The War on Sweetness

Is sweetness (or the perception of sweetness) in a beer always a bad thing? A few points to ponder:

1. Are there certain styles where you find that a moderate to high level of sweetness is acceptable, or even desirable?
2. Are there certain styles where too much dryness can actually be off-putting?
3. Does the source of the sweetness matter when determining your tolerance/enjoyability level? Considering malt sweetness, "fruity" hop sweetness, yeasty sweetness, adjuncts, etc.

In memoriam Walter Payton.

I love the sweetness in lambic faro.

I have no objection to sweetness in my imperial stouts, heavy belgian beers (e.g. Quads) and (English) barleywines. Not a huge fan of more than a touch in hoppy stuff or sour stuff. Yet to have a Faro that I did not find rather gross.

Originally posted by bytemesis
I have no objection to sweetness in my imperial stouts, heavy belgian beers (e.g. Quads) and (English) barleywines. Not a huge fan of more than a touch in hoppy stuff or sour stuff. Yet to have a Faro that I did not find rather gross.

1. Faro, Imperial Stout, Barley Wine, Weizenbock, Tripel, Abt/Quad - for all these styles there exist great examples which are sweet.
2. You can overdo everything. But for me, lots of dryness is usually not as bad as lots of sweetness.
3. I am not sure if there is a pattern for me. Sometimes it just feels right, sometimes it feels wrong.

Over time, I’ve become less and less able to drink barley wines. I try to avoid them altogether now. I just can’t handle that level of sweetness.

True faros, which only exist on draft, are pretty damn tasty.
I don’t mind sweetness in some stouts, including impy stouts. In moderation please.
Like my IPAs ans APAs dryish
Thought I liked dry ciders, but sometimes a bit of sweetness is OK

Originally posted by Travlr
True faros, which only exist on draft, are pretty damn tasty.
I don’t mind sweetness in some stouts, including impy stouts. In moderation please.
Like my IPAs ans APAs dryish
Thought I liked dry ciders, but sometimes a bit of sweetness is OK

1. Definitely anything in the stout family, for sure, as long as the finish ends up semi-dry.
2. Had Rhinegeist Andromeda (an APA) and felt that it was unplesantly dry. Before that, I had always felt that a super dry APA/IPA would be rather ideal, but I found out that, for me, a truly dry one isn’t that appealing. I felt like I needed a glass of water after that thing.
3. In non-stouts, I can tolerate some level of sweetness from all of the above, as long as some drying element comes in thereafter (a drier yeast strain, etc.)

1. The natural, complex sweetness of English barleywine, all forms of bock and altbier, darker Belgian strong ales of many varieties, and authentic English brown ales is absolutely appealing to me. It should be moderated and measured in good examples of these styles.
2. The patent black acrid bitterness of certain porters and stouts is exacerbated by excessive dryness, for me.
3. The source of perceived sweetness will impact my enjoyment of the beer depending on the style. For example, I’m happy with malt bearing the sweetness in all the above (bullet 1) listed styles, but not in any modern IPA, wherein I’d prefer for the perceived sweetness to come from the brightness of fruity hops (not actual sweetness in reality).

Ultimately, I think dryness conceptually is key to the enjoyment of beer. Saison DuPont and Orval, my two stand by beers, have elements of sweetness within an overall crisp and refreshing structure.

Great topic.

It varies greatly. I truly enjoy some of the gimmick adjunct beers that often end up a bit overly sweet.

IPA usually needs to be relatively dry for me to enjoy it, but again, if the hop, I’ve certainly enjoyed some that are a bit sweeter, especially ones on the higher end of the ABV scale.

In darker beer and Belgian beer, I’d say it’s usually easier to forgive a bit of extra sweetness. The biggest exception I can think of for this rule is saison. Under-attenuated saisons can GTFO.