I have tried to like beer. I have tried to understand why others like beer.
I have tried multiple times. Miller, Bud, Sam Adams, Heinekin, various forms of Shiner, Fat Tire … various ales and bock beers.
It all tastes bitter. I can tell the difference between them, but the bitter taste overpowers everything else. Not to mention feeling seriously bloated and headachy from it.
The closest I came to liking a beer was Fat Tire. And I could choke down MGDs or Miller Lite if there was nothing else to drink.
So, help me understand. What makes beer taste good/enjoyable?
I felt like that when my dad gave me my first sip of Beck’s when I was about 6. Then I hit high school…and man, you just drink enough of it over and over and eventually you get used to it. Then you start to like it. Nothing better than on a hot day, sitting out on the deck, bbq’ing with your friends, and drinking some cold beer. Mmmmm.
Of course there are so many I still can’t stand. I don’t like any Sam Adams except Light. I like Bass, Killian’s Red, and Guinness, but I can’t stand most of the others. Bud Light tastes like piss, but Miller light is ok. But back to the real topic.
I can’t really say what makes it taste good - I guess a touch of flavor, but nothing overpowering…and it’s got to be cold and in a glass if draft, or in a bottle if not. I guess like most things, it’s an acquired taste. The first time I had coffee (again at about 6) I wiped my mouth out with paper towels to try and get the taste away. Now I love the stuff!
As for feeling bloated and headachy…yeah, that just comes with the territory. I just accept it, and it tempers how much I drink, but doesn’t stop me from enjoying a cold one every now and then.
I guess I have no real answer for you, but at least now you have a reply to your post
For me beer was an aquired taste. The first several times I tried it, I thought it was swill. Then I tried one and liked it! It was Beck’s. I finally was able to drink a whole beer! I don’t drink Beck’s anymore, but that was my introduction to beer. There are lots of different types and flavors of beers. I don’t like them all. To me dark beers are awful. I like pale ales and pilsners. They are light and crisp.
I am trying to like wine now in much the same way. I used to not be able to drink wine at all, but when I found one I liked, it became easier to try others. I tend to have a sweet tooth, so I like sweet wines rather than dry.
It’s OK not to like beer. Not everybody likes the same things. If you really want to try to like it, you might want to go to a microbrewery when they have a tasting.
I suspect it’s just not for you. I developed a taste for it pretty rapidly when visiting Germany in 8th grade. I tend to like sour and bitter things in general though. (Black coffee, limes & lemons, dark not-very-sweetened chocolate, etc).
Hmm…have you tried a real dark beer? Lots of folks shy away from the dark beers, figuring “dark” = “strong”. But they’re sweeter.
Dunno. I like beer, particularly dark beers like Porter and Stout. I also like Hefeweiz (think Spaten), which is a Munich specialty. I like the taste most of all, and the alcoholic effects are relatively unimportant.
Like other respondents, at first I disliked the taste, but I got used to it. That’s true with coffee, too. I did always like wine.
Everybody has his or her own particular “tastes” (Chacun a son gout!) I know several people who don’t like the taste of cilantro. A good friend of mine doesn’t like melon. I am not a big fan of squash or eggplant. Some people (they claim they are human) don’t like chocolate. Take a large enough group and you are bound to find some surprising dislikes.
It is possible that you will never like beer. But, if you really wish to try. Flag down posters like Silenus and get him to give you a short list of a dozen beers that cover a wide spectrum of taste type. If you want to give it another try, I will recommend Bass Ale. It is mellow, smooth and not bitter. It is tasty Ice Cold through warm. I like it significantly better than all other beers.
BTW: Sam Adams is not a great beer, few people I know think so. It is more trendy than good. YMMV.
I don’t like beer myself. I’ve had enough of it that if I WAS gonna develop a taste, I would have. Rather sad too, since Husband is a homebrewing beer geek. I do like the smell, though I do not know if that is actual pleasure or from good associations of him happily bottling.
I figure it’s just as well, I seem to find enough calories without it, if you know what I mean.
Well, right now, this can of Budweiser is enjoyable because the St. Louis Cardinals won their first World Series in my lifetime.
Generally, though, I drink beer because it’s a nice way to relax and unwind, and because I’ve found several I like.
Sometimes it’s Budweiser, because it’s cheap, easy to find and is preferable to Miller or Coors. Also, there’s the Dale Earnhardt Jr. factor. Sometimes, I’ll have an Irish stout like Guinness or Beamish, if I want a heavier beer with flavor. Sometimes, it’s a semi-local brew like BBC Dark Star Porter, which tastes like semi-sweet chocolate and is nice as dessert.
You just have to explore the different styles and varieties of beer. Find a good beer shop with people who know their product, and get them to help you pick a brew to try.
I like the carbonation and the bitter taste. I like pretty hoppy beers. The alcohol is not as important. In fact, I prefer tasty beers with as low alcohol as possible.
Budweiser is one beer that I really can’t stand drinking. It is just vile for me. I’ve drunk a lot of cheap beer, but Bud just has a nasty taste. I can drink Michelob or other AB products but not Bud. I’ve even had transpacific plane flights where the only beer was Bud, and I skipped the usual practice of sucking down beers on a 14 hour flight 'cause there was only Bud.
Toddlers seem to love the taste of beer. Or at least mine do.
I really don’t understand the comments about “acquired taste” and “at first I didn’t like it.” I mean, the stuff is alcohol, if you don’t like it, why would you ever keep trying? Not enough toxins in your diet?
(Un)fortunately, I have no such excuse.* I have always loved beer. There are beers I do not enjoy–and don’t drink–but I liked the medium weight beers my Dad brought home when I was a kid (when he would let me have a sip once or twice a year), and when I was old enough to drink and tried other beers, I enjoyed all of them (except the “light” beers–one third fewer calories, one half less taste). I enjoy an occasional pilsener or lager, but I really enjoy ales, porters, and stouts. They taste wonderful.
On the other hand, I have never liked gin, vodka, or similar stuff and, while I won’t make stupid comments about people who do enjoy them, I won’t drink them–I have no need or desire to “acquire” one more alcoholic taste.
(One thing about the darker, heavier beers, is that they should not be tasted “iced cold.” They should not be warm, but the colderthey are the more bitter they taste. Unfortunately, most bars and restaurants serve all beers at the same cold temperature, giving the unititiated a wrong impression of how the heavier beers should taste. I have even found this true at some microbreweries, whom one would hope would know better. I know several places (Great Lakes Brewing Company comes to mind) that brew extraordinarily good beers, but when you go to their pub, you have to let the Dortmunder or the Christmas Ale sit for ten minutes (preferably with your hand around it to add some heat) before it has warmed up sufficiently to drink properly.)
There are so many different types of beer with so many varied flavours that if you search for long enough you are bound to find one that you like. Personally I only drink lagers, where I live we typically have Carling, Heineken, Stella Artois, Carlsberg, Kronenberg, Fosters and XXXX on tap in pubs, with individual pubs having other brands as well. There isn’t much if any call for American beers where I live, it is rare to see Bud, Miller or Coors on tap and the times I have tried them I haven’t been impressed. Perhaps you should try more European lagers and see if any of those tickle your fancy.
I’ve enjoyed beer since I was little and stole sips from my dad’s beer bottle. I was never one who had to ‘learn’ to like beer. Who can say why we like anything? It tastes good to me. I have tried to learn to like wine, to no success. It is like trying to explain humor.
I, like AHunter3 started to like beer after living in Germany for a time. I still much prefer German and Belgian beers, and I find Guinness absolutely foul.
I don’t find the beers I like bitter, really, or I wouldn’t drink them.
But plenty of people don’t like beer, and that’s OK. No harm will come to you because of it!
I “acquired” my taste for beer in college by drinking swill from a keg on a rickety backporch while freezing my ass off. So, I started by trying to get drunk. Later on, I started buying random six-packs at the grocery store for kicks and I discovered that beers like Sam Adams actually had flavor.
After that I discovered that my town had three breweries in which the brewers hung out. I learned a lot about the process and story of beer making, so now I find the whole thing fascinating.
I imagine you are one of those people that puts sugar in tea and coffee because it is naturally bitter. I only say that because most people I know that take sugar in tea and coffee drink sweeter alcoholic drinks.
I had never been a big beer drinker until recently. I used to drink it on occasion with no great appreciation. A while ago I started stocking my fridge with 3 bottles of beer for when people would drop around. Since I didn’t know what these future people would like, I took to buying 3 new beers each time. Whenever I had the urge to have one - a nice hot day, completing some physical task or whatever, the beers were so distinctive that I began to pay more attention to their subtleties.
I don’t know what is available to you where you are but I can make up a dozen bottles of Aussie beer with distinctly different tastes. Some are fruity, some are hoppy, some are citrusy, a couple taste of different honeys.
Beers include 4 primary ingredients: water, yeast, barley and hops. Hops are bitter, they are also aromatic and clarifying and preservative, but they are definitely bitter. All beers are going to have a certain amount of bitterness, so if you are really dislike bitter as a taste, beer will be tough to enjoy.
One option is to try a beer that is heavy enough to balance out the bitterness with a full bodied taste. Stouts and porters might be more your game, they deliver a lot of flavor from the dark roasted barley.
