Light beer

At the Scottsdale Culinary Arts festival I was probably asked the question "What is your lightest beer" more times than I like to think about. My answer to the question though surprised many people. My answer was "Do you mean lightest in color or lightest in flavor?" If they answered lightest in color I gave them Churchill Wheatwine at 9.6% Alcohol, if they answered lightest in flavor I gave them an El Grande Nutz at 5.5% Alcohol. Still when serving the El Grande Nutz to them, some of the people with their preconceived phobias of dark beer were reluctant to try it. Most that did try it were pleasantly surprised but it is amazing how well the big macros have done their job at brainwashing the American populace into believing that a good beer is light in color and has no flavor. Most Americans, indeed, most beer drinkers worldwide, prefer light-colored lagers that have no taste if served as cold as possible. Warm up one of those beers though to 50 degrees or so and you'd be surprised at how flavorful they can become. Sadly though it is the not so pleasant flavors that come out unless you like the taste of creamed corn in your beer. Forget the difference between lagers and ales, for many beer drinkers, there are only two types of beer, light and dark. Many believe that beer that is light is good or that dark is bad. Period. End of discussion. Contrary to popular myths though, dark beers are not all heavy, bitter, fattening and strong. Some are weak and watery like some of the big light colored macrobrews and some like Guinness are actually lower in carbs and calories than most of the light colored beers and there are light colored beers that are strong and flavorful.
The difference between dark and light beers is simply a matter of adding some dark malt. Dark malts vary in color from just slightly roasted and tan to being as black as charcoal. It really does not take a lot of dark malt to make a beer dark. Maybe as little as 2 ounces for every 8 pounds of light malt to turn a beer pitch black. Some dark beers such as a Belgium Double or a German Doppelbock may have a lot of flavor and body but it is only because the beer has a higher residual sugar content that has nothing at all to do with the color of the malted barley but because the yeast used did not eat up all the residual sugars. As a matter of fact the darkest malts do not add any sugar to the beer at all because they all got burned up in the roasting process. Bitterness in beer can come from hops or dark malts. The kilning process in the production of malted barley adds not just color, but also flavor to the finished beer. These bitter flavors can be described as toasty, roasty, chocolaty or coffee-like.
As I mentioned Guinness before, served on draft from Dublin to Scottsdale and beyond, is really a light beer, low in carbs and alcohol. Dark beers are also no heavier on the stomach than light beers. Our mind plays tricks on us when you drink a beer with color into making you believe you are drinking something heavier or more flavorful than it really is. Most beers, whether light or dark, contain about 140 to 150 calories for every 12 ounces. A few are bigger in the calorie department, most notably those with a great deal of those unfermented sugars like those that I've already mentioned but again it has nothing to do with their color. A German Helles Bock is light in color and is high in alcohol and calories, the same as some light colored Belgian Ales. Just to completely debunk the dark beer myths, a dark beer can be low in alcohol or high in alcohol or smack dab in the middle. The same is true of any light-colored beer. Is there any rhyme or reason here? Yes, there is. It’s the malt. The more malt there is to begin with, the more flavor, alcohol and body can be produced. Light or dark, dark or light, the story’s the same.