I'm a big stout and IPA fan, but Iv'e been wanting to try some beers with more caramel flavor. Any suggestions? Specific beers or styles.
I'd go with traditional brown ales.. English or American.. it's 2013 and brown ales are still so underappreciated
Saranac Caramel Porter Go to the Beers page and search caramel. It will list the beers with caramel in the name. I am willing to bet if caramel is in the name of the beer, some caramel taste will be there as well.
Inversion IPA from Deschutes. That stuff totally has a caramel to it. It has a 'wort' flavor in it as well, as if they reinfuse wort post fermentation which adds that slightly toasted caramel flavor to the palate. Tastes more like homebrew than anything other commercial brew i know of. they must be doing something to it...does any one know?
LOL, I think a $30+ bottle may be pushing it if OP is just trying to get their feet wet in a new style. Scotch ales are a good recommendation... quite a few barleywines feature caramel malts in their grain bill as well. If you like IPAs, I'd definitely recommend checking out hoppy ambers like Troegs Nugget Nectar, Maine Beer Co's Zoe, or especially imperials like Lagunitas Lucky 13 when it's available.
Had a bad keg of Heavy Seas Loose Cannon recently that tasted like sour caramel...and not in a good way. I sent it back.
Obviously this one isn't easy to find or obtain (an understatement), but Sam Adams Millennium tastes like liquid caramel.
Founders Backwoods Bastard. great scotch ale very complex with hints of oak, vanilla, and caramel taste imo. one of my favorite beers
Some styles that come to mind: Old Ale, English Barleywine, Wee-heavy, English Strong Ale. I've also picked up some caramel notes in vienna lagers and marzens before.
For great caramel flavors try the Scotch Ales as mentioned by others in this post -- the process of making that style creates toffee notes from caramelizing the malt. And I agree with williamjbauer -- try getting your malty caramel fill from Founders Dirty Bastard. Oh yeah.
I just stared at this for a few minutes and convinced myself I need it... ISO!! FT: Werther's Original Hard Candies...
Pretty much anything aged in a brandy barrel has developed caramel notes in my experiences. Also, barrel aged barley wines hit caramel notes for me a large percentage of the time. The founders mentions above were pretty spot on.
The malt spectrum of syrup to caramel to vanilla tends to predominantly consist in brown ales, scottish ales, and barleywines. Obviously, brewers can do whatever they want--but generally speaking, I'd search out some good beers within those styles. Also (just my opinion) don't go with beers that say "caramel" or "vanilla" on them. Most of them use exorbitant amount of adjuncts to try and achieve that flavor--but they tend to go overboard, resulting in an overly sweet beer (again, my opinion). Instead, look for a beer that already has that natural malt complex. I think you'll enjoy the subtleties of a sweetness that's intrinsic to any given malt more so than the overt sweetness of added flavors.
