Teach me about the great beers

I've started trying out new beers lately and I'm wondering what are some you like. So far I'm a bit of a snob, and I favor lagers and ales. Nothing with too much of a hops taste.

I'm still very much a newbie though

 

You're doing good then 'cause there are only two kinds of beer, lagers and ales.

 

All beer is good beer just some are better than others.

 

I feel the same way about breasts.

 

Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA is in my top 3 beers.

Two Brothers Ebel's Weiss and plain ole Coors Light round out the top 3.
In no order.

 

Over the years, I've tended to lean more and more towards IPA's, the more bitter, the better. Regardless, there are a ton of great breweries out there, where it's just fun to try out the different beers they have available. I tend to like most things by Deschutes, though there Abyss is my favorite with hints of coffee, dark chocolate, and cherry. Other standbys, if you can find them in your area, are Mammoth's Double Nut Brown, Dogfishhead's 90 Minute IPA, Russian River's Pliny The Elder, Stone's Arrogant Bastard, and a local brewery's Icky IPA. Not everyone likes the same thing, but I find it fun trying out new things, even if I don't like them. If I'm actually at a brewery, my preference bends towards barrel aged beers, but not every place will make those, and are tricky to balance the flavors correctly.

 

I was the assistant brewer for the first brewpub in Arkansas, and was a homebrewer for a while before/after that...so I can answer a number of technical questions (if my memory still works)..

I really enjoy Sierra Nevada Pale Ale...not the best Pale Ale around, but an absolutely solid product and very widely available. I used to love dark, heavy, malty beers, but now am a major hop-head. I cannot stand lagers...never found a single one I like.

I am quite fond of Guinness, but it escapes my disdain for malty beers b/c its color is derived from roasted, un-mashed barley and therefore doesn't have the sweetness usually associated with dark and high-gravity beers. Boddington's is in the same category.

Check out some traditional English ales like Old Speckled Hen.

 

Yes. All of this! Stone makes a might fine product...their Cali-Belgique is fantastic as well.

 

With the exception of my football watching indulgence of Miller Lite, I try not to ever drink the same beer twice. If I do it's not in the same year

 

im a stout barlywine and quad kind of guy. im not a hop head but the 60 min is good as was the 61 and 65 min. really changed the profile
avery Mephistopheles is big black and good as is world wide stout. kelly didnt liek beer till she found out that every one around her was drinking crappy beer (after meeting me she now knows better )

 

A long beer journy is behind me. Like Taylor, I've recently been drawn to the IPA's. I used to find them too hoppy but about a year back, it just seemed right. I wonder if it is a natural progression. Currently I would have to say that Boulevard Brewing Company's "Single Wide IPA" is my favorite. It's Killer!

 

After spending 2 weeks in Richmond VA I am glad to be back in the UK. Couldn't find a decent ale, maybe it's a palate thing

 

Ales here tend to be much more carbonated and much colder than over there. I love both styles though.

 

Yeah a lot were quite gassy which was strange and hard to get used to for an ale.
Also found a lot of beers too sweet, or over hopped for my liking.

I just didnt find one I liked enough to have a second pint of. Made me feel quite curmudgeonly.

 

If you have a chance:

http://brooklynbrewery.com/brooklyn-beers/bqe/wild-streak

Once you try barrel aged it's hard to go back.

 

Just had a killer brown...if I had not had three others before it I might have remebered what it was...

If you like it, its great, piss on nay sayers, that is what is so great about beer, no one cares.....not like those wine snobs...(I am still partial to Killians)

 

Mac & Jack's African Amber, Silver City Fat Scotch Ale, Pike Kilt Lifter, Pranqster.

+1 on barley wine.

I like Double Bastard better than Arrogant Bastard when you can find it.

 

i kind of got snoby when i reached 350 different beers tried at the close to home bar (they had a passport book you coudl have the tender fill out as your tried) i know i had more that wer not in my book but since the place didnt pay there taxes and got closed i never got a chance to get to 1k different beers (you get to pick a semi local microbrew to make one in your name )
they had 43 taps and 2 hand pumps and at one point 80K$ in bottles in the cellor

 

Where was that? Supposedly there is a brewery in Nashville that does something similar. Not with that many beers I don't think. But as you try beers they stamp/punch a thingamajig. Fill it up and you get a doohickey.
You can tell I know a lot about it. I vaguely remember a coworker telling me bout it

 

Awesome advice everyone, I gotta soak this all in and put it to good use