I still haven’t bought into the idea that beers can be a thing of greatness. The only beer I’ve had that had a faint trace of taste that went above and beyond the standard fare was Sam Adams. But even so, it wasn’t that great.
But I’ll admit that there’s still a lot out there I have yet to sample. And I’m willing to give it an honest shot.
So what brand of beer should I try to convince myself beer is anything other than glorified, fermented pisswater? I know some of the specialty-type brews can be hard to find - so it has to be something I can obtain in the U.S.; preferably without having to travel to the top of Mt. McKinley while balancing a Vietnamese prostitute on my head to get it.
Anything that isn’t “American”, i.e., anything that doesn’t taste like “glorified, fermented pisswater.” The American “flavor” for beer is extremely wet and watery…good for thirst, but that’s all.
If it’s that hard for you, you should go try and find an epiphany somewhere other than beer. Some beer is very good to my taste, but it pales when compared to a single malt. So I go looking for enjoyment rather than enlightenment from my beverages.
I’ve just recently discovered beer is something more than to get a buzz to, and the two beers I’ve most enjoyed are lambic krieks and Hitachino Nest Real Ginger Brew. I imagine actual beer snobs will probably look down on both as too strongly flavored, not beery enough, or in the case of the kriek, glorified juice, but I like them a lot.
I also really like creamy stouts, but have yet to find a particular variety that stands above the rest.**
That’s another subject - I find liquor snobbery even harder to swallow. (literally) Maybe I’m just too much of a frou-frou but it’s difficult for me to imagine drinking any kind of hard liquor straight up could be all that enjoyable. But if I were to give it a whirl, what brand would you recommend?
I used to be of the opinion the more obscure the malt, the more potent the nose the closer to a true “Old Glen of sweaty socks and 5 dead mice in the back of the malting floor” I could find the better off I’d be. So far I’m wrong.
If you were going to start with a single malt I’d point you towards a Glenmorangie. Popular and not too potent when drinking. Then maybe a Glen Farclas moving towards an Oban with maybe a try or two of an Islay malt. Ultimately we’d be getting you to try a Highland Park or backing up (flavour wise) and pointing you towards The Macalan.
The problem of course is that I’ve just laid out my biases, though if you go that way find a 15 year old Springbank. You may be completely content with a run of Bushmills or Famous Grouse. There is no need to like scotch so old it tastes of nothing but stale air and rotten oak - savour what you like.
The 80 Shilling is creamy but not necessarily a stout.
So many suggestions here I’ve never even heard of… well, I’m taking notes. The next step is going to be finding places that actually carry these brands.
I thought I didn’t like beer for most of college. Turns out it was because all of the beer that was around me was American-style lager, which is to say really bad even for lager (which is one of my least favorite varieties anyways).
Then I tried pale ale and IPA, and I was pretty instantly converted - which in turn let me get into some of the better and more complex lagers, German-style beers, etc. Sierra Nevada is actually a pretty decent place to start, in that (at least around here) it’s one of the most widely available beers in the next tier after the ‘standard stuff’. Dogfish Head and Stone are probably my two favorite breweries, and I’ve yet to be really disappointed by either. There’s a lot of different stuff out there, though, and trying something new is half the fun.
