[flbrewer]

Any major difference between Golden Light DME and Light DME?
What about gold malt LME and light LME?

Would anyone be able to tell the difference in the beer?

[morticaixavier]

Any major difference between Golden Light DME and Light DME?
What about gold malt LME and light LME?

Would anyone be able to tell the difference in the beer?

the specs should give you a color rating. probably in degrees Lovibond (L) or possibly in EBC or SRM. There are on line calculators to convert between them and it is safe to assume that if the color is significantly different there will be a taste difference. If they are from the same maltster than they will certainly be different.

Malt is one of the primary flavor components of beer so if you use a different malt it will taste different. that being said, any of those can be used to make a good beer it's just a matter of what you are after.

[erockrph]

AFAIK, the grain bill the maltsters use to make their extracts aren't available, and also differs from maltster to maltster. The difference is probably beyond just color. Flavor and fermentability will also differ. It's hard to say by how much without actually testing them side-by-side. I generally work under the assumption that darker extracts tend to have more crystal malt and be less fermentable than lighter ones, although I have never done a side-by-side comparison to confirm that this is the case.

If you have an existing recipe and need to sub one for the other, you may be able to get away subbing the gold for the light, especially if that's not the majority of the extract. If you're designing a recipe, I find that the best practice is generally to use Pilsner, Wheat and/or Extra Light DME as your base and then add specialty grains for color. That typically gives you the most control over the process.