Looking for a new beer to try

You're showing your age...

Cult classics are just that....known to a few....

 

Whether it's trolling or serious, this thread is uselessly generic at the moment. The original post amounts to, "Name a beer, any beer."

If the original poster be legitimate, I encourage her to tell us where in Florida she's located, so we can give localized recommendations. Since she's interested in exploring, I encourage her to seek out beers in unfamiliar or uncommon styles or experimental beers. If she has gaps in her knowledge of the classics, she ought to fill them in with Belgian, German, and English imports where possible. This is a step that many newer American craft beer drinkers skip, and thus their palates are left ungrounded. For modern American takes on beer, I suggest she purchase products respected local breweries (again, if we knew where she's located, we could point those breweries out), because she'll simultaneously be learning about / enjoying beer and participating culturally in her community. I discourage her from relying too much on social media around craft beer, as those platforms shallowly tend to steer people toward heavily hyped products, and many who enter the craft beer scene from that avenue never develop a deep or broad knowledge of beer.

 

I call my wife dude. She hates me.

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Minhas Boxer Gluten Free.

 

Not much info to work with there, but I’d start with local breweries and start with doing flights. You’ll get a lot of different samples and you can hone in on what you like, reject what you don’t without committing to volume. Buying sixes to experiment is a never ending pit of perhaps lost money and it is very slow. Once you narrow styles you like you can expand to other brewers.

 

The Tampa area has a lot of highly regarded breweries; in fact it's generally considered the best beer metro area in Florida or any of the states that neighbor Florida. I recommend visiting as many as you can of them in person as you have time and ordering flights (sets of small pours) so you can try a bunch of different beers. You'll very quickly learn about a variety of styles and your local beer scene. Check out this thread (linked) in the South-Atlantic forum as a guide. Many of those breweries are trend-chasers and not really my thing (Angry Chair, Cycle, Coppertail, 7venth Sun, etc.), but a lot of people seem to like them, and you may well be one of them. The Tampa area probably is best known for big "pastry" imperial stouts (dark, high alcohol beers with a bunch of dessert-oriented flavoring adjuncts thrown in). Those definitely would count as "darker beers on the sweeter side."

I think Cigar City probably still is your best bet in town for a well-executed, versatile lineup. Jai Alai IPA and Maduro Brown Ale, both from Cigar City, are two superb modern classics that should be very easy to find in stores. Definitely try Cigar City Florida Cracker, also widely available in stores, which is in the same style as Shock Top and Blue Moon (witbier a.k.a. Belgian white ale) but a lot tastier, in my opinion.

 

New beer you need?

Try this:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/178/25061/

Or just buy a fifth of Lagavulin 16 and stop f-ing around.

Cheers!

 

I'll throw in Bell's Oberon as a suggestion for a beer to try, but also recommend that you read some of the threads in this link from a search that I did using 'newbie' in thread titles. Many new members ask for beer recommendations, so here are a bunch:
https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/search/117557593/?q=Newbie&o=date&c[title_only]=1&c[node]=39

 

I would take a different route when it comes to the exploration of craft beer for someone completely new to the scene. If you just go to the local beer store you will be inundated with mediocre IPAs and flavor of the month exotic “styles”. Bottom line is most of the craft beer being produced today just isn’t that good, and there’s much more to craft beer than hoppy pales and poorly done American “sours”.

So I would recommend taking a different approach. Below is the link to the BA Hall of Fame beers. I think this a great place to start for someone new to craft beer. Granted there are many beers on there that can’t be readily obtained, but there are a bunch of beers on there with nationwide distro sitting on shelves at nearly ever reasonably decent beer store, and including a variety of styles. I think this approach would be a good introduction to the craft beer scene.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/fame/

Whichever route you end up taking, enjoy!

 

I like that idea!

 

You seem to like lighter ales with the occasional stout. Try American and Belgian Blonde ales and American and English Pale Ales, IPA's might destroy your palate too soon.

Welcome to the club mememy31, your not a troll, are you.

 

Lol, I googled breweries in Tampa, and there must be over 20. I wasn’t expecting that, the density was surprising. Cigar City is such an obvious starting point though, I’d start there and try samples of everything they have on tap.

 

That Florida Cracker is a great rec!

I was down in the area in early July and was pleasantly surprised with the variety on tap at Coppertail- they even had a few lagers and more delicate beers. Plus the Night Swim Porter was being served in my hotel, and I think that would be a great starting place for a Guinness drinker.

And this may be a bit of a stretch, but overall I was most impressed with Green Bench in St. Pete. Quite a few really elegant and complex farmhouse ale/grisette kinds of things (as well as some very well-made lagers and IPAs). These beers most definitely have a bigger spice presence than Blue Moon, even some funk in certain cases, but are also quite refreshing; could be worth a shot if you're in a frisky mood.

Here's hoping you find something. Cheers!

 

That guy's pretty good. That reminds me of a good old Biff thread from back in the day.

 

Okay, I'll second Bell's Oberon, preferably on tap. But, if you've got 'em, open 'em.

 

Oh, sometime ask me about the time I was (as an OTR truck driver) on vacation and got all wobbly with an off-duty Florida State Trooper and a F-16 pilot from the local Air Force base, at Tampa Bay Brewing.

Oooooff!

 

Hanamachi rice lager from Bottle Logic and Buzz Man "mutant ale" from Unsung (both here in Anaheim, CA) are my session jams right now.