"I hate beer."

I'm getting old, I just say "that's cool" and move on.

 

I think it's just a phrasing issue. They say "I hate beer" but to be more accurate they would say "I haven't' liked any of the beers I've tried". It's possible that they have never tried anything outside of the macro BMC products, and to them that's just what "beer" is. Light, yellow, fizzy, low in flavor. They are not wrong because it's their opinion. However, the statement they make, as I mentioned, may be tied to a lack of experience.

 

I don't understand this thread.
In my own mind, I of course say if they don't like beer, they "don't know what they're missing"....but tastes DO vary (even among the most intensely ardent beer snobs), and so I certainly don't make an effort to change anyone's minds about what they like or don't like to imbibe.
Besides that, I have found that most of the people who say they don't like beer have only had their dislike of beer reinforced after trying "craft" beer...and in the end, if they have a problem with "flavor" that's not my problem.
I think that @jdoncbus and @Giantspace both have the right idea.

 

I hated beer when I was younger but I still drank it for social reasons. I enjoyed vodka but didn't like brown liquor. I hated beer well into my twenties actually. I started to enjoy drinking beer around 2005 or so when I was introduced to some IPA's from Stone. Even since then my palette has expanded further and further. Stouts are my favorite now type of beer now and despite my lack of enthusiasm for whiskey/bourbon I am beginning to develop a taste for BBA Stouts as well.

tl;dr - I hated beer for years now I love it.

 

"'My wife passed away in June. Recently, going through her papers, I found a list she'd made : The Alchemist, PtY, Trillium, you get the idea, all the most sought after beers. It looks like she'd gotten the names off the internet and was going to try and find them for me...She hated beer, but she LOVED me! What a gal!" -

I posted this in a different thread last year. It shows us that hating beer (or anything not to your liking) is never a dead end! It was true then and it's true now!

 

You can convert anyone. Have them try a NE IPA, pastry stout and a fruited sour.

 

Next time try, "Fuck off, ****". I find that it produces the desired effect.

 

I always have beer available for anyone to try, if they're not interested that's fine too.

 

I don't really consider myself a beer fan. I like big boozy stouts and barrel age it with pastry ingredients even better. But I'll take my non beer drinking friends with me to stout releases and usually convert a few into pastry stout drinkers, unless the price turns them off.

 

Most adults at my age already know what they like, so for me it's kinda a moot point. My wife does take sips of my beers when we're out and some she like some not so much, but it's surprising she likes a bit of funk and sour which I don't. She could probably teach me a bit about being open.

 

Honestly beer is something you have to learn to appreciate. If the person doesn't want to learn that's completely ok with me. I left the frat bro "chug this *****" attitude back at college.

 

That reminded me of this:

 

Like most of you, I find that "Beer Haters" are those with no experience outside of the big commercial lagers. "It all tastes like that, doesn't it?" (eye roll, patient sigh, slow head shake) No, not even close. I've had good success with shandys,(Leinenkugel) radlers (Schofferhofer) and other fruit wheats. But another avenue is Chocolate Stout (Samuel Smith's), especially with the ladies as it's hard to find those who don't like chocolate. And then there's the tropical IPA's...

 

It took me till I was about 23 or 24 years old when I bought a variety pack from flying dog. Most of those beers were fairly mediocre but it started a very long, expensive journey. As far as converting people I've had great success. Mainly because most of my friends are borderline alcoholics or full blown. But where I live in Western PA there is this cultish Busch fetish that I just don't understand. Just two days ago I offered a friend a Founders KBS and he looked at me like I was offering a bag full of dog shit, then he proceeded to crack open a busch light.. Saying you hate beer is pretty much like saying you hate chicken. Yeah you can throw a unseasoned piece of chicken on a skillet and call it a meal but why the hell would you not want more flavor.

 

I have an acquaintance that wanted to try a "craft" beer while he and wife were eating in Ashville (good local beer op's), asked the waitress to bring them a glass of what was a big "craft" seller. She brings out probably a teeth scratching IPA and they hated "craft" beer. Well hell! Took him a month to try a Devil's Backbone Vienna Lager I brought him and waddayouknow? That's pretty damn good. That to say this: something tame, before the training wheels come off.

 

Was going to recommend a Belgian Tripel for starters too. They’re Flavorful, yet light and delicate on the palate. Yet they punch the fuck out of you.

 

I never have tried. If someone is so forward as to say they hate beer then I don't waste my time on them. It is sort of like saying I hate food, seems a little over the top to me since most beer haters have probably had 1-2 beers and base their opinions on that alone. LOL

 

That doesn't answer my question, how does hating light beer equal hating all beer? Or are you saying that pepole think light beer=all beer and here fire think that if they hate light beer they hate all beer? Because of that's what you're saying then I completely misunderstood your comment and apologize.

 

I'm simply saying we craft beer drinkers cannot impose our likes on others. Among non craft drinkers light beer is popular and when someone says they "hate beer" they often mean they dislike the bitterness of it so it seems logical to offer them something that is least offensive in that department. I believe in giving my guests what they want and if its a glass of wine that's fine by me.

 

The refutation of "all beers taste the same" is a flight.