Beginner Craft Beers

Try some Scotch Ales
Founders Dirty Bastard
oskar blues Old Chub
Alesmith Wee Heavy

Or porters
Founders Porter is excellent

DFH Nut Brown Ale

 

IPAs are an acquired taste. I don't expect you to like them right away, but I encourage you to keep trying them as they may eventually become your favorite.

Anyways, I encourage you to drink Guinness, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Anchor Steam Beer, Bell's Two Hearted Ale, Bell's Porter, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Hoegaarden. These are the beers that will get you hooked on craft beer.

 

I just tried every beer under the sun that I knew wasn't BMC (Bud Miller Coors) to see what I may like. It's probably not the most economical as most were 6-packs and I had a lot of bad beers in the process, but it was educational I suppose. It wasn't until I discovered New Glarus Hop Hearty IPA (retired) many moons ago that really pushed me into craft beer -- it was my first IPA.

Build your own/mix-a-six is probably the best way to discover your (dis)likes and build your palate. Don't be afraid to try something because of a whacky name or description =) Always check the bottle/can date, especially IPA's (most should be consumed within 30 days of bottling, but I have found much of the flavor is dead by 14 days).

Happy hunting!

 

To each his own. A lot of gateway beers for people are super fruity hop bombs. For me it was easier to understand than something nuanced like a German Pilsner.

 

Go to your favorite large grocery store like Wegmans and build your own craft 6 pack for 9.99. It's a great way to try many types of beer for a reasonable price.

 

Founders, Stone, Sierra Nevada all make good beers at a reasonable price with wide distribution. If you visit Boston make sure to try some Trillium or Tree House beers, then maybe you will like IPAs. Being from PA you should probably check out Tröegs as well. Cheers and happy drinking!

 

I get back to PA a couple of times a year and do some shopping (just north of Hagerstown MD). Here's some recommendations I have for you as you seem to have the same kind of preference as me being darker beers, and you should be able to find all in PA. Find a bottle shop for sure, their beer distribution setup in PA flat out sucks. Or drive to the closest state if you're near a border. If you're near Chambersburg PA there's a bottle shop called Good Ta Go there and it's AWESOME, but a little spendy.

DuClaw - Sweet Baby Jesus chocolate peanut butter porter
Troegs - Java Stout
Old Dominion - Morning Glory Espresso Stout (REALLY solid coffee stout, awesome label)
Two Roads - Espressway Stout
Lancaster Brewing - Double Chocolate Milk Stout
Bells - Expedition Stout imperial stout
Founders - Breakfast Stout
Dogfish Head - Beer for Breakfast Stout
Dogfish Head - World Wide Stout (spendy @ $10ish a bottle, but WELL worth it). HUGE imperial stout
Full Pint Brewing - Rye Rebellion imperial stout, barrel aged
Starr Hill - Little Red Roostarr
Probably not much of a chance at this point but if you see any Goose Island BCBS somewhere, grab one.

 

There is no such thing as beginner beer. =) I never thought so anyway. I like lagers. The pilsner is my favorite style and I like the saison which is bubbly, fruity and dry. A lager beer can mean anything from a delicate pale kolsch to a hearty marzen or strong bock.

I like IPA's but I don't drink them mainly. maybe you need to try more styles . A nice cold beer to me is not a heavy stout. It's a pale lager.

 

I don't consider myself "new" to this sport anymore. I was drinking flavorful beers well before joining BA, and my knowledge has only grown by hanging out here. The whole thing reminds me of the movie Galaxy Quest - "never give up, never surrender". There's a lot of beer out there in the world and the only way you can find what you like is by trying different things with an open mind. I was in the same boat with the "dreaded" IPA as well until I tried Stone Ruination - a palate-shredder if ever there was one, but that "extreme" example opened up the taste buds to the potential - and yes, it is high bitterness, high in the resin characteristics, but also somehow remarkably balanced. Once it was done wreaking havoc on my taste buds, I understood what could be done with ridiculous amounts of hops. I tried it for one simple reason - curiosity - and it became a game-changer. YMMV, of course, and there's no reason whatsoever that you "have" to like a certain style just because it exists. The beauty is there is plenty of variety the please all sorts of palates. The downside is that not everything that is out there is "good" or a true representation of its declared style. But I do think there is some value in at least trying the extreme of something - pushing the limits sometimes brings an awakening and even if just confirms what you thought you knew, it's something.

And it's a marathon, not a sprint. It is easy to get caught up in the hype that exists and the "gotta haves". That usually passes, and I think we've all done it (and still do from time to time). When it gets to be work, it is time to re-evaluate in my opinion. The mixed six is your friend, as is the variety pack. Brewery tours (or bars/pubs) that also feature tasting flights are great. I enjoy brewery visits for the most part - some I've left with the what were they thinking happening, but rarely. Do some "guided tastings" led by brewery reps or actual brewers - these are great. See if you can find beer pairings with food (these can be awesome if done right). Reach out to your local folks on this site via your regional forum - I know there are several great representatives in PA. Find out if there are bottle shares or tastings going on in your area.

Don't be afraid to go back and revisit something you didn't like. It sounds wasteful, but if you aren't buying cases and only getting a single to retry something, its only a couple bucks to revisit a style or a particular beer in most cases.

Read up about the style here in Beer Styles and learn from Beer 101 in the links at the top of the page (under beers). Look at the "beers of fame" and top 250. DElve into the styles to see what flavors might appeal to you, but I'd also say don't become a style ****. What's most important at the end of the day is whether the beer you drink is pleasing TO YOU - it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks and beer is definitely highly subjective. Hop onto a thread like What beer are you Drinking Now, daily numbered thread (WBAYDN) to see what folks are talking about there - great people, great chatter about beer, tunes, and pictures (amazing beer and food ****, as we call it). A slightly more serious take is New Beer Sunday (NBS) where the discussion can be a little more "formal", but friendly and always informative.

Welcome to the show. Fear no beer!

 

First, welcome to the BA site. We're glad that you're here.

Next, on the main menu at the top of this page is a selection called Places. Click on it and you'll get a search page to look up any/all the various places in the BA database. You can enter a city name, (state too if the city name is common), then click on the right side of the search page for the qualifiers of Brewery [or Bar (good beer list), Eatery (restaurant with a good beer selection), Store (good bottle shop), or Homebrew (supply store)] and you'll get a list of any places in the city that are in the category(ies) of your search.

If you get a sizeable list of breweries, start going to the ones close by and order a sampler flight of their beers so that you can try a variety of 4 oz. pours without having to order multiple beers in pint-sized glasses. If you don't get any (or very many) breweries returned on your search request, insert your telephone area code instead of the city/state which should widen your search area (unless you live in a major city). Visit multiple breweries around you so that you can begin to see how one brewery makes a porter (or stout, etc.) that might be a bit different from the next brewery. You're learning your taste preferences while at the same time supporting local breweries.

Be sure to look up the BA page of any brewery that you want to visit and read reviews of their beers as well as the place itself. There are a small number places that don't make very good beer, so try to avoid them, at least you are able to decide for yourself the difference between good/marginal/bad beer. Good luck.

 

Since you already mentioned the top 250 and beers of fame, I would also recommend he check out the top beers in each style, it's usually a top 100 list.

 

Left Hand makes a good Milk Stout, Rogue Shakespeare Stout is a good approachable American Stout, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout is really tasty. I see you liked Stone's Milk Stout so I am recommending some other stouts that should be easy to get for you and that you likely will enjoy.

 

Samuel Smiths was the craft beer I started with and loved all their styles (oatmeal stout, nut brown, lager, and chocolate stout). Now I like stronger tasting ales too ( Founders, Bells, Dogfish Head, Unibroue, etc. ).

 

Bells Best Brown was my gateway drug.

 

I gave one of my coworkers who doesn't drink a beer a Sierra Nevada Otra Vez, too. He said it wasn't bad.

 

Good call on brown ales. They're a perfect beer style for beginners. Very easy to drink, flavorful without being overly complex, very balanced and not too extreme in one direction or another. Newcastle was one of my first favorite beers.

 

Someone gave me the Sam Adams 12 pack winter sampler last year for christmas, no hoppy beers, but lots of nice cool weather beers, and they were all pretty damned good.

 

Not only do your personal tastes evolve but styles evolve. Don't give up on a style because you don't like it, so many beers vary so much within a style and over time. I am also someone who never liked IPA's until the last few years. Bitterness isn't always the predominant taste within an IPA. Hops added late in the process vs during primary fermentation have a more hoppy flavor vs bitter flavor (look for dry hopping, kettle hopping, dank, juicy, etc..). My gateway to IPA's was actually an IPL from Jack's Abby, their beers were not overly bitter for me. I've come to appreciate the various ranges from hoppy to bitter. Hoppy pale ales I think were also mentioned which are also a good start. Though if you never like IPA's no loss, there are so many styles to love.

Find some way to keep track of what beers you drink. I use untappd for both tracking what I drink and for keeping up with friends across the country. After enough beers you will not be able to remember what you've had and what you haven't. I've bought beer only to realize when I look on untappd that I drank it two weeks prior and forgot!

Your tastes will get more and more expensive over time. As mentioned start with the more readily available cheaper beers like Founders, Stone, Firestone Walker, Sierra Nevada, etc.. Pepper in local beers and the occasional expensive beer. Expand to more and more local beers. Seek out breweries and good beer bars. Whenever I travel somewhere I look on Yelp, untappd, BA, draft magazine, etc. to research the area and find places that have a good selection. Eventually you learn both what you like and more and more about styles. I'd actually steer away from the BA top 250 to start, ease into that. The first time I drank BCBS my reaction was "pretty good but $7!". If you don't appreciate the beer you will focus on the price rather than the experience. I drank that beer the first time very cold and fast. This year I drank it much warmer and much slower savoring the various flavors in the beer. I paid probably $3-4 more than when I first bought it but I knew I was buying it as a treat for myself. Even last year I had a BCBS on tap after a long night of drinking and it was a waste, didn't enjoy it. It was the wrong time and wrong setting to enjoy that beer in. Starting out I just picked up anything that I knew I didn't have before, its exciting to just try new things. Now I choose much more carefully what beers I buy. I have a keg for most of my beer drinking and now watch what is new in the local bottle shops on Facebook and Instragram and go to the store for a specific beer or two (the owner also usually puts a few aside for customers like me now). I talk with the owner and know that what he recommends will also be something I like.