What are THE beers I need to try?

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

 

Tons of them, and the irony is most of them isn't worth to be tried.

 

All of them.

 

Anything from Grimm

 

Founders Porter, Bells two hearted, lagunitas hop stoopid.
If your just getting in to craft beer, these are easy to get and are very good and rated high.

 

Assuming the snark dies down and you get like 500-1000 recs, how are you planning to prioritize this list?

I'm legit curious; will you go off what the poobahs say first, or start regionally, by style maybe... or sort by the most salient avatars?

 

Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

 

FBS

 

Judging from where you're at (PA), you have access to a LOT of good beer: Troegs, Victory, Weyerbacher, Stoudts... the list goes on and on

 

Wut? Not yet?
Pure essence of loser...

 

Generally yes if your from the Philly area and suburbs, but what if he lives in Pittsburgh? Do they get these?

 

Go here and get a copy of the BJCP style guidelines: http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf
Try one commercial example for each style. Or check out the style rankings on this website and try the highest ranked beer you can find for each style that you are interested in (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/style/).

 

I've been drinking Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier for at least 20 years... I'm recommending that the *OP* try it.

Pure essence of "illiterate"...

 

there is nothing you NEED to try. Try what you can find, find the style you like and then search beers in that style out. People will list tons of beer here but nothing is so great that you NEED it.

 

I've only had about 600 unique beers, which may seem like a lot to you, but compared to others it's nothing, and I still find myself overwhelmed sometimes visiting a good craft beer store. That said, with time you'll come to find which styles you like, which breweries you like, and which beers will become a staple in your fridge/cellar. So my advice to you would be to pick one beer from each style that is available to you, and try them, without too much research. This should give you a decent idea of where to head in the future where you can further dissect your decisions.

 

Cool. Well for my $.02, Bells Expedition Stout and any of the Founders stouts are can't miss.