Marris Otter Blonde

[Westco]

So I have brewed blonde ales like crazy over the last year so that i could perfect the style. I ended up getting a couple awards for a blonde recipe. The only negative comments I received from judges was that it was not nutty or biscuity enough. Apparently it was too clean. I did look up the style guidelines and it does mention those flavors. My blonde recipe that won a couple awards is very simple:

100%-Gamb Pale Malt

Willamette @ 60
Willamette @ KO

I ended up mashing higher and it improved the beer's flavor greatly. But as a experiment I wanted to try something different.


I thought that if I used Marris Otter as the base malt I would get more of a complex malt flavor. Well I was wrong, wrong wrong wrong and I want to know why. The beer is very bland its just kinda meh. Does anyone know why? Why would a semi neutral pale malt be way more complex then the notorious biscuity malty bread like malt that is Marris Otter? I haven't had much experience working with this malt so maybe a little insight from you guys would help. Oh and just a FYI marris otter used as 100% of a base malt in a blonde puts it out of style color wise by about 2 SRM.

Westco

[brewinhard]

I bet you could get good results blending the two malts in a 50/50 ratio. Was the pale malt fresher than the MO? What about trying small amounts of character malts in your original recipe like munich, vienna, or my favorite aromatic?

[BDawg]

You might want to try the Gambrinus ESB malt as an alternative.
Oh, and what yeast are you using? That will make a huge difference.

[Westco]

I am using 1056. I have solved my problem by mashing higher. The brew was still dry and had a increased malt flavor. I was just wandering why the marris otter batch was so bland. Fermentation was perfect, no flaws. Same amount of o2, healthy yeast etc..

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

What brand of MO was it? That can make a big difference. As to your other comment, here's from the BJCP: "optionally some light character malt flavor (e.g., bread, toast, biscuit, wheat) can also be present." So it's optional, not required.


There is this MO that I like called Glen Eagle, it's really dark, almost like an English Munich. Might actually make blonde borderline too dark on it's own. Golden Promise might be fun to play with too.

[Westco]

Crisp MO

Westco

[dannypo]

In my experience Crisp is the cleanest of the MOs I have used. Thomas Fawcett and Muntons seem to have a bit more character. That being said the Crisp is still more biscuitty than domestic 2 row.

[Tom from Raleigh]

I brewed an all Maris Otter beer a few years ago and I too thought it was bland, too. You might be able to get where you want to go by varying the mash rests, water chemistry, etc. I find that Special Roast adds a bread crust flavor. Maybe a little would help your blond.

Don't forget that it's a mistake to rely on one set of judges' comments in isolation. Often, inexperienced judges don't have the style knowledge/experience and just look for flaws.