Good starter beers?

As previously mentioned in the thread PapaGoose referenced above, in the midwest Bell's Two Hearted Ale is a tried and true gateway into craft beer.

 

Duvel
La Fun Du Monde

 

Anchor steam is a great step up from the typical American adjunct lager.

 

CMBC is underrated IMO. Love their beers including Always Ready. A nice beer for the beach.

 

Personally, I don't recommend just going to your local craft brewery and sampling one of their "Lagers" or "Pilsners." Unless the brewery is known specifically for making lagers, most local craft breweries fail to make good examples of the style. I find a lot of small craft lagers to be a muddled mess.

However, you do have Jack's Abby in your neck of the woods, and they do make great lagers. I would try their House Lager and Post Shift, before branching out to their Keller series and their IPLs.

 

I’d start with a
Wheat / Witbier
Blonde Ale
Hefeweizen
Brown Ale
Farmhouse Ale / Saison
Black Lager

Many are flavorful and 4-6% ABV

 

Start with Witbier (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/48/) and Hefeweizen (https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/styles/89/)

Witbier: Allagash White

Hefeweizen: Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier

 

I would also throw shipping out of boston into the mix, a very well balanced amber lager and probably more approachable than Boston lager.

 

I'd like to mix a little variety in, so the Sierra Nevada mixed 12ers hit the spot

 

The craft beer that was the gateway for me was Alaskan Amber. A fantastic blend of caramel, red fruit, and hop bitterness. Try it, see what you think!

 

J

GREAT CHOICES!

 

Great choices Keith! You will make a beer connoisseur out of him yet! Duvel... yum yum out of Belgium! La Fin Du Monde... a total Canadian classic!

 

Michelob Lager, Coors Banquet, Ballantine XXX, Blue Moon, Fat Tire.

 

Bell's Oberon when in season. (Mar-Sept except some southern states that are year-round.)

 

To echo several posts above, if you're looking for lower ABV and flavorful, you've hit the "jack"pot (sorry, couldn't resist, hehehe) by living in the home state of Jack's Abby.

They are, in my opinion, despite limiting themselves to only lagers, one of (if not THE) the most diverse breweries in the state. Some recommendations:

- House Lager: stupidly easy drinking, low hop profile. Classic Helles Lager
- Shipping out of Boston: One of my top new beers last year. Malty, good hop character. Absurdly drinkable amber lager
- The Brau Series: Clean, crisp, hoppier. Also a great tool for hop education, since many are single-hop
- Hoponius Union: JA's "IPA", one of the forefathers of the IPL style and still a great beer
- Kiwi Rising/Mass Rising: Big, bitter "hop bomb" of a DIPL
- Smoke and Dagger: One of the few readily available schwarzbiers. Unique in it's use of a small portion of smoked malts
-Framinghammer: Huge, dark, and remarkably drinkable for a 10 percenter. The barrel aged variants are incredible.

All of this, and it doesn't even take into consideration the great stuff coming out of their sister brewery, Springdale located like 8 feet away.

 

I just gotta ask: why no mention of Post Shift?

Cheers!

 

I had a small taste of Notch, 3 beers of which 2 are retired, and I have to say that if they were available locally, I'd be drinking the heck out of them.

 

When I started to move away from AALs, my next step was into English beers, Double Diamond, Batemans, Whitbread etc.

 

same here, Watneys Red Barrel, John Courage, Bass... sadly not available anymore, or a shell of its former self if it is(Bass)

 

I saw a show on tv back at that time and it featured Bateman’s preparing beers for an upcoming competition. Found it fascinating Tory were labeling in fish juice to the kegs.