Want to start drinking GOOD beer. Have no idea where to even start. Looking for recommendations.

cjhunter2kx · 3 months

Unibroue is delicious.

sunsunsun · 3 months

Not anything against you OP, but this question is asked on average once a week.

If it's possible, go to a beer bar and try a flight of beers and try to figure out what you like from there. The key to finding your favorite beer is to try lots of different styles, and a flight of beers would be a good way of doing that.

If you're still working your way up to darker beers, Here are some less malty beers/styles that are both quite good and many new beer drinkers enjoy: I would try Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, a Hefe off of this list (because some of them will be difficult to find, but they're all good), an IPA such as any of the following: Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, Bells Two Hearted, Stone IPA, or Sierra Nevada Torpedo... and a Witbier like Hoegaarden.

videogamechamp · 3 months

I suggest trying pilsners or saison style beers. They are both styles intended to be relatively light and drinkable.

turkeypants · 3 months

What you want are transitional beers. The dos equis you like is, style wise, an American adjunt lager. Let's kick out the adjunct and go for a solid transitional lager. The easiest way to do this is Samuel Adams Boston Lager. You can find it everywhere. It keeps you in familiar territory yet ups the flavor and quality. You'll get a nice touch of sweetness yet a nice corresponding foray into hop territory, an artful yet nonthreatening bitter counterpoint. That's a great launching pad into other Samuel Adams beers that in my opinion are pretty accessible. Try their Boston Ale. Try their winter lager, their alpine spring, their black lager, their brown ale, their pale ale. These are sort of "safe entry" beers that are not likely to offend. It could be that your next beer is some kind of hop apocalypse and you find that you're a natural hop fiend, or it's a big belgian and you feel you've come home. But probably you need to go easy and gradual.

An obvious category would be pilsner/pilsener/pils. It's a style of pale lager. Plenty of available and accessible ones here. Try Czech ones like Pilsner Urquell or Staropramen. The easiest to find would be Beck's and Stella. Give it a shot if it's all you can find, but you can do better. Samuel Adams has Noble Pils, which has gotten a pretty good reaction.

You should try something easing into bitter territory because most of the craft beer nuts are gaga for hops and that many people can't be wrong (right?). I like other people in this thread's recommendation of Sierra Nevada's pale. Easy to find and a good entry point. If you like it, try Dale's, Samuel Adams, Stone, Foundrers, Smuttynose, Tröegs, Three Floyd's Zombie Dust, Victory's Headwaters. If Sierra Nevada is too bitter, don't worry. Just back off for now and we'll ease back into that area later, maybe with a little help and a bit less bitter, like some apricot in Magic Hat #9. Some of us just don't like too much hop bitterness, but you'll want to keep trying things because it can grow on you to a greater or lesser extent.

If you want a nice doorway to darker beers, let me echo somebody's suggestion of Newcastle as a starter - it's so mild and therefore totally safe. It's like darker beer for scaredy cats. It's impossible for it to offend you with strong flavors. But since it has so little flavor (to me), let me next suggest Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale. This is their most available brew and some consider it the quintessential English brown ale. It's a dandy. It's got lovely caramel notes but, being English, no threat of bitterness or overt roastiness. It's mild and delicious. I remember my high school buddy who couldn't stand beer really liked that one. I was fine with the macros back then and so never bought it myself (kind of expensive), but years later I tried it and was wowed. What a great ambassador into the world of quality beer. The head on almost every Samuel Smith's brew is legendary - you can literally eat it with a spoon. It looks like oatmeal, so textured, and it's not going anywhere. There will be head in the bottom of the glass when you're done. I wish all heads were all like that. I tried their strong ale and was so annoyed that it lacked the usual Sam Smith's head.

Speaking of oatmeal, I know this is a stretch, but if you see Samuel Smith's oatmeal stout next to the nut brown, just try one bottle of that. Usually comes in skinny four packs or 1pt 2.3oz bombers, so shoot for a bomber. Man that's nice. You've heard of Guinness stout, surely, and maybe have tried it, but this is a completely different animal, night and day. Lots of stouts are bitter, with a charred malt flavor you may come to appreciate down the road, but this one's a dream. Sweet, oatey, lovely. If you like that, try their Imperial Stout if you can find it. White label. If you're squeamish, save this and other stouts for down the road. It's OK.

If dark beers are not treating you right, back up a step and aim for mild and balanced medium beers. A nice category for this is a lot of English ales. English pales, English bitters, others. If you've found a Samuel Smith's dealer, you might find their Organic Ale or Pale Ale - those are decent candidates. Boddington's and Bass are pretty easy to find and might be nice first steps, but I don't think either are considered all that special. Fuller's London Pride is a bit harder to find but is pretty decent.

Speaking of Fuller's another nice mild category is ESB, which stands for "extra special bitter" or "extra strong bitter" both of which are misnomers at least to the American palate, because neither are particularly bitter compared to anything over here. They're pretty mild actually. Fullers makes one that's not too hard to find if you've got access to a decent booze store. Left Hand has a great ESB called Sawtooth Ale. I get it all the time when I don't want to think about what style of beer to get. It's a great all-rounder. ESB to me is a great transitional beer because it's pretty accessible and balanced. You might find Fuller's ESB or Redhook ESB. If Southern Tier is in your area, they've got a good one.

KudosX · 3 months

If you like things that can be a bit bitter, you should try IPAs (India Pale Ales) or APAs (American Pale Ales).

IPAs tend to be a bit more bitter, while APAs still have a nice hop presence without being overwhelming. There's also double and triple IPAs which can be a real kick in the mouth, and are absolutely delicious if you're into the style.

I would try to find somewhere that does mix-a-six if possible, and just try a few different kind of beers. I always hated dark beers too, but once I got to try a few quality stouts I fell in love.

I wish I knew what was distributed in Toronto and I'd be able to give you specific suggestions. :[

bru_tech · 3 months

i have yet to develop a taste for most IPA. not a big hops fan. I too have a hard time drinking the darker beers. that being said, do enjoy wheat beers, like belgian style white ales, wit beers, hefeweissen's (my fav). they aren't too harsh and tend to have nice fruity, citrusy notes to them. just try to look for something that says wheat or wit on the bottle

phd2k1 · 3 months

When I made the switch from crappy beer (Bud Light, Busch Light, Coors, etc) to "good beer", I didn't go for Pale Ales, IPAs or darker porters and stouts right away.

You say you like Dos Equis...that's a good place to start. Try other lagers, like Red Stripe, Sam Adam's Boston Lager, or Harp.

My personal beer progression went something like this:

crappy beer, Corona or Dos Equis, Newcastle Brown Ale, Boulevard Wheat, Fransiskaner Hefeweizen, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Big Sky IPA, Fat Tire, Guinness.

I hope this helps!

SmileYoureBeautiful · 3 months

Grolsch and San Miguel are beers that I can recommend. They are very easy to drink and especially if you're not that in to beer that has very much taste.

Another advice is to go to bars with a big repertoir of beer and ask for a beer that is similar to a beer you like or maybe desbribe what you want in a beer. I like beer with som chocolate flavour.

veritasius · 3 months

Give a pale ale like Sierra Nevada a try. At first, you might think bitter, but keep going and you'll find that there is a pleasant zing at the end. You have to try a Guiness as well. Have it on draft at a bar where they pour a nice head on it. The darkness may scare you at first, but the complexity of flavors will surprise you.

Jacksmythee · 3 months

If you're not afraid to drop a couple bucks on something entirely different, try Rodenbach Grand Cru or a duchesse de bourgogne. Both are sour ales and are entirely different than most other styles are beer. They're fruity and slightly sour, as the name implies, imminently drinkable and totally delicious. Also, if this sounds interesting, check out Lambics, which are flavored with various fruits. Lindeman's is relatively common and have a line of cherry, raspberry and apple flavored lambics, which are decent.

thiscrapagain · 3 months

I came to ask the exact same question. This comment is acting more like a place marker so I'll remember to come back later.

notdan72 · 3 months

Also an Ontario resident here. As you likely know, there's only two stores where we can buy beer for home consumption: The Beer Store and the LCBO. Avoid the Beer Store unless returning empties. Their selection is extremely poor and the profits go to Molson/Labatt (which are owned by Coors and Anheiser-Busch respectively).

My recommendation: hit up one of the larger LCBOs. Yonge and Summerhill is the biggest LCBO in the province, but there's a few other big ones downtown that seem to have good selections (I've heard Queen's Quay is good).

If your current go-to beer is Dos Equis Lager, then I'd start trying Ontario craft lagers and some European pilsners:

Creemore Lager (and Pilsner and Kellerbier)
King Pilsner
Neustadt Lager
Pilsner Urquell
Beau's Lug-Tread

If you want to move on to other styles, then here are some of my favourites that also seem to work as crowd pleasers:

Unibroue Blanche de Chambly (Belgian style witbier)
Unibroue La Fin du Monde (Belgian style strong pale ale (Tripel))
Great Lakes Crazy Canuck Pale Ale (American style pale ale)
Muskoka Mad Tom IPA (American style IPA)
Mill Street Tankhouse (Amber ale)
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier (German wheat beer)
Hacker-Pschorr Hefeweissbier (German wheat beer)
Affligem Blonde (Belgian pale ale)
St-Ambroise Pale Ale (English style pale ale)

idrawinmargins · 3 months

First time I had a cream ale I was in love. Too bad there aren't all that many in my area.

if you can get yourself a cream ale. good stuff not too bitter and smooth.

ParAvion · 3 months

Suggesting IPAs and Pale Ales when all he has had are macros is a little too much guys. A couple of "gateway" beers come to mind. Michelob Amber Bock and Blue Moon are good starter beers if you are looking to expand your tastes. Also depending on your location Shiner Bock is good too. Generally expanding into the crafty-er side of the big three breweries is a safe approach.

lyzing · 3 months

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh when you say all you've drank is popular/mainstream beers from commercials, but then go on to say that you hate all dark beer and that's just the way it is.

You may need to open up a bit if you want to truly enjoy beer.

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