Overwhelmed at the beer aisle?

If I were younger I think that I would feel this way nowadays, definitely. Thankfully, my nose and keen sense for Furniture (it's almost like a "spidey sense"!) usually keeps me far enough away from the past-code stuff when I opt to go the Craft route.

Another cheapskate who uses B.A.? A man after my own heart!

My comfort zone for beer $pending for the d.b.f (at home, ahem) is somewhere between .39 cents-per-serving of Carling's finest and $1.50/bottle when I feel like a Capitalist fatcat. In the case of the latter, I have a terrible mean-streak for supporting Minnesota breweries (August Schell, Summit, and literally dozens of locals that I can't even keep up with anymore), and occasionally a Leinenkugel or Stevens Point sixer, and in fact neither of these latter will break the bank.

Frankly, when I was your age I was too busy trying to keep up (when I wasn't homebrewing) so I do in fact feel your frustration, here. But back in the early 1990s Microbrew days there were a fraction of the total brands/SKUs on the dry shelves and coldboxes, tap handles and growler-fill stations, so yeah... I'd say that young folks these days have a bigger challenge when it comes down to finding favorites -- and even developing their palate and preferences. But good luck to ya!

 

I don't get overwhelmed by the # of beers to choose from. I'm get overJOYED that we have soooooooooooooo many beers to choose from. Yes it can be co$tly but I've learned how to cut down on other expenses to spend money on something that I love doing. Drinking GREAT beer!

 

I am right there with you. I'm still very new to this as well but you are at the right place. I know it's definitely not practical but I try my best to plan ahead. If you are looking for a particular style read some reviews from this site and if I still need an extra opinion on a beer I will go to youtube. So far my favorites are Chadzbeerreviews and Gregsbeerreviews are pretty upfront about it. Everyone's tastes are a little different sometimes you will bite the bullet from time to time so to speak but that's all part of it. Good luck and cheers!

 

Yes ... it is overwhelming, especially at first.

After six months of delving into craft beer, I've stopped buying six new things each time out and instead am buying one or two new things while also buying stuff I know I like. It's slowed down my reviewing and experimenting, but I learned after a couple of months that having a fridge full of stuff you don't like isn't as much fun as drinking beer you love.

Needless to see, BeerAdvocate has helped me handle that overwhelming feeling when you go to buy beer and see about 50 things you might like.

 

I think I can get the next step up from Bud Light for this amount of money at my store in Boston. I brought home a $10 six pack the other night and told my wife it was cheap. She rolled her eyes at me.

 

I get the deer in the headlights feeling all the time. I lack the discipline to head out shopping with anything resembling a plan. Manage to not overspend somehow. My wife doesn't mind me buying beers, but after thirty blissful years I know there is a limit there that I don't want to find! I will poke through every shelf and cooler space. I'll carry bottles with me, change my mind, swap them, and put them back. Usually end up with some mixture of things i know i like and new stuff.

I am also willing to try anything and that doesn't help one bit with the decision making. Definitely beer without borders approach for me and the selection process remains pretty much random and driven by "wonder what this tastes like". Yeah...I get that catatonic thing going on frequently while shopping where the brain just locks up and I can end up just staring, maybe drooling a little. I am much better now...

 

Does your store have beer on tap? I've always been of the mind to sip while I shop. I can sample something from a brewery that I got my eye on and it helps my choices. I highly recommend if you can.

 

I think MA is probably several millennia removed from such possibilities. I am, however, quite jealous.

 

Yes...walked into Finger Lakes Beverage Center in Ithaca and I had no idea where to begin. It's a beer lover's mecca; hundreds of domestic craft beers, hundreds of imported craft beers, growler fills of various NY craft beers, and the macro stuff is hidden in the back out of the way. Hell, their specialty soda section was twice the size of the entire craft beer section at my local Wegman's.

 

Hell yeah, I get overwhelmed by how i don't enough money to buy all the beer i need!

 

I think compared to more of the country wisconsin does have pretty low beer prices. pretty much everything is cheap here actually.

 

Take your time and have an open mind. As long as you don't get hit by a bus you'll have time to try as many as you want.

 

When feeling overwhelmed: Pick the good artwork regardless of style or brewer, drink it, if you like it remember it and if not move on. As others have said eventually you will have tried enough to know what you like and don't like. It takes time(and a lot of beer).

 

I used to get anxious looking at beer store with a great selection. then I realized it was like the scene in Varsity Blues - AlI Larter with whip cream.

the only way you mess this up is if you just leave.

 

I agree. I have been at this awhile but still can be overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I do enjoy going to the grocery store and only having few choices. Adding freshness and bottle dating makes it even more intense.

 

I end up spending way too much money on beer because I always find at least one that I haven't tried.

 

Give it a year and you will be underwhelmed.

 

Nope, I miss those days. I've had it, it's a style I don't generally like, or a brewery I don't care for. Otherwise I've had 90-95% of what's around. Though when some new beers show up that are 10+ a bottle that gets rough as it's hard to justify 10-20 dollar beers when there are more than 1-2.

 

Argue...this is the one reason I debate buying a smart phone....and then I look at my pay check and realize I do'nt make the 500k a year I'd need to justify what those damn things cost a month!