I Love (almost) All Styles!

I don't LOVE all styles (though I've not tried every style out there), but haven't really met one that I completely disliked...except for milkshake IPAs. They can fuck right off. I just don't understand the obsession with putting lactose in all these different styles. Milk stout...I get. IPAs with milk sugar???? WTF?

Breweries will have the audacity to call something a Berliner and then the can reads something like "Sour beer made with, strawberries, kiwi, lactose, a sirloin steak and my dad's old work boots"

Cool. Way to be innovative you fuckin dweebs.

 

I reckon that after all these years, I've found beers that I like in styles that I generally don't like. Kudos to those brewers that made that happen!

 

I have tried at least one beer from 104 of the styles in the last 2+ years. I can't find the last few or it would be 111. I just scanned my last 50 reviews and that covered 26 styles. I love beer and I particularly love that I have options. I'm totally with @RaulMondesi on this one.

 

My first bottle of rodenbach was one of those beer memories I'll never forget... It was a bottle of their caractere rouge and it was just amazing in a way that blew my mind.

 

There are some styles that I simply don't like from a personal preference but I can admire most any well made style.

 

I had tried a couple of sours - and was soured to the experience, as they just tasted like vinegar to me. Not one to give up on a style, I eventually tried a Lindemans Framboise and loved it despite it being a sour style and being low-ABV. Some would argue it's more tart/sweet than sour, but that's exactly what made me realize that there would be other tart/sweet sours that could ease me into sour styles.

Fast forward a couple of years, and I recently realized that the high-ABV BA dark beers I prefer aren't cheap or particularly sessionable when I'm out for a beer or two and need to drive home. I just bought what you could call a "cop magnet" car, and need to be particularly careful not to push the line on BAC %. I've been trying some local sours, am starting to like the style more - and appreciate the lower ABV.

 

Although I’d had some IPAs, I gravitated toward malty beers until I had a Maine Lunch. That experience opened my mind to what an IPA could be. That was a cipher beer for me. Allagash Curieux was another.

 

I can do without most funky brett beers, but I'm game for pretty much anything else.

 

I've tried 65 styles so far and plan on exploring more beers from the 27 styles I've only had one of, and the eight styles with only 2.

There are several beers I will never revisit, and a brewery or two, however I have yet to try a style I would not have another go at.

Now for a mild rant;
Why aren't there more Kristalweizen, Schwarzbier, American Dark Wheat Ale etc, accessible in my region. Boo hoo hoo.

And beers from Maine Beer Company do in fact kick ass.

 

I pretty much hated anything sour (beer-wise). Then I tried Modern Times’ Fruitlands Rosè Edition. I was so scared to try it I actually split the 16 oz can with two other people, but I ended up loving it and wishing that I hadn’t shared! Now I like basically any sour I’ve tried since then, and I try them most times I get the opportunity. I think you’re on to something @Beer_Stan.

Still having trouble getting on board with Brett beers. Another thing I can’t understand (even after giving it several tries) is lactose in beer. Seems like it’s added to more hazy IPAs than not in Indiana, which isn’t not something I had encountered on the west coast outside of milkshake IPAs. They always come out super sweet and heavy, not full-bodied like I assume is intended.

Everything else, I can usually see the appeal, even if it’s not something I could drink a lot of.

 

There are some styles I like better than others, many I can only drink one at a sitting, but very few that I deliberately avoid. If it is a craft beer and i haven't seen it before I will usually try it.

 

The glory of all the wonderful styles available is that a proper session can be quite the adventure, taking your taste buds on a wild ride. I do hope the future holds more dark lagers easily available in the US as well as milds and bitters.