I have a beer that I have brewed a few times that uses a small amount of Viking Caramel Aromatic malt - 4 oz in 5 gallons. I have brewed without it and the beer is not the same, so I really would like to use it or something like it. Unfortunately, Viking no longer lists it on their website and MoreBeer now only sells it in 55 lb bags. Previously I could buy it by the pound. At 4 oz per batch and about 4 batches of this brew per year, a 55 lb bag would last me 55 years. That is long past the time that the malt, or me, would be viable!
What can I use as a substitute? It is listed as 60-75 L and aromatic. There must be some combination of readily available malts that can replicate this flavor, but I don’t know what that would be. Any suggestions?
At only 4 ounces, you may potentially be able to get by with Briess 60L or 80L caramel, or better yet, with one of the various UK crystal malts in the ballpark 65-75L range.
Weyermann’s Caramunich 200 (200 EBC, or ~75L) may also work if you can find it.
I’ve never used Viking aromatic, I have used both Dingeman’s and Briess and to me they taste very different from each other, but more each other than they do from other 20L malts. I don’t know that you are going to find a really good substitute.