max wrote:
for making this stupid comment I should be banned from going near beer ever again
It smooths the taste, and bumps up the alc %.
Honeyâs Contributions to Beer
Why add honey to beer? For the most part, the brewer adds honey for the same reasons that you would add any sugar: to raise the alcoholic content of beer while lightening the body. The goal may also be to add some sweetness. But honey ferments out so completely (95% of the carbohydrates) that very little honey character will be left in the beer ÷ unless you take special precautions.
In fact, many honey beers have no residual sweetness. So the essential rule is, if you want a lot of honey character, add diluted, heat-treated honey to the primary fermenter (more on how to heat honey later). And if you want more alcohol, add honey to the boil.
The real strength of honey is that it adds potency and lightness to beer, as other sugars do, yet smoothes out the roughness that inevitably comes from adding sugar. Weâve found that honey also seems to knock the bitter edge off the hops while allowing some of the more subtle hop character to come through. Of course, if you want a strongly hoppy honey beer, you can always add more high-alpha-acid hops to the kettle. Honey also adds subtle floral notes and aroma to beer, thanks to the various pollens and nectars used by bees in its production.
from
http://byo.com/feature/924.html