In Reply To #1 Some of the more experienced homebrewers might be able to elaborate more on this subject than me, but I think the difference between the 'meal-in-a-glass' beers and lighter beers is not necessarily related to the color. A beer can be made dark with a little black patent malt. This addition would lend little to the body or mouthfeel of the beer. For example, I tried bare-knuckle stout last weekend. I'm pretty sure it was budweiser with a dash of black patent. It was dark, but the body was as light as budweiser. Nasty. Give me a glass of Smithwick's any day of the week...

In Reply To #1 While drinking beer, I'd rather the "buzz" happen before the "full" feeling. Who wants to get full on beer? I used to hate stouts but have gotten to the point where some of them are pretty good - most of them are just too damn heavy. Brett makes a good point where lighter looking beers can be heavy and vice versa, but I think we can all agree in general the dark (black) stouts are the heavier ones. I also would like to be able to drink beer with a meal, and if I'm drinking stouts then I better order lightly. Just not appealing... As for me... I'll take a Sam Adams, Bass Ale or Newcastle any day! If the sun's out (which it hasn't been lately) I can enjoy a few Coronas as well.

You know what they say, once you go dark you don't go well anyways something like that.But what do they say about Heavy? I think you just don't tell anyone.Anyways, I just havent aquired a taste for Stouts. But I wouldnt turn one down... Kissmybass

In Reply To #1 Brett's right, color has nothing to do with flavor or body. A better judge of mouthfeel and "heaviness" is the alcohol content. Barleywines, Imperial Stouts and Belgian Triples are all going to be pretty "filling." Dry stouts in general are some of the lowest in alcohol percentage. Guinness has 4.2%Abv I believe. The last stout I brewed is pretty light in mouthfeel, well, really light in mouthfeel, but is as black as night. I used just a small amount of chocolate malt and roasted barley. The abv was 4.1%. Only a couple ounces of roasted barley or black patent will send the SRMs of a beer through the roof. If you like the taste of stouts but don't like the body, try a Schwarzbier. These are flavored with chocolaty/roasty flavors like a stout, but are lagered so they are even lighter in body and smoother than a stout. Some brewers have trouble with the style, because the roasted barley can leave an astringent feel to the beer. Einbecker, Kostritzer, Xingu, Saranac Black Forest and Mönschof are all pretty available. My favorite of the bunch is Mönschof. Personally I don't think dry stouts are filling at all. Imperial stouts on the other hand, are very filling. Some of my favorite session beers are stouts - Gritty McDuff's Black Fly Stout, Magic Hat Heart of Darkness, or Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout are all excellent session beers.

In Reply To #5 Not sure what's the exact alcohol percentage for Guiness is, but I think that's a heavy, filling beer. Drink a few of those and you can skip dinner. I have had a few decent ones that weren't extremely filling... the Sam Adams Crean Stout, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout and one at our local brew pub was pretty good. They sure as hell aren't patio beers though! And again, drink a few of the above mentioned and I get full. Kinda takes the fun out of it, but if I'm going to only drink one or two then it's a decent choice.

In Reply To #6 Try Smithwick's (pronounce smittick's) if you see it. It is in the same style as Newcastle and Bass. I can take down a dozen pints in a day - my favorite session beer.

In Reply To #1 I really think that drinking darker brews is an acquired taste....There is so much variety out there now as opposed to 20 or 30 years ago when the only thing available was the usual generic American cabonated urine in a mug.....I prefer darker brews, and I don't hesitate to have them with a meal....My favorites are stouts, porters and belgain trappists (the dark ones usually)....If you are pretty much acoustomed to drinkg the norm, then you may have to get used to "the dark side"......It took me a while too...I have been drinking Guinness for alot of years, and it took a while to get used to before I really really liked it!......and it helped me to branch out to more beer exploration....My brother calls the beer I drink "chew spit"......He refuses to break away from the piss water realm....Like I said, it's an acquired taste!.... Oiz Oh for the record, there are dark beers out there that don't fill you up like a meal.....Anchor and Baltika Porters come to mind!...and most dark German Lagers fit into that category too!

The truth of the matter is that dark color most often carries along with it a heavy body. This is true in the overwhelming majority of cases - but as some have pointed out certainly not all. Schwarzbier is an excellent example of an exception to the rule (as someone else has mentioned). This style has all of the characteristics of a lager except for two: color(black) and taste(slightly burnt) - both of these coming from the malt used. It's a nice touch. One that I enjoy is a Japanese take on the German favorite and that's Asahi Black - it may be easier to find in some places in the States than the German brews. I would say about the Baltica Porter that one young lad mentioned that it is still a fairly heavy bodied brew. Yes, it is true that it is less heavy than say a stout, but still heavier than your average beer or ale. Since it is somewhat lighter, however, I suppose this helps support the thesis that there is a range of heaviness in the bodies of darker beers - and this is true. Although I still think that as a whole they definitely fall on the heavy bodied end of the spectrum.

Dark does not equal heavy. A perfect example of this is Yuengling Black and Tan. It's actually a very good session beer. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a light beer but it is definitely not chewy. Another side of this is a recent experience I had. While paddling a river, I ran out of my favorite slammin' all day beer, Southpaw Light (which is a 5.0 beer btw.) A friend offered up some Miller Lite. Being out, I graciously accepted. May as well have had water.

I used to be the same way Crown. Hated anything dark, but the more I sampled, the more I developed a taste for them. There are a lot of options and tastes out there, they don't have to be a meal in a glass. I now consider them my favorite types of beer.