tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3537147682557117770.post-86052727480371677422008-05-01T13:38:00.000-06:002008-05-01T13:38:00.000-06:00Oh Heather, what a great question. I love it, just love it. As you may have noticed, there aint a lick of raisins or toast in the recipe. But I was trying to get those flavors into the beer by using two character malts.<BR/><BR/>1. Dark crystal malts (80-120L) provide a beer with deep and dark raisin/plum/prune flavors when added at greater amounts. Very dark Belgian ales highlight these malts and flavors. In this recipe, I added enough to really stand out.<BR/><BR/>2. Victory or Biscuit malts add a warm toasted flavor to beer and a certain dryness. You may notice a lot of these flavors in Amber and Brown ales. I wanted a lot of this character in the stout too.<BR/><BR/>In all, this beer came out quite nice. It was named before I tasted it, but I think it fits well enough. If it was brewed as a full batch, I think the prune flavors would have come out even more. <BR/><BR/>Thanks John, as you taste more and more quality beers, and learn about what goes into them, some of my beer terminology may become easier to understand. So as I keep up with my site, you keep up with drinking fine ales and lagers, and visit often. Thanks for your support bro.Ted Danylukhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08416906043519452478noreply@blogger.com