I brush my butter/buttermilk biscuits with melted butter.
The main reason I brush with butter is to get a crisp crust.

What affects color the most is the temperature.
I cook them between 425 and 450. Temp varies. Cooler if I add a tsp of sugar per cup of flour.
Cultured full fat buttermilk seems to brown more at lower temp.
I use a 1.5" cookie cutter for biscuits. Desired color at about 12 minutes means the temp is right. More than 15 min and they start to dry out.

Most important thing I've found for good biscuits is letting them rest 5 min after mixing and before cutting.

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