This past Saturday, I sat at the beach, I stared deep into the green glass of my St Pauly Girl (I know, not the most wonderful of beers, but decent enough) and I watched as the small bubbles continued to rise from bottom to top… bottom to top… And I couldnt fathom how one thing could be THAT wonderful. Its ACTUALLY amazing. I love beer. Love it. All of it. Dark, light, Ale, Stout… all of it. God made beer and beer is awesome! 
Not to crap on the thread or anything, but could someone explain to me the appeal of the taste of beer? I’ve tried a number of beers, from PBR (urk) to Guinness (urk) to ungodly expensive Belgian fruit-beer (better, but still urk). I like gin – some people find this baffling – but I just can’t understand the appeal of the taste of beer.
I guess its just a matter of taste really. At one time I was like you, but that was when the ‘best’ beer I had ever had was a Miller Genuine snicker Draft. Once I got turned onto the better beers (and I quit smoking, which did wonders for my taste buds) I started enjoying them more.
I am now what is commonly refered to as a Beer Snob. The absolute worst beer I drink is Shiner Bock (a local Bock beer that doesn’t get far out of Texas), but usually it is Paulener or other Wheat Beers. I suggest you try a wheat and see if you like it.
As for gin… urk. 
No sig this time.
You explain red meat, soda, and bubble gum to me; I’ll explain beer to you. 
Victory! Found a couple Yuengling lagers in the back of the fridge. I’m going to celebrate… uh… finding the beer!
harmless: Well, I’ll give it a shot.
Red Meat: Is a damned odd comic strip… oh, you mean actual meat. It’s got more flavor than chicken. Even in a cut of steak from a cow that went straight from feedlot to butcher, there’s slightly more “gaminess” than in a piece of chicken. Pork and fish are always nice, as are shellfish (just polished off a can of smoked oysters, in fact). Beef and other red meats (such as venison) also are de rigeur for chili. I’m sure there are perfectly nice pork/vegetarian chilis out there, but beef will most always be the classic chili meat. And chicken or pork or turkey don’t have the same pleasantly soft and stringy texture when roasted up in a pan with plenty of good vegetables like potatoes, carrots and onions.
Soda: Something to mix with liquor Well, actually, it seems like Mountain Dew has replaced the role of coffee in a lot of the people I work with. “Soda” is a pretty broad term, really. I know people who love Coke but who won’t drink Pepsi, and I’m sure they could tell you why. I rarely drink sodas anymore (unless, of course, they’re mixed with a healthy amount of booze). There are your lemon-lime sodas, which with a squeeze of lemon go nicely with gin, but also tend to be the sodas that people who don’t like caffeine go for. And then there are the oddballs: Fresca (a grapefruit soda I enjoy occaisonally), Orangina (Orange soda with pulp! Nice), and the really way outs like Cel-Ray (celery soda? I’ll pass). Why do people like soda? Maybe they just don’t like the taste of water.
Bubble Gum: Like certain sodas, it really doesn’t discernibly taste of anything in nature. I believe in the flavor biz, mixing up natural flavors so that nothing quite prevails results in something known as a “fantasia flavor”. Cola’s a good example of this (the base flavors of any given cola being citrus, cinnamon and vanilla). Bubble gum is sweet, not offensive to most palates, and blowing bubbles is fun.
Eghhh… it’s not particularly rare. It’s pretty common around here.
I “grew up” on Pyramid Hefeweisen, they’re based in Seattle. Still brings me back.
My favorite now is Speakeasy’s Big Daddy IPA. Very piney, hoppy, not too bitter, but a very present, distinct taste. Love it! They make a red, Prohibition, and a pale ale, Untouchable. http://goodbeer.com and they ain’t kidding.