The NEW Beer Thread

[Spyder]

It's just the opposite Jon, dark beers are less hoppy. At least that initial bitterness that a hopped up beer is meant to have. Dark beers, for the most part, are just brewed with a darker grain.

Not to get too geeky, but when they prepare the grain for brewing it gets baked in an oven. The lighter beers use grain that is cooked less, darker beer grain is cooked more. Just like what happens if you leave a piece of bread in the toaster oven for too long. The more dark grains they use, the darker the beer gets. You could realistically make a super dark beer taste exactly the same as a light beer, but brewers wouldn't do that. The craft beer consumer is expecting their beer to taste a certain way when they buy it, so the brewers use a style guide to craft the beer they are brewing to match whatever the style characteristic is.

Stouts and Porters are great, full flavored beers. I don't tend to buy them until late fall, but they are good to drink with most meals year round.