Expanding my tastes

I recently learned that the local craft brewery started selling their imperial stout in bottles. Having never tried a stout I searched and could not find it on any shelves so I headed to the source. Sample out of the tap had me hooked, so I picked up a 4 pack and came home. Now after dinner I poped one open and while not as good as from the tap im feeling that I have deprived myself over the last few years by not trying more beer styles. As a newbie to beer in general im still learning to like hops so at 20 IBU its just about right for me, with a nice dark choclate and coffee finish. Also im learning that at 7.2% it goes down way to easy

Link to the brewery page, its the one at the bottom. Cool bottle to.
http://www.sierrablancabrewery.com/beers.html

I prefer more flavorful, often sweeter stouts over stand-alones. Milk stouts and chocolate stouts are more my style. A friend of mine prefers really serious stouts and he likes "Oatmeal Breakfast" stouts. Goose Island also makes a pretty serious Bourbon County porter you might want to try.

What is it about stouts that you like? If you like the toasted flavor, just keep tasting as many as you can. You may also want to try English Browns like newcastle. If it's the thic richness you crave, try porters as well as Bocks and Scotch Ales (which are generally sweeter).

In general my advice would be to taste as much as you can and do so reflectively. Meaning, if you like something (or don't), pay attention to as many features as you can. What style is it? Do people who reviewed it on line think it represents that style? What's good (or bad) about it, the grain flavor, consistency, bitterness, spices? These are hard things to do at first, and not everyone agrees on what to call the same thing, but the more you can reflect on your drinking, the more you'll develop a taste for what you like.

Finally, don't be surprised if a sip, a bottle, and a six pack all have different tastes to you, that's normal. Some beers are great for a sip but not for a bottle (and vice versa; Philadelphia Brewing Co. makes a ton of bears I don't like at first but then grow on me with the bottle); some bottles are good every once in a while but you wouldn't want to be stuck with a case.

Happy tastin'!

In terms of classic stouts, I think Coopers from Australia is vastly underrated (I'm talking about the commercially made version, not the homebrew kit.) I prefer it to Guinness.

Now for big stouts, Great Divide's Yeti line-up are all great, though I have a soft spot for the Oak Aged Yeti.

Schlafly makes some epic stouts, their "Extra" being my favorite beer.(short of the epic 080808 from stone which is so limited as to be a colectors item)

I strongly suggest trying some bocks, kolschs (again schlafly's comes to mind) and an IPA or 2.

IIpa and stout are my 2 favorite styles.

Thanks for the tips, ill see what styles I can find. There are a few places over the mountains in Albuquerque that sell singles but I find the current trend of not putting any info just a crazy pic and batch name on the bottle to be a let down. I wish it was standard to put style, ABV and IBU so I have some idea what im getting into.

Google and the HBT app are better than nothing when you find something.

We need a feature on the app where you scan a bar code and it pulls up a review!!!

Genius...