How do you explain Nitro Beers to n00bs?

If you wanted to get away from the sand/gravel analogy . . . perhaps a milkshake/smoothie analogy could work? In my mind anyway, a milkshake feels thicker and is smoother and creamier, whereas a smoothie is a little thinner and often more "grainy" if you will.

 

Tell them nitrogen strips a perfectly good beer of it's flavors. Rendering it useless. My $.02

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Yep you are correct. Another way of looking at it is as cheating. Nitro is a way to make a marginal beer try and be better.

 

I enjoy a creamy beer shake here and there. There is room for them in the beer kingdom

 

So nitro beer is the milkshake?

I'm guessing that because of the "creamy" description, but "grainy" sounds like sand, and therefore ManBearPat's nitro description...

 

Yeah. I should have said OPs comparison was good. I was just offering a similar one I guess. Wasn't trying to outdo the original one.

 

Tell them most beers get their bubbles from CO2 and some beers, mainly stouts served on tap get their bubbles from Nitrogen which is intended to make the mouthfeel more creamy.

 

Creamier, smoother, maybe softer, and possibly flat.

 

I tried Sawtooth Nitro on a whim recently. Big mistake. Barely any fizz. Watery mouthfeel. Tasted like bad ice tea made from powder. Drainpour x4.

 

A crime against humanity.

 

Smaller bubbles equals creamy mouthfeel. I think your analogy was pretty spot on.

I wouldn't worry to much about this. many more important things to teach the craft beer newcomer

 

I might be misremembering this, but wasn't Nitro originally concieved to emulate the low carbination, creamier textures of cask ales?

 

I tell them they suck and to stay away from them.

 

However you see fit. I would say something like this-
Nitrogen isn't nearly as soluble in water as CO2, so while a regularly carbonated beer will retain fizziness well into drinking, a nitro beer's carbonation dissipates very quickly. Much less bubbles equals a much softer or creamier drink/mouthfeel. I always describe the flavor as oxidized, like it has been poured and sitting for a while. When I'm in the mood for that, nitro beers hit the spot better than anything, besides maybe a cask pour. Cheers!

 

The difference between materials testing and educational beer tours is the size of the bubbles?

 

Tell them to leave a glass of Coke in the fridge overnight....nitro is like the flat Coke you taste the next day!

 

I've never felt the need to dumb it down any more than nitrogen is a lighter gas than CO2 resulting in finer aeration (guess it's not technically carbonation then). Surely, everyone has the periodic table memorized

For the record, I'm neither for nor against nitro. It's not like it's a staple for anyone.