I haven’t drunk any beer since I was 18. Just about the only thing me and my friends drank was Budweiser. Basically I just couldn’t stand the stuff. This is over 25 years ago. Today one of my beer drinking friends gave me a Yuengling Black & Tan to try.
Here’s my response:
a) Either beer has improved a lot in 25 years or
b) my taste buds have chaged a lot in 25 years or
c) Budweiser sucked 25 years ago or
d) all of the above.
I’m ready to drink more beer. I’m planning on trying a diiferent six pack of beer (lager, ale stout, etc) every week until I find nirvana. What would you suggest? I live in the Tampa Bay area if that helps with suggestions for local brews.
If you’re up for micros, I seem to remember Key West Brewery (which used to be, ironically, in Tampa) had some pretty decent beers. Most of them weren’t too heavy, which is probably a good thing to start off with.
Now, if you ever venture to Colorado or Oregon, I’ll give you a REALLY long list
With the notable exception that it is cheap. And when you are young/underage, this is really the prime defining characteristic of beer.
Dixie makes a couple worth a try:
Blackened Voodoo (a dark beer)
Crimson Voodoo (a red lager)
If you respect your tastebuds I’d suggest anything other than the macro brews (Anheiser Busch, Miller, Stroh, etc) and pay attention to local microbrews. Good beer doesn’t travel well (thus several budweiser breweries all over the country). But remember–just because it’s a micro brew doesn’t mean it’s any good!
My advise: get a sheet of “Mr. Yuck” stickers & a sheet of “smiley face” stickers. Find a BIG liquor store and work through their inventory 6 bottles at a time. Keep a trophy bottle from each 6-pack and adorn it with an appropriate sticker. Keep the trophy collection in your den/garage/rec room or wherever it is that you keep the dart board.
What Cherry2000 said. In fact (I live in Denver) I guess I’ll just nip off and get me a Flying Dog mixed letter 12-pack…got some gardening to do this weekend dontcha know!
I’m an unabashed dark beer drinker (I generally don’t like even our [Canadian] lagers, and American beer is stereotyped up here as anemic stuff). So with that disclaimer out of the way: you can’t go wrong with Guiness either draught in a pub, or the cans, do not go for the bottles (gagh!). If you ever have occasion to go north of the border try a Canterbury Ale (in B.C.) or an Upper Canada Dark (in Ontario). I’ve had and liked Sam Adams (don’t know if there is more than one variety of that, the one I had was dark and nummy). I’d stay away from Corona, but if you must, the lime wedge that was supposed to keep flies out of the bottle should be squeezed into it to cover the metallic taste (beer should be stored in dark bottles!). Rickard’s Red is also a nice dark brew, not as dark as some of the others but it does have a nice taste.
SILENUS: "What are our assets?
INIGO: “benlormat’s thirst, Your money, My beer belly.”
SILENUS: “I see. And our liabilities?”
INIGO: “3 cases of microbeer and 2 kegs of indutrial genuine draft.”
BENLORMAT: “I can handle the kegs”
SILENUS: “And I’ll take a case of the micros”
INIGO: (counting on fingers & toes) “Leaving two cases for me. At my best I could never drink that many.”
SILENUS: “Oh, what I wouldn’t give for another Coloradan.”
BENLORMAT: “Well, there’s CHERRY2000…”
I love Guinness, but only on draught or from the large cans–it isn’t the same from a bottle. You make a real black-and-tan with Guinness and Bass Ale.
Abita Purple Haze is a yummy beer from New Orleans with the slightest taste of raspberry.
Blue Moon tastes pretty good and doesn’t offend anyone.
A good liquor store might have some Belgian ales that come in large bottles with corks, like wine bottles except they’re opaque ceramic. I’m no expert, but one of these ales called Delerium Nocturnum is fantastic.
If I’m drinking cheap beer (which I often do), I’ll take Pabst Blue Ribbon over ANY Bud or Miller product, but if you’re new to beer and want to sample things, be a little extravagant and try the new and exotic and slightly higher quality. Not that there’s anything wrong with PBR, though!
Try Draught Guinness in the bottle. It has the widget, just like the can does. A right nummy treat, it is. You can tell which is which because the Draught bottles look like they have foam in the neck (painted on the bottle.)
Stay away from the Belgians until you have ramped up your taste buds. They are tres delish, but can be too much for a beginner. Of course, if you find you like them, well…Belgium has more breweries per capita than any othe country on earth.
For starters, go to www.beeradvocate.com and browse around a bit. These fellas take their brews seriously. From there, it’s just personal taste.
I’m currently working my way through the stuff that Rogue (www.rogue.com) puts out. Besides the fantastic-looking bottles they make, their beer is simply fantastic.
As for mass-produced stuff, the best (IMHO, of course) is Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada. But for the most part, stay away from the big companies and stick to craft beer.
I think your first step is to figure out what styles you like, and then go into more detail from there. I’m not a big fan of stouts, for example, but I do like a good pale ale.
Oops…I need to correct myself… it is Key West, but it’s made by Ybor Brewery. :smack: Too long a day…I think I need a beer
And Inigo? While you’re at the liquor store, could you pick me up some more of Stone Brewery’s Imperial Russion Stout that just hit the Denver area (12% alcohol…whoooooaaaa)? I can’t leave the house or someone will drink my stash of Flying Dog K-9 looks around suspiciously
I’ll second Sierra-Nevada, I’m also a littel partial to Killian’s Red. If you’re ever here the SF Bay Area try Anchor Steam. I don’t drink much beer these days, but during football season, I drink Anchor Steam for the Niner’s game. Raider’s fan’s drink Bud .
Anything by Unibroue. It’s a Canadian micro whose beers are available through much of the US. Expensive – usually $8 or more a six-pack – but very worth it. Unibroue beers all seem to share a certain signature smooth “yumminess,” yet with a complicated, chewy flavor.
Oh … the majority of their beers have alcohol contents that make St. Ides seem like near beer in comparison. Drink one bottle of Don de Dieu, Trios Pistoles or Fin du Monde, and you will feel it.
I definitely feel for you since unfortunately I’ve heard that Florida is sadly a bit of a wasteland for beers :(.
If you enjoyed the Black and Tan, I’d suggest giving the stand-alone Yuengling Porter a try, and after that a good mid-range porter would be something like the Anchor Porter (which I’d imagine would be found just about everywhere).
I could probably offer more suggestions, but I’m not sure just what would be distributed in your area (and Johnny Bravo is right…try the styles and post what you like, and we can offer suggestions from there).
We have some great beers over here in Australia which through a stroke of luck you may be able to find in a boutique store near you,
James Squire (around 4-5 different styles, with the Colonial Wheat Beer being nothing short of brilliant)
Little Creatures (microbrewery in Fremantle, not far from me, that does one called “Live”, and one called “Rogers’”, which is close to my alltime favourite)
I’ll definitely second what has been said about Belgian beers. They are the undisputed champions in my opinion, I guess to the same extent that the French can claim to be the best when it comes to Champagne.
A certain Belgian beer that ranks as my ongoing favourite for almost the last 3 years is called “Hoegaarden White”, but make sure if you find Hoegaarden at your bottle shop to make sure it’s the “White” and not the two other types that Hoegaarden makes as they can be pretty demanding to the taste buds.
One thing which I suggest is to try a few different styles of beer (wheat, ale, lager, porter, stouts etc) which will then give you a good footing to head into a bottle shop and select different breweries’ examples of the style you’ve grown most fond of.
Beer is the world’s cheapest luxury item, and even the best bottles are quite cheap compared to wine. Here are some beers that I have liked:
About German beers. You have to try a Hefeweizen. They have a very unique taste and aren’t very bitter at all. The coolest thing about it is that although it is amber in color, it isn’t transparent (the helles anyway). You really feel like there is some taste locked in that beer if it isn’t even transparent! These should be poured into a half-liter glass trying to get the foam a perfect inch above the top of the glass. And when you have just a little bit left in the bottle, you have to swirl the bottle a little bit to loosen up any yeast that may be stuck on the bottom of the bottle. Pouring a perfect Hefeweizen isn’t easy and the foam changes based on how cold the beer is! Some brands you may want to try are Franziskaner or Paulaner. I think you’ll probably be able to get Paulaner in America the easiest.
Germany has the purity laws for its beers, which I guess sort of makes them a little less exotic than the Belgian ones, but they are almost always pretty decent beers. I don’t really know much about Belgian beers, though. One of the odd things about being here in Germany is that I can’t really seem to get non-German beers in the stores here. I guess there are some, and I haven’t really noticed, but it is a little strange
Bud is shit. Stay away from any American macrobrewery. If you want a pretty good staple you could always try Heineken. Amstel is also good. The European macrobreweries aren’t usually anything extrodinary, but normally decent beers. Some examples I could think of would be Heineken and Carlsberg. Stella Artois is also another good beer.
You also may want to try Mexican beers like Corona and Sol. They are kind of weak like Bud, but the taste is much better. If you ever make a trip down to mexico make sure you take advantage. Of course you can get it anywhere in America too.
One American beer that I like is Shiner Bock and Shiner Blonde. I am not sure if it is a microbrewery, but the beer isn’t bad.
And when I am concerned about price, I always reach for the PBR. Bonus points if you can get it in the bottles.
I’m not a Hefeweizen fan, but again that’s just a function of personal taste. As a transplanted Coloradan, I really miss Fat Tire from Fort Collins. Regarding Anchor Steam - you should be able to buy it in Florida - we have it here in KY anyway. I’ve been drinking a fair amount of Murphy’s Irish Red lately as well. Newcastle Nut Brown has very little carbonation, so it’s a good choice if you like drinking, er, quickly.