Amber malt is a traditional British malt made from winter or spring barley. It is is one of the most versatile toasted malts available to brewers. Amber malt is suitable for a wide range of beers due to its colour and the biscuity, toasted flavours it imparts. It lends itself to the darkest of beers, right through to amber beers and even lagers. Its principal function is to impart colour and flavour to darker ales, especially to porters and stouts, as well as to old ales, mild ales, brown ales, and bitters, and to impart some viscosity and a brownish head. Amber malt was commonly used in the 1800s especially in porters, where it sometimes made up the bulk of the base malt. For many years amber malt was unavailable, but speciality maltsters have started to produce it again due to demand from craft brewers.