Everyone has to start somewhere.

Welcome to BA!

In the same style as Sunset Wheat (witbier) that are way better and relatively easy to find: Allagash White, Hitachino Nest White Ale, St. Bernardus Witbier. I haven't had it in a while, but from down there, I really like Celis White. Some Texan BA member can chime in with more recommendations.

For porter, Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald is hard to beat. Founders Porter, Deschutes Black Butte are some others if you can find them.

Cheers!

 

try everything one at a time and you will be amazed at the variety and palate that craft beer has to offer. Have a great time you are about to fall in love with beer.

 

Oh my, if you love Leine now I can't wait to see what you say in a year...

 

You'll see a lot of chatter on BA about big IPAs, imperial/barrel-aged stouts, sours. While I would recommend trying these styles at some point, don't feel discouraged if they're not your cup of tea at first.

Your best bet is to find a brewpub that does sampler flights and try 2-4oz samples of many styles in lieu of ordering whole pints of a beer you may or may not enjoy.

 

Start light, but with beers from good breweries.. Stuff like Avery White Rascal or Allagash White. Then, move onto things like Saisons, and eventually Tripels. They will help keep the sweet, citrusy notes that you've come to enjoy.

As you develop a palate for stronger flavors and more alcohol, you may feel inclined to branch into more extreme styles like DIPAs, Quads and BA Stouts.

 

I haven't had some of these in awhile so I might be off, but based on your sentiment, you'd enjoy some lighter fruit beers and maybe even segue into lambics. Based on your distro, check out Abita Purple Haze, Buffalo Bill's Orange Blossom, Kona Wailua Wheat, Pyramid Apricot Ale, or Sea Dog Blueberry (or Apricot or Raspberry). Most of those should be relatively easy to get. Then try some different Lindeman's Lambics and see what you think of those.

 

If you like drinking coffee, I'd say try some light coffee porters and stouts. For me, once I had the founders breakfast stout and tasted how delicious it was I got hooked. After that I got so interested in trying to find the next best coffee/chocolate beers

 

Find a style that you like and start trying many from other breweries. If you find you like a particularly breweries beer, what else do they make? Try some of those and maybe another style grabs you.

Finally one last point I would make is dont go crazy at first trying to aquire highly rated hard to get beers. Go for the more available and often just as good (if not better) items in a style first. That way when you try something more "coveted" you can appreciate it more (or not).

So it seems you are interested in Witbiers, try these... http://beeradvocate.com/beer/style/48/

then consider trying these: http://beeradvocate.com/lists/style/48/

 

Maybe try some Hefs.. I think most people would agree that Weihenstephaner Hef is basically impossible to dislike. It's light, fruity and brilliant. $3.99 for a 16oz. bottle.

 

i started out in "craft brews" with sunset wheat and summer shandy. to be honest, they aren't bad beers for their style.

just experiment with different styles when you can... i.e. get sampler flights when you come across something/somewhere new. you never know what you will end up liking.

 

Look for a package/beer store in your town that sells beer as singles, that way you can make your own 6 or 12 pack. Many beers out there and I feel like I am "starting somewhere" every trip to the beer shop. Some I like and buy again, some are one and done. Enjoy!

 

As suggested above and probably a few other times, find a beer store that allows you to mix-a-six. I recommended that to my friend when he first turned 21, and he drainpoured all the beers, and I may have turned him off to craft beer forever.

...So... maybe don't do that.

 

Welcome! Completely agree with resisting the urge to chase down the rare stuff right away. That can get really frustrating. It's not all that complicated - just go slow and explore out of everything that is available, easy to find, and affordable. And don't give up on a style or a beer after one try. You may find revisiting a style you disliked initially yields a different result when you try it again. It can be development of your palate, or you just picked a poor example - who knows? But things do change. Happened for me with IPA's - went from "how can anybody drink this stuff" to a revelation....thank you Stone Ruination.

Read up on and learn about the characteristics of the different styles. You have some things you like, so look for similar traits in other beers. Some good suggestions already provided. Then don't be a-scairt of branching out. Really - what's the worst can happen? If you stick with reasonably priced available brews and don't like one, you either soldier through it, pour it out, or give it away. That's where the mixed six helps, I think. You can buy one of six different things without getting too deep in cost.

You can't try everything at once - that is just overload and an impossibility. Don't make it into work, either. I think everybody goes through the "gotta have it" scenario when we read about some super-duper brew that's only available during the eclipse. Nothing to stress over - plenty o' beer out there to enjoy.

 

Congratulations and welcome!


I have not had Snowdrift Vanilla Porter or Leine's Orange Shandy, but based on what those are and also Sunset Wheat I think a good way to start right now would be to check out

1) relatively mild (both in alcohol content and hopping rates) stouts/porters
2) various wheat beers, especially white ales (witbier)


For 1), Breckenridge Vanilla Porter is a good start and pretty wildly available I think. I think most anything labelled a cream stout or milk stout would also be a good start, but not if you are lactose-intolerant. Cream/milk stouts have lactose added as a sweetener; if you can't have dairy then you can't have milk/cream stouts. Left Hand Milk Stout and Sam Adams Cream Stout are both wildly available.

For 2), I recommend Allagash White, Ommegang Witte, Hoegaarden, Goose Island 312, and Sierra Nevada Kellerweis. That's a good start. If you really like the Kellerweis, then go to the import section of your local store and look for pretty much any German beer with the words "weisse" or "weizen" somewhere on the bottle; honestly, regardless of "style" or alcohol content, most German imported beers with those words on them will have a similar flavor profile. I particularly like Paulaner Hefe, Ayinger Ur-Weisse, and Weihenstephaner Vitus. Since you liked a shandy beer, I would not discount anything that says "wheat" and a fruit name on the bottle either. A lot of craft hobbyists frown on such beers, but it's your taste buds, your decision.


Let us know what you try and what you think of them. Most of us here are happy to help.

 

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Live Oak Hefeweizen, since you are in Texas. And later this year, Christine Celis is reviving her father's Celis White, the original American witbier, at a new brewery in Austin.

 

welcome to BA! it's all downhill from here (meaning, wallet drain, weight gain, wasting endless hours on this site, etc.)

all good advice in this thread thus far. I would also echo those who mentioned fruit-based beers, or even moderately sour beers. my wife loves champagne/sparkling wine, and hard ciders, and found out that she really liked tart beer styles. you may too. Rodenbach might be a great place to expand your horizons (but will probably need someone to share the bottle with - it's a big 'un)

 

Doesn't appear that that is going to happen:

 

Try as many different beers as you can. You'll be amazed at what you find.