NASH wrote:LOL
Seriously though thanks for the input. I agree with you on the malty character of a brown, but I'm torn between that and a red as more beginner-type beers instead of just the wheat. I prefer to make something more like a west coast red but maltier with a hop-forward finish. People love the flavour of hops without the bitterness but personally I love brown ale. It's a conundrum!

I like the idea of a Red malt-bomb
exactly because people tend to think of Reds (if they think of anything remotely distinctive at all)) as a "clean Irish Red ale".
otoh, I like a good brown, too... My first introduction to anything but Carling/Molson/Labatt's was Newcastle Brown - on tap, in the UK. These days it seems tame and boring, but it got me started on my road to ruin.