My dad is always complaining about the modern craft beer movement – he says that all of the beers now are too sweet for him. I’m sure it has something to do with the amount of malt that is used now. So what are the “driest” beers available in the US today?
Get him some Saison Dupont…
With the exception of some sours, I am now officially stopping trying any beers from The Bruery anymore. They are almost always far too sweet.
A Berliner Weisse or Gose will quench his thirst.
Asahi Super Dry
I love the Dupont, Gose, and Berliner Weiss (especially Bayerischer Bahnhof, YUM) suggestions. It could be malt and/or alcohol giving him the impression of sweetness, so you should be okay if the beers don’t have much of either. I suspect it has more to do with high alcohol than anything, as that is so overly prevalent in popular US smaller production beers these days.
Jever
pilsner and kolsch also come to mind.
All beer has at least some unfermented sugar in it, and most beers have quite a bit. The real trick is the balance between sweet (sugar) and bitter (hops) and/or sour. As beers get bigger, it becomes harder to insure that the balance remains in place from attack to finish. Obviously mouth-feel is affected as well. In addition, ales will tend to be very slightly sweeter than lagers if everything else is equal because ale yeast won’t ferment Melibiose while lager yeast will.
Agreed. Stick to some of the better pilsners on the market and you will get everything you need. You have to be careful with some of the American Kolsch beers, as many of them emulate a West Coast style rather than the true German style -
Heater-Allen Heater Pils, although that may be tough to get but Victory Prima Pils should be around.
RRBC Redemption.
Jason
Sour brown and red ales from Belgium. As the name implies, sourness is the main flavor rather than sweetness or malt. And they are delicious! But be sure to ask someone at the store for a dry version, since many red ales are very sweet (like Duchesse de Bourgogne).
I had a taste of this the other day (I don’t drink much beer) and found it really bad. The mid palate seemed to be sucking the life out of my tongue like a drying agent or something. Anybody else? Note, I like dry beers in general, my favorite is Pilsner Urquell.
I never thought of Pilsners as “Dry” beers, but what do I know (I like Pilsner Urquell very much)?. Dry beers came out of Japan (Asahi and Kirin were leaders) and were built to be very light in flavor and low in RS. Maybe the definition of dry beer has moved on since they were first introduced.
Asahi Super Dry is best drunk ice cold and quickly. It is not a beer for those who like body in their beer
OK, shows how much I know about beer! When I say “dry,” read however you describe Pilsners (light?).
Ie drink it ice cold so whatever taste it has is masked, and get it over with quickly? Why bother?
When you are on the Shinkansen watching the country go by, it’s often the only option. Otherwise, I do like it with Japanese cuisine, where I find maltier, hoppier, sweeter beers conflict with or override the subtler flavors of the cuisine
Duvel, the king of dry beers - in fact I am going to have one now (it is only 1:30 here). Cheers!