Palate Development... ?

To answer your question, age? Biology? Acclimation to bitterness? Probably a combination of all those things.

I couldn't do bitterness at all for the longest time. I'm 25 now, so thats about 4 and a half years of craft beer drinking (started with craft, never liked beer before late 20s) but I only got into IPAs in the past 4-5 months. I remember drinking hopslam last year and thinking it was awful, but falling in love with it this year. Before that I was like you, stuck to wheat beers and on occasion, stouts. Still love stouts, but barely drink wheat beers anymore.

 

Stop getting hung up on styles, beer is good. I am with Frankinstiener. I have gone from DIPA to Pils to RIS to Porters, to APA, to whatever is on tap in the airport. Be open to all styles, Be it a bud with neighbors who don't know better or lambics and trappist with a beer snob at a beerfest. You need to appreciate each style of beer for what it is meant to be.

 

Before I really got into beer, I had tried my now husband's beloved Guinness Extra Stout and thought it was way too bitter to drink. I now almost think they're a little on the bland side. I also hated ipas even after I started getting into different styles of beers (dunkels, bocks, heffes, etc). Only a couple years later, I'm sitting here enjoying a Hop Stoopid as I write this. What I once considered to be bitter and off putting, I now really enjoy. I've also found that from developing my palate with beer, it has affected how I taste other things I previously didn't care for, like dark chocolate and black coffee. Experimenting with different styles and variations slowly but surely does the trick.

 

http://billybrew.com/improve-your-beer-tasting-palate