developing a taste for craft beer

photo: pbbrew

The world of beer is diverse and complex, and yields an incredible range of tastes, flavours, and varieties. However, if your beer history is limited to Michelob Ultra and Budweiser, you're only experiencing a teensy portion of the beer universe. And, quite frankly, a very poor sampling of the beer universe! Mass-produced beers are meant to appeal to everyone, so they are usually extremely drinkable and cheap. Most have very little flavour or body. Instead of trudging over to grab the usual, boring six-pack of Miller Lite at a gas station, why not expand your beer knowledge a little bit? 

As opposed to the mass-market beers produced by corporate Anheuser-Busch and the like, craft beers are developed in small quantities by independently owned microbreweries. Craft beers are extremely diverse, encompassing every brewing style and flavour, so you are guaranteed to find something you like! Anything is possible with craft beers. As opposed to beer giants, craft breweries love to experiment with unique flavours: from blueberry wheat to oyster stout to banana bread beer, there are some weird but delicious options out there.

However, craft brews may be more difficult to find and more expensive than corporate-brewery beers. Grocery stores (especially specialty stores and Trader Joe's) and wine/beer shops are your bets for finding good craft beer. I get most of my new and unusual beers from a small wine shop in town. But don't be deterred! It's definitely worth the hunt to discover delicious new brews! 
             
Here I've included a brief guide to developing a taste for craft beer. If you're used to drinking something commonplace, I recommend the types of beer that may appeal to your taste, but will offer more variety and flavour. The availability of individual craft beers is going to depend on where you are, but just keep an eye out for the type that you're interested in, with an unknown and unusual label! 

Be adventurous! Many 'lite'-beer drinkers may be pleasantly surprised by some of the 'heavier' beers further down on the scale. The darker beers (brown ales, bocks and dobbelbocks, and some porters and stouts) are actually very smooth and easy to drink. Some are a little sweet! Don't be intimidated by the colour of the beer. In fact, the most 'difficult to drink' (bitter) beers - pale ales - are very light in colour.  

If you usually drink Bud Lite, Miller Lite, Michelob Ultra... 
Try a LIGHT LAGER, KOLSCH, PILSNER, or WITBIER. 

My favourites: 
   Blue Mountain Kolsch 151
   Allagash White 
   Legend Winter White      

  

If you usually drink Stella Artois or Corona... 
Try a PALE ALE, INDIA PALE ALE, or ENGLISH BITTER.  

My favourites:  
   Lagunitas Sucks 
   Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (very bitter!)       
  

If you usually drink Blue Moon... 
Try a SAISON, HEFEWEISSEN, or WEISSBIER. 

My favourites: 
   Starr Hill The Love 
   Ommegang Hennepin




If you usually drink Sam Adams or Yuengling... 
Try an AMBER LAGER, VIENNA LAGER, BROWN ALE, or BOCK. 

My favourites:  
   Anchor Steam (lighter)
   Legend Brown Ale
   Weihenstephaner   

If you usually drink Guinness... 
Try a STOUT (flavoured stouts include smoked stout, cream stout, oatmeal, and espresso), PORTER (flavoured porters include chocolate, vanilla, chocolate milk, etc.), SCHWARZBIER, or DOPPELBOCK. 

My favourites: 
   New Holland Dragon's Milk Stout
   Williamsburg Alewerks Coffeehouse Stout
   Starr Hill Snow Blind Doppelbock

Warning: these darker beers usually have a significantly higher alcohol content than lighter beers (many average around 9-12% ABV), so be careful if you're accustomed to drinker a large amount of 'lite' beer!   

In addition, a fun app to check out is Untappd, which allows you to 'check in' and rate any new beers you've tried. The app will recommend new brews that you may like depending on your taste, and tell you where you can find them! 

Enjoy!!