im old now and officially stuck in my ways. traditionally based recipes of english bitters, dry stouts and traditional porters, malty european-hopped ales (from altbiers to strong british ales) and bavarian beers styles cover 95% of my drinking. i just lost interest in the hop wars, though i’m always up to try a new hop. but every new high AA hop i’ve tried I have hated over the past few years. I think they taste cheap and breweries use them because they are cheaper per IBU than noble hops and traditional hops.
Aaannyway, any suggestions for unusual beer styles? Keeping in mind I don’t drink sours as I can only enjoy them intellectually and then only a little bit. also i’ve been around for about 15 years in the homebrewing community so i’m not new to most stuff.
American Blonde Ale
Australian Sparkling Ale
Baltic Porter
Belgian Blond Ale
Belgian Dark Strong Ale
Belgian Dubbel
Belgian Golden Strong Ale
Belgian Pale Ale
Belgian Singel / “Patersbier”
Belgian Tripel
Biere de Garde
Brett Beers (dry but not necessarily all sour)
California Common
Eisbock
Gruit Ale
Helles Bock / Maibock
Kentucky Common
Rauchbier
Roggenbier
Sahti
Tropical Stout
Wheatwine
Witbier
Why not pick up some samples of styles you might consider trying before committing to brewing a batch? You may find something you really like, or decide to just stick with the styles you’re currently enjoying.
If i did a historical style I would aim for braunschweiger mumme or something, maybe even unhopped ale. The last porter I made has one lb of brown malt and 1/2lb of chocolate malt so i’d say it definitely isn’t a modern take. again i always aim for traditional beer.
lol nice, and it is good to see a list. thanks. from there i would love to do a gruit ale, but i am so worried about it going sour. im tempted to do a schlenkerla style rauchbier but i wonder “can i really drink 5 gallons of it?” ive done a fair number of those styles and enjoy some.
right, i would try them. one issue i have is that in ontario the government heavily, heavily pushes (down our throat) ontario only microbrew. and its for the most part very poor quality and extremely trend focused. all i see at the government liquor store is a wall of NE or milkshake IPAs. i gave them several shots, last one i had was a brut IPA attempt. absolutely terrible, soulless stab at minimizing their expenses while still making a product that hits the minimum beer price set by the government.
but yes, i would theoretically try one of a recommended style - ergo this thread.
Where I live we are lucky to have an excellent beer and wine store with a huge selection of foreign and domestic beer. I make it a point to never leave the store without something that I have never tried before. Give it a try.
If you’re looking for something new and different, and brave enough to join us heretics, you could just say the heck with “styles” and brew beer without concern for style guidelines. Won’t be very traditional but you might like the results more than you’d expect. I doubt that more than 10% of what I brew is even close to any defined style, but I like my beer way more than anything I can buy around here.
i do like doing that, but i often end up wheedling it down to something that ends up being either not done or more in line with an existing beer. example: i keep getting in my mind making a beer black but with no roastiness or roasted malt flavour at all (no cheating with sinamar or colours :] )
but once i make it in brewtarget it isnt dark enough or i end up thinking “well why bother? its just going to end up roasty anyway”. if you get what im saying?
did you ever make any beer like that? thats probably the best direction i ought to go, and it is fun making the recipes anywya
true, i used to be a big german pils drinker, but i find it gives me a hangover and i prefer helles or lesser hopped lagers. i have and would make a lager beer with ~30 IBU of noble hops, i just didn’t label it as a pilsner as i figured lager covered it.
one area for experimentation might be a kind of india noble-hop pilsner or a well done imperial lager. they exist but are rarely done at a quality level
My favorite beer to brew and drink is a Dortmunder/Helles Exportbier… Got more to it than a helles, not as hop dependent as pilsner, simple and straightforward, easy drinking and refreshing.
British Dark Mild is a nice one for something that is darker, maltier.
Another great beer that checks a lot of boxes and has fallen out of favor in the “hop wars” is a well-brewed American Amber Ale… Thinking the classics like Hop Head Red, Red Seal, Nugget Nectar… They are hoppy for sure - but, harken back to the classic hops, richer, fuller beers.
I need to try a beer with carafa III or blackprinz in the future. any tasting notes on these?
A beer I thought of today was a pale malt and honey belgian braggot. like a belgian blonde but with honey instead of cane sugar added, maybe even a slightly higher amount of fermentables 25% honey
