Any beers you changed your mind on since you started homebrewing?

I see beer very differently now that I have a small idea of what goes into making it, time, effort, creativity, etc. are there any beers that you initially snubbed that you have gone back to and had a eureka moment with?
My two big ones are no real surprise: dfh 60 minute and stone levitation ale. I guess I just wasn't ready for those yet. Now I love them.

i used to not like brown ales at all. since i started brewing, i'm rarely without 1 on tap

Yeah actually, BMC/Light Lagers. Actually lagers in general.

I came from a craft beer background. I didn't like that style beer when I started drinking, and when I turned beer drinking age it was at the start of the craft beer craze in the early 80's so pretty much I've grown up drinking only craft beers, and snubbing BMC. And buying into all the idiotic and historically inaccurate beersnob lies about how BMC added adjunct to cut costs, and all that other stuff that had me looking down at BMC, and those who drank them.

Then I read Maureen Ogle's book Ambitious Brew, and learned the truth about how the style developed, and was created because of consumer demand since people in the 1800's could afford meat with every meal and therefore heavy beers (liquid bread) was falling out of favors. So I started to give those beers, and the American Lager/Light Lager a different look...and developed more respect for them.

And I realized what I didn't like about Budweiser and Bud light in particular, was not that they were BMC or made by the supposed "evil empire" but that they were rice adjuncted lagers. And I didn't like other Rice adjuncted lagers, like Sapporo...but I did like corn adjuncted lagers, regardless of whether they were made by craft breweries or by the mega ones. And I quite enjoy corn adjuncted lagers, like Labatts.

In fact the more and more lagers, and lager like ales I've discovered the more I've loved. Maibocs, Vienna Lagers, Bohemian Pilsners, Dopplebocks all wonderful and amazing beers that I virtually ignored or looked down at because they were "lagers" and I thought I was too good for them. And even Kolsh, which is an ale, but in a lot of ways lager like. I looked down and passed all these amazing beers by because I had a "beersnob" stick up my ass and thought those beers and those who drank them were "less than" I was.

As I homebrewer I came to appreciate just how difficult it is to brew a light american lager, especially consistantly, batch after batch, and just because I didn't enjoy a certain beer, didn't mean that the brewery didn't deserve my respect for turning out such a difficult product to brew. And that the breweries themselves like AHB-inbev contributed so much historically to the culture and the technology of brewing beer.

And I also learned that all beer has it's place, EVEN light beers, especially in the summer. And that beer is the most egalitarian of drinks, and we shouldn't have an "us vs them" mentality about it. And open ourselves up to trying ALL beers.

Well said, Revvy.

Totally agree revvy, I believe there is a time for any beer. I love coming in from mowing the lawn in june and cracking an almost frozen miller or coors. It's just as rewarding as a Newcastle on my porch on a cool fall night, or a nice and bright IPA in spring time with some spicy salsa. It's easy to get caught up in snobbery and forget craft.

I do love a frozen ass bud light when it's 105 out. I have changed my mind on IPA's. I don't like them much before. One of my favorites now.

Beer me!

I've gained a lot more respect for balanced session beers, and bored myself of the super-flavor beers (intensely hopped, intensely strong, etc). Still enjoy em, still brew em from time to time, but learned a well-crafted, well balanced but still flavorful and properly bodied low alcohol beer is a real challenge.

IPAs. Over a year ago I would never find myself ordering or buying one. Now, while its not my favorite beer style, I can appreciate the flavor, aroma, and bitterness that accompanies and IPA. My black coffee RyePA is fermenting away in the garage as I write this.

I used to be all about IPAs. I don't hate then now, they're just eh... I've actually found myself buying quite a bit of rolling rock (in a can), but that's probably due to the fact that the bar that we go to on Sundays for football has $1 RR cans. I expect that I will move back to craft beers once football is over.

For me, it's a different appreciation for most beers Belgian (I used to thin kthat they used spices to try cover funny flavours, not realizing the beers have historically been that way, and one should embrace the spiciness.)

Also, though I have come to respect the consistency and technical difficulty f BMC (or, in my homeland up north here, LabbattsMolsonCarling, LMC), I can't enjoy Keith's IPa or Kokanee anymore.

This pains me a little, because Keith's is the beer that made me realize hops were a thing...even though it's got to be less than 15 IBU's and have no particular flavour, it stood out as "hoppier" when I was first legally allowed to appreciate beer. Kokanee also used to somehow seem better than the other plain mass market lagers - not anymore.

I'd rather have a Moosehead, or even better a Cream of Three Crops, any day, if I'm drinking that type of beer.

It's just weird that if the two beers I now can't stand hadn't somehow stood out from the crowd fifteen years ago, I wouldn't be a beer guy.

I enjoy most types of beer, from Belgians to IPA's, micro- to macro-brewed, foreign and domestic, and beers anywhere on the SRM color chart and IBU range. Can't say I enjoy sours much. I try them from time to time but I haven't cared to brew one.

I use to equally enjoy lagers and ales, but since I've been home brewing, and more specifically, since I brewed my first lager, I haven't enjoyed lagers as much. When it comes to the two, ales are my favorite.

Lagers have a distinct taste that I didn't recognize as being a lager taste until I brewed my own and tasted it during fermentation. I don't know how to describe it, but I don't care for that taste. It mellows out over time as the beer conditions and stabilizes, but it's always there. Not only do I taste it in my home brewed lagers, but now I taste it in commercial micro and macro brewed beers. I taste it in the lagers made by some of my local breweries, as well as in those by the largest companies around.

I would say bigger beers. Before I started homebrewing any high alcohol style grossed me out. I couldnt stand the flavor. Now I'm more than happy to sip on a 10-14% beer all night(makes for a short night though.). I also don't drink as much bmc as I used to. My whole drinking philosophy has morphed from a case of beer on the weekend to more alcohol less beer.

Qhrumphf said:

I've gained a lot more respect for balanced session beers, and bored myself of the super-flavor beers (intensely hopped, intensely strong, etc). Still enjoy em, still brew em from time to time, but learned a well-crafted, well balanced but still flavorful and properly bodied low alcohol beer is a real challenge.

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I second that. My first HB was an Irish stout, but after that I did a bunch of high gravity things because I could. I threw every grain and hop I could find into them, and I thought they were pretty great. Whenever I pull out a bottle that's been sitting since then I wonder what I was thinking.

Now I brew the beer I really want to drink rather than what I think will be the coolest thing to brew. More is less I suppose.

For me since I started brewing IPAs and all of the beers of Belgium I have found I liked. I had never had a Belgian beer before brewing. IPAs just didn't do it for me till I learned about hops additions and flavors. Now I have a healthy respect for a good IPA, bad ones I still don't like.

I grew up with PBR's, Michelobs, Coor Lights, etc. and if I wanted a "good" beer, I would get Moosehead. Then I got older and stayed with Coor Light all year long. Never had a craving for Porters or Stouts. I just started brewing last October..wanting to brew a Coors Light...it never happened, ended up brewing a Blonde Ale...4 batches later, guess what is in my two carboys? A Coffee Porter and a Molasses Oatmeal Stout....love the stuff. Will I be drinking this stuff when the summer is here? Time will tell, but I am drinking what I never used to like drinking

I'm still young at homebrewing, but it still has changed the perspective how hard is to make a good beer.Though some ales that I've brewed, I think, are better than some macrobrewers lagers, nevertheless I still drink and enjoy them, because of the clarity and refreshing qualities.

I fell in love with two types of beer after being exposed to some quality homebrew versions, smoked and sours. Love the stuff. A sour is on the list to brew as soon as I can dedicate sour equipment.

I'm suddenly interested in sours. I don't know of any other than a few that I've had from jester king. It's a new experience to me, any that you can recommend?

sundaypapers said:

I'm suddenly interested in sours. I don't know of any other than a few that I've had from jester king. It's a new experience to me, any that you can recommend?

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Rodenbach is a classic Flanders Red. I'm big on the 1809 Berliner Weisse. Drei Fonteinen and Tilquin make some great Gueuze. Lindeman's Gueuze Cuvee Rene is a good, affordable, and easy to find Gueuze. If you've got access, Russian River makes some good sours (I've only been able to try Supplication, Sanctification, and Consecration). Cantillon is great all around.

Miller Lite actually tastes better to me now that I've been homebrewing.

Home brewing just intensified my interest in beer.

I have lost interest in really hoppy beer though. It was a nice change, and I don't mind extra hops in assorted American styles. But for the most part I now lean toward balanced fully bodied brews. I moderate my hops so a good IPA or American Pale really is something different.

Plus, I'm exercising more. Don't need the extra estrogen from hoppy beers. lol

Yeah probably sours for me. In fact I can remember listing "sours" as a category I'd prefer not to judge when I first started judging in competitions. I judged sours in a competition a few months ago and it was delightful. There was one gueuze (that happened to be accidentally entered as a straight lambic) that was among the best I've ever had, homebrew or commercial.

well I only have brewed three batches to date since taking on this new hobby but the one beer I believe I've lost interest in slightly are barleywines. Just not into the high alcohol content.

I agree with Revvy's early post - lighter beers. In particular, I love brewing (drinking) Helles, Dortmunder, British Mild, Brittish Bitter . . . . session beers. I like the challenge of brewing an awesome tasting beer that is 1.035- low 40 range. It is not easy to do, especially if it is a "golden" beer. Lagers in general as well - especially german beers ( pils, oktoberfest, maibock, etc.)

Also have become interested in sours a bit as others have mentioned too. Rodenbach is a favorite and the one that got me hooked (along with a New Glarus Cherry Stout.)

What am I less interested in to offset this? Crazy beers (odd additions, fruit, spice, etc. etc. etc.) I used to always see a recipe and thing "what can I add to it to make it "better" (which usually made it worse).

I have to agree that one thing I notice and appreciate more is a delicate beer that is balanced. Very hard to do ad hard to come by. There's a lot of craft beer out there that is great and full of powerful flavors and aromas, but I really like a well balanced beer that has nothing to hide behind. I wish I could come up with an example here, maybe six points resin? I am enjoying the new Albion ale as of last week. There is something great about simplicity, and that beer is solid and simple.

Sour beers, and specifically true Lambics. I read about them, tried one and thought "gross they just let open to the air and come what may?" but now realizing that this creates a beer that is one drinkable, two can get you drunk, and three is actually delicious, it is pretty amazing. I mean this is literally manna from heaven.