similar in ways to a porter or a dark Belgian ale. Tons of dark fruit flavors, strong and robust but still drinkable. Try Ayinger's Celebrator if you can get your hands on it, although there are plenty of other great examples of the style as well.

 

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
Odell Isolation Ale (winter seasonal)
The aforementioned doublebocks and marzens
Oskar Blues Old Chub Scotch Ale
Winter warmers
Quality pilsners can have a nice crackery maltiness

 

I notice you've got your location listed as Virginia -- in that case you should be able to find Starr Hill's Snow Blind doppelbock without much difficulty. I'm a big fan of that beer, and it's not hoppy at all, definitely more in the sweet and bready (very dark bread in this case) range -- so I figure that one should work pretty well for you. It's a winter seasonal so it should still be on shelves this month at least, with some possible stragglers hanging around into February in some areas.

If you like the malty European pale lagers, another Virginia beer I'd recommend trying would be Devil's Backbone's Gold Leaf Lager. They also have a Vienna Lager (medium) and Schwarzbier (dark) that are very good.

As far as full mouthfeel goes, high-ABV imperial stouts always seem to do that pretty well for me. Bourbon County has probably vanished from the shelves by now (and it's pretty expensive even when it is around -- $10+ for a single 16.9 ounce bottle), but there's plenty of other imperial stouts, barrel-aged and otherwise, out there that should have some similar characteristics.

 

If you really loved the Sierra/Mahrs beer then you might not be as opposed to hops as you think.

 

Be sure to try Hefeweizens, the best example of which is Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier.

 

I was thinking that too. The hops in the Sierra beer are an unusual mix. Many people here (myself incuded) thought that this beer had a spicy character from the hops. It's a hoppy beer, but it isn't an IPA. Many IPAs today are made with modern American hops and are present in very bold amounts.

 

Under "beers" at the top of this page there is a "beer styles" menu. If you visit the beer styles listing you can then read each style description to find some that may appeal to you.

 

Founders Dirty Bastard and Oskar Blues Old Chub are both excellent, complex, malty beers. Scotch ales. I think you would love them.

 

Seems like the difference between "hoppy" as in Hop bitterness and "hoppy" as in "Hop flavors" is becoming useful here. For me, the SN/M collaboration had Hop flavors w/o a lot of Hop bitterness. So the English style IPA might also be something that would work.

IIRC, VA gets the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale. Might be worth a try as it emphasizes the flavors of the East Kent Goldings. Also, if it can be found in VA, the Yards IPA is an English style but, IIRC, with only American hops in it. For me, both have Hop flavors but not a lot of that American Hop bitterness found in so many US made IPAs.

 

:-)

Looking at the diversity of replies in this thread, I don't think you'll be finding a hive mind solution on this site.