"Oh, I don't like dark beer"

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Xpertskir

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Why is it that when I tell people I brew, and like assertively flavored beer, this is the response I get? (rhetorical question)

It's especially amusing because I mostly brew IPA's
 
I get that all the time as well and it's just their preconceived notion that dark beers are heavy and bitter. It really is just lack of knowledge so it's up to us to educate them. I just turned some of those folks onto a black ale and boy were they surprised, now they can't get enough!
 
My first brew was a brown ale. It was darker than a normal brown, but I got a few, it looks like a guinness. I don't like dark beers. They take a sip, some really liked it,.and some thought it was really hoppy,.which it def wasn't. My family all enjoyed it, though. My lightest had been my IIPA, a nice light copper. I might try to make a really light color pale in the spring.
 
Well....everyone knows that Guinness is thick, heavy and loaded with calories and booze...

Seriously though, it's because we've been socialized into drinking light crap water beers. People don't like stepping out of the comfort zone most of the times when it comes to food and drink (or anything else for that matter). I just like someone saying they don't like Asian food because they make assumptions about it that often times have no grounding in reality not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as one singular type of "Asian food" or "Dark Beer" for that matter.
 
Well....everyone knows that Guinness is thick, heavy and loaded with calories and booze...

Seriously though, it's because we've been socialized into drinking light crap water beers. People don't like stepping out of the comfort zone most of the times when it comes to food and drink (or anything else for that matter). I just like someone saying they don't like Asian food because they make assumptions about it that often times have no grounding in reality not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as one singular type of "Asian food" or "Dark Beer" for that matter.

Guinness only has about 130 calories; really not that much at all
 
Well, especially among older crowds, for many people, pale ales and the like ARE "dark beer." My FIL talks about playing cards with his buddies and drinking games with "Light and Dark" beers, where light was Schlitz and Dark was Bass.
 
Upon tasting my 7.0% IPA - "this is really good! What others do you have that I can try?" I offer my 4% dry stout, "No. No no no no no. It is too heavy and alcoholic for me."

Even after assuring them that the stout was about 100 calories fewer and almost half the alcohol content, they still refuse to try it because it is too heavy and too alcoholic. Jesus Christ.
 
Advertising works. Beer advertising works very well.

It's important big beer companies don't damage the message with a product that has character other than wet and cold.

"Hey, this isn't my beer. It has flavor."

Someone could end up tasting hops or malt and then what would the horses do?
 
Why is it that when I tell people I brew, and like assertively flavored beer, this is the response I get? (rhetorical question)

It's especially amusing because I mostly brew IPA's

They are simply stating,that they only like light tastless refreshing easy drinking beer. Anything darker that bright yellow and it may go down like medicine for them.That and closed mindedness and "sticking to what they know"

I have a funny one for you. I was at some of the fiancess relatives for Fourth of July picnic and decided Id bring a 12 pack of some Pale ale. I get one out and they notice what it says,and say Pale ale? What is that,some kind of dark beer? Other guy goes "NO *******,it says Pale" Pale ******* that means light. They were brothers so it was all good. They refused to even try one though by the way and just stuck with bush light or something. I know what they would have said though "This is bitter! blaach!
 
inhousebrew said:
I try to initiate sarcasm online with the .... to show that something is not as it should be.

Perhaps it's not working well, perhaps you people are just not smart enough...

Look up the "I am an idiot" thread.

On another note, these dark beer haters have not yet acquired this portion of their tongue which allows them to not only enjoy nearly ever beer but also allows them to discern a dark beer from a non dark beer or the posters case an IPA.
 


"after i read this beer cheat sheet, i knew what the difference was between a light beer and a dark beer as far as points go..."
 
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I hate the "I don't like dark beer" comment. It's like saying I don't like brown food, it tastes too much like food. Can't blame people for not having a degree in beer styles, but it's just a frustrating comment when you're trying to share homebrew with someone who might like it if they would only give it a chance...but they can't give it a chance because it's "dark."

People have turned down my ESB because it's dark (13SRM).
 
Commercials like that propagate the problem... I think the real issue is that people don't like to sound stupid, which means they have to make a statement (right or wrong) about the beer they're offered. Simple differences like dark and light are easy to see (and clearly easy to misunderstand). It's interesting how this works with beer drinkers (not straight-line BMCers)...

I think my family (immediate only) are very open to me correcting them about beer... but they still make crazy comments from time to time. "I don't like dark beers.... but just a sip of Guinness (clone) is OK" -- how can that statement not be about calories. Yet drinking my 7%ABV Amber is no problem.

I'm actually very surprised at WW. I'd have thought they'd be so up on caloric content that they wouldn't post drivel like this. It's much easier to approximate calories by ABV (and still not 100% correct, but at least it's close to the truth). ABV and taste (dry to sweet) would be most correct, and fairly easy to tabulate. I'm not on it (but am watching weight), but here's a great point list:
Weight Watchers Points for Beer.
 
I think commercials like that are the leading cause of information obesity. People consuming large amounts of undigestible information (dark beer is a left hand beer - I'm right handed so it makes me fat) causes early conversation death.

Good beer is like lobster, I like those who don't like it, it leaves more for me.
 
My father in law (a hardcore BMC) told me that the Centennial Blonde tasted dark :tank:

I got this from my dad (at time thought Busch Lite is a premium) when I first started brewing. I brewed a wheat beer around 7 SRM and he was "Oh that's way to dark of a beer."

A year later he still drinks Busch Lite (Hard to kick 40 some years of drinking it) But I'm getting him into Pales and Ambers. Working on Stouts, that may take a while.
 
What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.
 
What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Nothing wrong with disliking dark beer. The problem is when people "don't like it" because they think it is necessarily huge in calories, alcohol and absurdly bitter - which isn't always the case. A lot of people refuse to even try something because "it is too dark," which is ridiculous because they probably don't have the slightest idea of how that beer will taste, so how can they know they don't like it?

I'm betting I could make a dark mild and a high gravity belgian tripel and people would be convinced the mild was a huge alcoholic beast, but would love to chug-a-lug that tripel. Because, you know, dark beers are too heavy.
 
What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Chill out. The point of this thread is the blanket statement made by people who dont "get beer" that any beer with flavor is "dark"

Drink whatever you want, trust me I'm not losing sleep about what you do or dont like.
 
What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Well what is it you're calling a "dark" beer? That's a big part of the issue to me. Many people who only drink BMCs think anything darker than a Bud Light is a dark beer. You can get beer pretty dark without using any roasted grains that provide that roasty bitterness. I don't consider a pale ale or an ESB to be a dark beer, but it's a lot darker than a Bud Light and that's enough for a lot of people to call it a dark beer.

It bugs me I think because it implies that all dark beers taste the same, and nothing could be further from the truth.
 
Considering that "LESS FILLING" was one of the most sought after qualities in a beer not too long ago in the US of A, nothing surprises me.

The "weight watchers" or whatever TF commercial where the guy tells the benefits of counting points, such as:"knowing the difference between a light beer, and a dark beer!" Makes me want to KILL........
 
Well what is it you're calling a "dark" beer? That's a big part of the issue to me. Many people who only drink BMCs think anything darker than a Bud Light is a dark beer. You can get beer pretty dark without using any roasted grains that provide that roasty bitterness. I don't consider a pale ale or an ESB to be a dark beer, but it's a lot darker than a Bud Light and that's enough for a lot of people to call it a dark beer.

It bugs me I think because it implies that all dark beers taste the same, and nothing could be further from the truth.
I believe they were all stouts or porters. True dark beers.
The last one I tried was a home brew. It was horrible! The brewer must have seen it on my face... He took it back and poured me something he knew I liked. He described the flavors lovingly, and I agreed with every thing he said. The difference was he saw the discriptors as positive and I saw them as negative.
 
What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Do you like IPAs? Because if you do try a CDA. Many are just an IPA with coloring added to be 'dark'.

I've had some that had a nice subtle roast, and some that if I closed my eyes I wouldn't know isn't a normal IPA. Also there are sweet stouts and other varieties that have almost no astringency that is associated with 'dark' ales. The point is, just like people, you can't judge a beer by it's color. You judge them by their smell and .............. taste??
 
I, honestly, feel that you can not be a true beer conniseur and say that you don't like ANY dark beers.

It is like being a luch conniseur but not liking ANY kind of sandwich.

don't like the few you have tried? Noob. Sorry. but nothing more than that.

My first few sips of beer period tasted absolutely revolting.

Still think Guinness is re-gurgitated charcoal milk, but aside from that, Dark is my favorite. Porters are probably my goto, but I love stouts.
 
Halbrust said:
I believe they were all stouts or porters. True dark beers.

And the poster makes the point of the thread. He says " I don't like dark beer" but means " I don't like stouts and porters". These are not the only dark beers by far and are certainly not the only "true dark beers". There are many beers that look as black as midnight but are light tasting and smooth as glass. When the average BMC drinker says "I don't like dark beers" they are really saying " I accidentally tried a guiness once and didn't like it so I ran back to Bud Light like a little girl running home to momma"
 
I didnt like dark beer much didnt hate it either when I very first started really exploring the styles.Years later well,its pretty much the light beers that make me go blacchh- sometimes but not really though . I never disliked Arrogant bastard/Dead guy(dont like this one as much now) which may have been my first good non- light beer/pale lager ever or some local micro brews in the 90's .Guienness was just ok ocassionally then too. In fact now there is way too many better than that dark beer example and that is usually what represents dark beers.
I remember when I could barely tolerate the bitterness of a Sierra Nevada Pale ale.It was a I had to be in the mood for that kind of beer thing,then. Now its not bitter enough,see where Im goin with this?

Porter was a late bloomer and last appreciated for me,and it took alot of trying different ones till I finally realized how good they are and can be.I dont think I was trying the right ones. It makes sense to me now why people dont like dark beers to begin with because guinness is in my opinion not a good example of how good they can be.So they just stop there.
 
I look at it like coffee. I'm a black coffee kinda guy. I love a good double shot espresso, short pull. Lots of people add sugar, milk or both. Some people like their drinks sweeter; I'm a fan of the savory.

Dark beers, the stouts/CDA's/Porters etc have a different bitterness than beers that are bitter due only to hops, IMO. I get why people don't like that, especially if their backgrounds are in Pilsners/light lagers(not hating, I enjoy a well made Pilsner).

Personally I don't give a **** what people drink. Really doesn't matter at all, and why should it?

The perception that dark=alcohol, calories, and intense flavors is just misinformed. Will full ignorance.

I get why people wouldn't like those flavors, lots of people don't like black coffee. To me, it's really the same thing.

Is it annoying? Yeah, it can be.
Should people step out of their comfort zone? Hell yes.
Will they be surprised by what they find of they do? I think so.
Do I get annoyed with it? Hell no.

While they drink their ****ty carbonated piss water I've got gallons of the good stuff all to myself.

Cheers.
 
When Yuengling came to Ohio it was funny to see the reaction people had. I buy it as my go to cheap beer these days. Way better than Bud, same price. Buying at a local small supermarket and the cashier is eyeing it all funny.

Him: "What is that?"
Me: "Yuengling lager."
Him:"Its pretty dark. I don't know if I could drink a beer that dark."
Me: "Try it, its really not bad. Whats the worst that could happen?"
Him: "I don't think so. Its probably too thick for me"
Me: :/

What do they think dark beer is? Bottled alcohol gravy?
 
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