Good discussion. Great to get everyone's input here, thanks. I have not had any of the above examples you guys mentioned and cannot get them where I live. No trips overseas anytime soon either! I bought some Alaskan Amber to try and sadly it seemed to miss the mark for me. Dunno, my suspicion is that it's not a particularly great example of the style. It's like 18 IBU, pretty sweet, and more caramelly than would be my preference. Not a bad beer, but not what I want to make. You guys mentioned examples that were "drinkable" and examples that were "interesting". Ideally I'd like to make something that is both. I would really like to keep the ABV down a little which is why I am thinking of something in the 1.050 range.
I think Uerige and Diebels are both drinkable, but Uerige is more interesting because of the hop profile. Diebels is probably just hopped for bitterness. Last time I was in Germany, though, the local Kneipe (pub) had Diebels on tap and I drank a lot of it, gladly. It's sort of like a better version of Shiner Bock, though.
There used to be some good Northern German Alts available in the US, which are richer and maltier, like a lot of the high Munich versions you see. They still need to be pretty dry, though, not caramelly and sweet. If you use Crystal Malt, at all, you need to use very little; I wouldn't go over a few ounces.
The high ABV versions are okay, but they tend to be more like Brown Ales made with German Hops. Standard Alts are more like a cross between a Pale Ale and a Dunkel. I also don't like 1007 as much in a higher ABV beer, where it quickly tends to be higher in esters and a bit boozy (based on beers I've had from others and commercial examples, I've never tried to make a higher ABV beer with it). They tend to finish sweeter, so they need more hops, which just makes them sweet and bitter. They are just different beers to fit different preferences. I almost never make anything over 1.048, though, because I don't think higher ABV beers are more interesting, just different and rarely for the better, to my taste.
For an interesting lower ABV version, I would go with a good Pilsner and some Munich to give it malt character, mashed low and long to dry it out, and some nice German flavor hops. A couple ounces of a Caramunich or Caraaroma would be okay, but optional.
Sorry for all the rampant opinionating.
Edited by Brauer, 01 April 2015 - 04:31 AM.
