ChickenMcOwnage on 11/3/2009 at 06:42
Searched and couldn't find a thread about learning to enjoy beer.
Beer is everywhere and I'd like to be more manly and enjoy it! But right now I don't (*sad face*). I had a beer a few days ago... it was right out of the fridge and I thought it was gross. BUT, when it warmed up a little bit (but still cool) I thought it was tolerable. Then it became room temperature (yeah so what if it took me 45 minutes to finish a bottle of beer?) and it was gross again. Conclusion: temperature matters?
Beer aficionados: What are some good, *newbie-friendly* beers I could try?
Also, I heard about this one guy who started liking wine first before liking beer. Maybe this should've been a wine thread...
Tonamel on 11/3/2009 at 06:51
Quote Posted by ChickenMcOwnage
Conclusion: temperature matters?
As it does for all alcoholic beverages!
Afraid I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I've enjoyed a few of the things brewed by Rogue, as well as XX Amber and Bass.
june gloom on 11/3/2009 at 07:06
Thank god for this thread. I fucking cannot stand the taste of beer. Actually I don't, as a rule, drink alcohol; nothing to do with being SKR8x3DG3 or anything, I just don't give a fuck enough to spend money on beverages worth drinking. Beer is cheap, but I hate the taste. Someone tell me how I'm doing it wrong so I may have an excuse to try something that isn't fucking awful.
I've tasted everything from random imports (have yet to find one I enjoy) to American generics (I think they gave me cancer). Please help a guy who hates beer, doesn't generally drink anyway, but would like to enjoy a beer now and then.
demagogue on 11/3/2009 at 07:09
It's hard to answer that question too directly since people's tastes can be different. But I usually think about it from a totally different angle, anyway...
Beer, or alcohol generally, at least as I think about it, is one of those lifestyle things like cigars or jazz that you usually first get into as part of the image, then learn to appreciate through that ... or anyway that's a fun way to do it.
At least the alcohols that I've gotten into are the ones I think, I'd like to be the kind of person that ... So when I was in my New York jazz phase, I wanted to be drinking gin martinis. When I was in my Texas BBQ phase, I wanted to be drinking a thick Guiness to complement the thick BBQ sauce.
So my suggestion is think of an image that gells with you ... frat (cold Coors), playboy (martinis), BBQ lover (Guiness), gourmet (wine), cowboy (whiskey), Seattle grunge (a shotgun in honor of Cobain?) ... and run with it.
The other suggestion on that track is that beers can be like sports teams, especially microbrews. There's probably one local to your city or area, and it's sort of fun to cheer for the hometown beer by always having it around. I went to college in Austin, so I always have some Shiner Boch in my fridge, and that's always my default beer, sort of like cheering for the home team. And something about loyalty makes the beer seem to taste better, at least it has in my case.
Tonamel on 11/3/2009 at 07:18
I drink whisky because I want to be a 1930s detective.
ercles on 11/3/2009 at 07:52
The big problem with this thread is that it is going to be largely region-specific. I rely on a dozen or so Australian beers that get me by, but I doubt any of these would be available outside of Australia except for in the occasional fancy liquor store, where they would be prohibitively expensive.
dethtoll- Pay more. As a rule all kinds of alcohol are expensive if you want to drink the stuff, unless you manage to find boutique stuff that is great and hasn't been discovered (and that requires a lot of luck/time). Most beverages market themselves in price brackets, so try going for the next lot up. As far as beers go, it really depends on why you don't like them, if it's simply that you find them insipid and rough that'd be because they are shitty cheap beer. My suggestion would be to just find a pale ale that's a little bit pricier than your average purchase and by a bottle of it (or a 6-pack if your store doesn't sell singles) and see if you like it.
I drink a tonne of wine (partly for vocation) and as such I really enjoy to kick back with a cold beer and some thief after uni. That said, I am still yet to find a beer that has the depth or soul of a great wine.
rachel on 11/3/2009 at 08:53
Chilled Tsingtao is perfect with spicy kebab. Otherwise, gimme Desperados or Corona.
Otherwise, standalone beer: Guiness.
Everything else is <s>ass</s>arse
Koki on 11/3/2009 at 08:55
Try chinese beer.
fett on 11/3/2009 at 13:40
Recommend something for people who like red wines, and sweeter things like Irish Whiskey, Vanilla Vodka, etc. The thing that disgusts me about beer is that what I'd sampled tastes like wheat bread-flavored water. It's thin, bitter, and flat. I prefer drinks that are full-flavored, a little thicker, and leave a good aftertaste. Several people have recommended lager and dark ale's but I wouldn't even know where to begin because there's so many to choose from.
Macha on 11/3/2009 at 14:25
As an Irish man I love beer, mainly stout and lager. It only took me one or two tastes to love beer. For a beginnger Carlsberg is a nice, neutral taste. Corona or Sol (its cheaper, nicer, equivalent) seems to be the 'hip' thing right now but if you really like it you gotta drink it with lime and lime doesn't agree with your stomach which means Corona is no good for a heavy session. Guinness is great until the next morning's long and arduous wiping process. Just don't drink shite; Budweiser, Miller, Carling and Tennets are all dirt cheap for a reason. I enjoy just going into the offy and lifting something off the shelf that I necessarily haven't heard of before just to try it, like Erdinger.
Temperature varies from beer to beer. If you go to any pub in England they have 'Guinness Ice Cold' and that doesn't exist over here, Guinness needs to be just slightly chilled, not frozen.
Aside from temperature, the angle that you pour the beer is make or break as well.
