Curious about sweet beer? This article lists our top 10 picks and breaks down what makes each beer sweet and enjoyable.
Growlers
- Sweetness in beer comes from malted barley, lactose, and special malts, with brewing techniques significantly affecting the final flavor.
- Sweet stouts and lambic beers are top picks for sweet beer lovers, offering dessert-like flavors and unique fruity profiles.
- Sweet beers can complement both desserts and savory dishes, enhancing the overall dining experience with their rich and balanced flavors.
What Makes a Beer Sweet?
The sweetness in a beer can come from various sources, with malted barley, lactose, and special malts like caramel being the most common. Aromatic malts also contribute to the rich and complex flavor profiles, adding depth and balance to the overall taste. Residual sugars that remain after fermentation contribute to a fuller body and a sweeter taste. Brewers often use nonfermentable sugars like lactose to enhance the sweetness in certain beer styles, while higher malt flavors in sweet beer styles also add to the overall sweetness.
The mash temperature during brewing influences the amount of fermentable sugars produced, which in turn affects the beer’s sweetness. Yeast strains and longer boil times are additional factors that can impact the residual sugar content and sweetness of the final beer. Some brewers add sugar after fermentation to further enhance the sweetness, a method that is debated within the brewing community. Whether purists view it as a shortcut or others embrace it for the enhanced sweetness, the technique showcases the artistry involved in how the beer is brewed.
Best Sweet Stouts to Try
Sweet stouts are a beloved beer style known for their rich, creamy, and dessert-like flavors. Unique ingredients that significantly enhance the sweetness and complexity of these brews include:
- Milk sugar
- Dark chocolate
- Madagascar vanilla beans
- Bourbon barrels
- Cacao nibs, which enhance the chocolate notes
- Dark malts, contributing to the rich flavors and complexity
These ingredients help create a full-bodied texture and mouthfeel that sweet stout enthusiasts crave.
If you’re looking to indulge in some of the best sweet stouts, here are a few recommendations that will surely satisfy your sweet tooth.
Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout
Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout is a distinctive beer known for its smooth and creamy chocolate flavors. The use of organic chocolate malt contributes to its rich chocolate flavor, making it a delightful treat for any chocolate lover. This stout is carefully hopped to enhance its flavor profile, adding a subtle bitterness that balances the sweetness of the chocolate.
The combination of organic ingredients results in a delightful finish that enhances its drinkability, making it a perfect choice for those who appreciate a well-crafted sweet stout.
Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout
If you’re a fan of dessert in a glass, Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout is a must-try. This stout is known for its rich, dessert-like flavors that are reminiscent of French crème brûlée. The caramel malt and vanilla notes create a sweet finish that is both indulgent and satisfying. Additionally, it has a smooth finish that enhances its drinkability.
It’s the perfect brew for those who enjoy a sweet treat with their beer.
Left Hand Milk Stout
Left Hand Milk Stout is an iconic sweet stout that boasts a rich flavor profile and a creamy mouthfeel. The addition of lactose sugar adds a touch of sweetness that harmonizes perfectly with the beer’s overall flavor. The beer also has a smooth mouthfeel that enhances its overall flavor, making each sip a delightful experience.
Despite its sweetness, the stout features a mild bitter bitterness that balances the flavors, making it a well-rounded and enjoyable brew.
Luscious Lambic Beers
Lambic beers are a unique category, produced through spontaneous ferment using wild yeasts, which gives them a distinctively unique flavor. The aroma of lambic beers, often rich with notes of fruit and wild yeast, significantly contributes to their unique flavor. These beers can range from dry to sweet, with fruit lambics being particularly popular for their fruity sweetness, influenced by the type of fermented fruit used in the brewing process. Additionally, the use of local malt in lambic beers enhances their flavor and connects them to their region, adding to their authenticity.
Lambics offer a refreshing and often tart profile that can be a delightful change from more traditional beer styles.
Lindemans Framboise
Lindemans Framboise is a standout in the lambic category, known for its vibrant red color and the combination of sweet and tart raspberry flavors. This beer’s lively raspberry notes make it an excellent choice for those who enjoy a fruity, sweet brew.
It’s a perfect example of how lambic beers can balance sweetness and tartness in a crisp, refreshing and enjoyable way. The crisp finish enhances its refreshing quality, making it even more approachable and enjoyable.
Boon Kriek Boon
Boon Kriek Boon is celebrated for its prominent cherry flavor, which balances sweetness with the natural acidity of lambic beer. The natural carbonation that develops through secondary fermentation enhances the complex cherry flavor, making it a delightful and refreshing choice for those who appreciate the nuanced flavors of a well-crafted lambic. Additionally, the use of orange peel in the brewing process contributes to the beer’s aromatic profile, adding depth and character to its overall flavor.
Fruited Sours: A Sweet Twist
Fruited sour ales offer an innovative twist on traditional sour beers, incorporating key ingredients like lactose, tropical passion fruit, and raspberry purees to enhance their sweetness. These beers are known for their sweet fruit flavors, which provide a unique and refreshing taste experience. The complexity of fruited sours is often enriched by dark fruit flavors, adding depth and richness to the overall profile.
Fruited sours can be a delightful choice for those who enjoy the combination of sweet and tart flavors in their beer, especially when they include sour cherries. Drinking these beers offers an enjoyable experience, with their rich flavors and smooth finish making them easy to sip and appreciate.
Omnipollo x Burley Oak Bianca J.R.E.A.M.
Omnipollo x Burley Oak Bianca J.R.E.A.M. is a collaboration that combines elements of a gose with flavors reminiscent of dessert pies. This unique blend creates a smoothie-like quality in the beer, making it a perfect balance of traditional beer and innovative dessert flavors. The slight bitterness from the coffee balances the sweetness of ingredients like blueberries and syrup, enhancing the overall flavor profile without overwhelming the drinker.
Southern Grist Black Currant Mango Hill
Southern Grist Brewing Co. is known for its range of sweet series, including fruited sours and milk stouts. Their Black Currant Mango Hill is a lactose sour ale that incorporates various fruits like strawberry, pineapple, and cranberry. This beer offers a delightful blend of sweet and tart flavors, making it a refreshing and enjoyable choice for any beer lover. Additionally, it has more alcohol compared to traditional styles, contributing to its greater body and balanced bitterness.
Imperial Stouts with Sweet Notes
Imperial stouts often derive their sweetness from the aging process in bourbon barrels, which imparts rich flavors and complexity. Imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels enhances the flavors of these stouts, introducing notes of vanilla, caramel, and dark fruits. Roasted malt also contributes to the rich flavors of imperial stouts, offering earthy, nutty notes that enhance both aroma and taste.
Specialty malts and crystal malts play a critical role in building the foundation of these imperial stouts, enhancing their malt sweetness alongside the effects of barrel aging and smoked malt.
WeldWerks Coffee Coconut Stout
WeldWerks Coffee Coconut Stout is characterized by elements of chocolate-covered marshmallow and roasted coffee, creating a deliciously sweet and creamy finish. The use of various hops balances the sweetness of the beer, contributing floral, earthy, and citrus notes to the overall flavor profile. The combination of toasted coconut with Peruvian coffee adds to the beer’s rich flavor profile, making it a standout choice for those who appreciate a sweet and flavorful stout.
Hardywood Park Cassowary
Hardywood Park Cassowary is an imperial milk stout noted for its intense flavors of chocolate, dark fruits, and hints of toffee. The great notion of combining various flavors in this beer results in a rich tasting experience, with its complex flavors creating a satisfying and indulgent drink.
Sweet Beers for Everyday Enjoyment
Many options exist for those who enjoy sweeter beers regularly, offering a balanced and flavorful experience. Southern Grist Brewing Co. often highlights the use of tropical fruits in their beers, creating a rich dessert-like flavor profile.
For those who appreciate balanced sweetness, a pale ale can be an excellent option, offering malt sweetness and hop bitterness. Another excellent choice is Genesee’s Specialty Honey Brown, a well-balanced lager, characterized by caramel malt and honey notes. If you want to explore more complex flavors, consider diving into dark lagers, which offer a different take on malty sweetness with rich flavors.
DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus!
DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus! is an American Porter known for its malty and chocolaty notes, complemented by nutty peanut butter aromas. The toasted bread notes also contribute to the beer’s flavor profile, adding a layer of historical significance to its sweetness. With an ABV of 6.5%, this beer offers a delightful balance of sweetness and richness, making it a popular choice among beer enthusiasts.
Genesee Specialty Honey Brown
Genesee Specialty Honey Brown is a lager that features caramel malt flavors, gentle hop bitterness, and noticeable honey. This well-balanced beer offers a natural sweetness that makes it a great option for everyday enjoyment.
Brewing Your Own Sweet Beer
Brewing your own sweet beer can be a rewarding experience for any homebrewer. Many sweet stouts use lactose as a key ingredient to impart creaminess and sweetness. Adding maple syrup during brewing can also enhance the beer’s sweetness.
The beer is brewed with carefully selected ingredients to enhance its sweetness, creating a rich and flavorful profile. Using a less attenuative yeast strain can help create a sweeter beer by leaving more residual sugars.
Mash at a Higher Temperature
Mashing at a higher temperature is a technique used in brewing to enhance beer sweetness. This process retains more sugars, resulting in a sweeter beer with lower alcohol content.
Additionally, higher mash temperatures improve the body and head retention in the final beer product.
Use More Caramel Malt
Adding more caramel malt to beer increases sweetness with malty, toffee, and burnt sugar notes. However, it’s important to incorporate caramel malts in moderation to avoid overwhelming sweetness in the beer.
Pairing Sweet Beers with Food
Pairing sweet beers with food can enhance and elevate your dining experience. The gentle hop bitterness in certain lagers, like Genesee’s Specialty Honey Brown, balances the sweetness from honey, making it an excellent companion for a variety of dishes.
Sweet beers can complement both desserts and savory dishes, creating a harmonious balance of flavors on the sweet side.
Desserts
Sweet stouts and lambics are particularly well-suited for pairing with chocolate desserts, where their rich flavors complement the sweetness. For instance, chocolate cakes pair exceptionally well with imperial stouts, as the beer can amplify the chocolate flavors.
Fruit-based tarts and pastries also complement the fruity notes of lambics, making them a perfect match. Additionally, creamy desserts like panna cotta or cheesecake benefit from the smooth texture and sweetness of sweet stouts.
Savory Dishes
Sweet beers can effectively complement spicy foods by providing a counterbalance to the heat. For example, barbecue dishes pair well with sweet beers, as the caramelization in the meat mirrors the beer’s sweetness. Rich meats, like barbecue pork or smoked brisket, are particularly enhanced by the sweetness of certain dark beers.
Sweet beers can also balance the flavors in spicy notes dishes, creating a pleasant contrast that enhances both the beer and the food.
Summary
Exploring the world of sweet beers can be a delightful adventure for your taste buds. From the rich, creamy flavors of sweet stouts to the vibrant, fruity notes of lambic and fruited sour ales, there’s a sweet beer for every palate. Understanding what makes a beer sweet, discovering some of the best sweet stouts, lambics, and fruited sours, and learning how to brew your own sweet beer at home opens up a world of possibilities. So, whether you’re pairing them with your favorite desserts or savoring them with a spicy dish, sweet beers are sure to bring joy and satisfaction. Cheers to the sweet side of beer!
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a beer sweet?
Beer gets its sweetness mainly from malted barley and special malts like caramel, along with residual sugars left after fermentation. So, if you enjoy a sweeter beer, look for those rich malts!
What are some of the best sweet stouts to try?
You’ve gotta try Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout, Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout, and Left Hand Milk Stout; they all have that rich, creamy flavor that’ll hit the sweet spot!
What are lambic beers, and why are they unique?
Lambic beers are super unique because they’re made through spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, which creates a one-of-a-kind flavor. Plus, when you add fruit, it can really change things up from dry to sweet.
How can I brew my own sweet beer at home?
To brew your own sweet beer, use lactose for creaminess and sweetness, and consider adding maple syrup. Also, opt for a yeast strain that doesn’t ferment fully to keep that sugary flavor.
What foods pair well with sweet beers?
Sweet beers vibe really well with chocolate desserts, fruit tarts, and even spicy or barbecued dishes, balancing out the flavors nicely. Just think of them as a tasty match for both sweet and savory eats!
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