When did malt get a bad rep?

There are so many instances where malty mess is being used to describe a beer that is not lacking in the hops department at all (90 Minute, anyone? or even many English IPAs) that it does come across as someone looking for a way to sound cool, or just has no clue what noble hops are like. Perhaps both. I think it does go beyond a preference issue, and I tend to read the subtext as "not hardcore enough for me, bro.".

Of course there are poorly made beers that are syrupy or cloying, but that should be on the brewer, not the mere presence of some malt character.

 

And I suspect that a number of BAs refer to those sort of beers as being a "malty mess".

I have experienced this in DIPAs from breweries that are well respected by many BAs.

Cheers!

 

Wow, a billion times?

 

You did see the wink right!?!

 

I feel with the current trends of ipas that taste like pineapple juice on purpose or the session ipas that taste like hop water - a brewery that knows how to use malt and isn't afraid to scare away the new beer geek is more important than ever. And the breweries who can make a proper malty style without relying on a ton of adjuncts like vanilla, chocolate, etc for flavor and body is appreciated these days too.

 

I love a good malt bomb, wee heavy's being my favorite. I do agree with most of the posts though, if you expecting hoppy and get an overdose of malt it is disappointing.