What beer did you really want to HATE, but it surprised the heck out of you?

This thread is sort of the corollary of https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f5/what-beer-did-you-want-really-like-but-just-didnt-28485/ as well as this little story that Forrest from Austin Homebrew mentioned in a thread;

Austinhomebrew said:

I had a snob of an employee try a beer he thought was mine. He really liked it and even commented on specific things that he liked. He told me it was very good and he wouldn't change the recipe. When I told him it was Budweiser American Ale, he told me "I wish I would have known that first, I am not supposed to like that beer."

Forrest

Click to expand...

So what beer did you taste that you expected to hate that surprised you and you ended up loving?

I have three actually.

The first one was the afore mentioned Bud American Ale. I thought I'd give it a try when it first came out, thinking of course that since it came from AHB it was going to royally sucked. And I was surprised and impressed. It was maltier than I thought it would be, and had some nice flavors and was balanced pretty well. It kinda reminds me of a "low rent" attempt at cloning Rogue Dead Guy. Not what I was expecting.

Plus I like the bottles, so I 've drunk about a case of it, and found that on tap it is really nice when it's fresh.

The second one was Hoegaarden. I don't like most wheat beers, in fact a lot of wheat beer styles casue a back of the throat sourness/gag reflex, that is pretty nasty to me. But one day my bottle shop had a couple in their mixed sixer fridge, so I grabbed them with some other struff. I was truly blown away, and it's sort of become my favorite style. I've brewed a fairly decent clone of it. And liking that led me into trying more wits and also led me to try Saisons as well.

And the biggest surprise came from my trying out differrent wits. It's Blue Moon.....I've totally ignored it since it first came out thinking it was the orange sliced purview of frat boys. But I was in a pizza joint over the summer and the only non BMC Lager they had was it, and since I had just got into trying different wits, I thought I would at least give it a try.

And again, it wasn't what I thought it would be. As a commercial Macro interpretation of a Wit, it is pretty good. A little sweet, but you do get some of the notes of spices and the orange.

It's another one of those beers, that if there's nothing else on tap or in a grocery store and I want to grab a sixer and not drive to a better stocked beerstore, I know I can get it and not be dissapointed.

So how about you. What beers out there did you really want to hate...but found that you just can't hate?

My "Cascading Wheat IPA" concoction I made a few weeks ago. OK, so it wasn't hoppy enough to be considered an IPA, but I overdid the flavoring somewhat and I at first I thought "yuck". After the first 6 I was craving it more and more!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL YOU BREWERS!!!

Duchess de Bourgogne

I am generally not a sour fan, but this one did it for me. The usual bartender at our favorite Weds night pub suggested to me and I turned it down knowing that she loves sours so I was pretty sure I wouldn't. She offered me a taste saying that she would buy it if I didn't like it. I was shocked at how much I really enjoyed it, although it did really make me want some of the pubs fantastic fish n' chips.

You stole my thunder with your first entry, Revvy. I was very pleasantly surprised by Bud American Ale. It is pretty darned good. At first I thought that perhaps the Bud people hacked into my computer and stole my recipe for my Righteous Red. Tastes just like it.

Budweiser. Guess it's because I grew up on the stuff, but I still like me a good ice cold Bud every now and then.

Usually a 6-pack is as much as I can handle, and then I need to get back to drinking real beer an hour later.

I'll go with the Budweiser American Ale as well. Well, I didn't WANT to hate it, I was just expecting I wouldn't like it. I tried a bottle just to give it a shot, and I was pleasantly surprised. Granted, it wasn't fantastic and I wouldn't go out of my way to buy it or order it. But if I was someplace that only had BMC available, and that was one, I'd gladly drink that instead of considering drinking soda.

Budweiser American Ale here too. It's not that I wanted to hate it. I just didn't expect it to be as good as it is.

The one that really surprised me was Dixie White Chocolate Moose beer. It is a sweet beer, which I was really expecting to hate. My friends insisted on ordering it, and I laughingly took a big taste. It was delicious -- it was like dessert, only beer. I mean, I like beer, but I don't want it for dessert. I like dessert, but I certainly don't want it for beer. Until now!

Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in over 5 years. I had it at the Brickskeller in DC, and now I live in South Carolina.

I have two.

The first was - strangely - Stella. In the IT world it has become the de facto beer, which I was sure would remove it from consideration right away. But I actually like it a lot, and have brewed several clones. Stella a really clean-drinking, and has a surprising mouthfeel. It has become my grocery-store lager of choice.

The other is coffee with stout. My best friend is a military guy, spent a lot of time in Germany, and thinks that it you can see through a beer it is crap (I have since adjusted that perspective). Anyway, at the local microbrewer (Barley's) he ordered the coffee stout and insisted that I try one. I really liked it! The sweetness is really well balanced by what the brew process does to the coffee. I have since tried several and seek them out at every brewpub I am at.

S

peripatetic said:

The one that really surprised me was Dixie White Chocolate Moose beer. It is a sweet beer, which I was really expecting to hate. My friends insisted on ordering it, and I laughingly took a big taste. It was delicious -- it was like dessert, only beer. I mean, I like beer, but I don't want it for dessert. I like dessert, but I certainly don't want it for beer. Until now!

Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in over 5 years. I had it at the Brickskeller in DC, and now I live in South Carolina.

Click to expand...

This sounds interesting. If it's no longer being made, I wonder if there's a clone of it out there. Looks like I'll be doing some digging.

Bud Light Lime.

'nuff said

Bud American ale and Michelob RyePA. Actually several of the Michelob Brewmaster series have pleasantly surprised me.

craigd said:

Bud American ale and Michelob RyePA. Actually several of the Michelob Brewmaster series have pleasantly surprised me.

Click to expand...

I didn't know they did a rye...I'll have to check it out.

PBR... For years I avoided it thinking it was more bad cheap macro swill. I was visiting friends who lived the ski bum life in Crested Butte and they lived on the stuff. I drank a bunch of PBR with them and was surprised that it actually tasted pretty damn good. Since then, it's been my go-to cheap beer. I had one a couple weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised that I could detect hops in addition to a pleasant bitterness.

Bud American Ale for me too. I could easily order it if they have nothing better than Bud in-house. Other than sour beers, I'm pretty easy to please.

I'd have to go with Bud American Ale too. It's not a great beer, but it's pretty good. I generally stay away from anything BMC, but had to give this one a shot.

I've picked up a couple of sixers since it came out and I'm still surprised. Granted, it's not a beer that I seek out and it's not on my list of great beers but it works well when options are limited.

Doog_Si_Reeb said:

PBR... For years I avoided it thinking it was more bad cheap macro swill. I was visiting friends who lived the ski bum life in Crested Butte and they lived on the stuff. I drank a bunch of PBR with them and was surprised that it actually tasted pretty damn good. Since then, it's been my go-to cheap beer. I had one a couple weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised that I could detect hops in addition to a pleasant bitterness.

Click to expand...

I agree with this.

Homercidal said:

Bud American Ale for me too. I could easily order it if they have nothing better than Bud in-house. Other than sour beers, I'm pretty easy to please.

Click to expand...

ohiobrewtus said:

I'd have to go with Bud American Ale too. It's not a great beer, but it's pretty good. I generally stay away from anything BMC, but had to give this one a shot.

I've picked up a couple of sixers since it came out and I'm still surprised. Granted, it's not a beer that I seek out and it's not on my list of great beers but it works well when options are limited.

Click to expand...

I guess I'm not surprised that BAA is coming out on top. I think it must be because since it came from Bud and is the first macro ale to come out of AB in over 30 years (or maybe they never did?) So of course so many beer geeks and brewers would try it at least out of curiosity sake. And of course we all expected that it was going to be totally bad, and many of us, myself included do have a bit of a bias.

Anyone know how it is doing outside of the beergeek community? I mean has anyone seen any numbers in terms of the "general beer public" who normally drink bud products? Are they liking it, or will it end up being pulled off the market in a couple years?

Revvy said:

Anyone know how it is doing outside of the beergeek community? I mean has anyone seen any numbers in terms of the "general beer public" who normally drink bud products? Are they liking it, or will it end up being pulled off the market in a couple years?

Click to expand...

I personally don't know anyone who normally drinks macros who buys this as more than an occasional curiosity or for when I'm coming over. It's nice of them to think of me but you may be right about the limited life of this beer if that's the general appeal. The Michelob beers seem to have lasted longer than I would have thought though so my anecdotal experience may be off.

I wouldn't say the beer geek community even buys this. I don't consider homebrewers to be beer geeks, though. None of my friends would buy BAA at all. I know if I walk into a store and it is between BAA and Aquafina, I'm buying the bottle of water. And come to think of it, I don't know any non geeks who really drink it either. It just isn't memorable.

Everyone of my macro friends that have tried BAA have enjoyed it, but I've yet to see one buy it on their own. I guess it's the extra dollar a sixer that keeps them going back to their standard BMC.

And yes, I'll add my vote for BAA, if it even matters at this point.

I actually did not like Bud American. I actually Really wanted to because i knew all the bars would carry it and I'd finally be able to get a malty, hoppy pale ale as they promised.
One that I did not want to like (more so just "knew" I wouldn't) was the Bud Light Wheat. I only had a taste from someone's bottle, but I'd drink it over Blue moon.
Also Michelobe's craft selection isn't half bad at all. I'v enjoyed their Porter and Pale. I'd like to try their RyePa, Maybe I'll pick up a sampler tonight.

Michelob Amber Bock.

very nice.

Blatz.

It's cheap and delicious.

Same with Schlitz.

PBR here too. It's more palatable than the rest of the commonly available macros and I gravitate to bars geared to hipsters or heshers so it's almost always the night's special.

PBR. I normally have a sixer of it stocked in the "Cheap & Domestic Fridge" on the back porch.

I have a soft spot in my heart for Michelob, from back in my college days.

I intend to try Bud American Ale, if only for the bottles. I need a stash of them lately.

PBR.


.,.m.,.,.,.

Old Milwaukee, it's cheap and pretty tasty, IMO

Red Hook Winter Hook.

We tried a few dozen winter ales in a double-blind taste test and rated the beers.

Winter Hook did surprisingly well, and all the judges said they hated Red Hook beers. I think the fact that it was one of the lightest and most balanced of all the winter ales might be a factor.

alexdagrate said:

Red Hook Winter Hook.

Click to expand...

Which year's recipe, alexdagrate? They change the recipe every year, so you'd need to define which one y'all liked.

One year, the recipe included Starbucks espresso. That year's Winterhook was so popular (and delicious) that they started bottling it as a standard in 22's: Red Hook Double Black Stout. I haven't seen one of those in years.

MeatyPortion said:

Blatz.

It's cheap and delicious.

Click to expand...

You have to be kidding me! I bought a 6'er of Blatz once as a test because it's the only beer my old high school history teacher (parent's friend) would drink. That stuff is horrible! I seriously watned to like it because....well it's freakin Blatz! just couldn't do it. Couldn't even drink it for beer pong.

he's from wisconsin...

we "have" to like blatz, schlitz, old milwaukee, etc....lol!

PBR is good, but it gives me the worst beer sh*ts the next morning. So, I only drink it when I'm due for a good cleaning.

That's funny, I get the absolute worst beer schitz and pharts from Budweiser. Not to mention guaranteed next morning hangover, even with just one beer on the night. I avoid standard Bud like the plague for that very reason!

Honestly can't say i've tried a beer I wanted to hate, theres been plenty I've wanted to love and been thoroughly let down by though.

Miller Lite and PBR are my go to cheap beers for sure.

mysterio said:

Honestly can't say i've tried a beer I wanted to hate, theres been plenty I've wanted to love and been thoroughly let down by though.

Click to expand...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f5/what-beer-did-you-want-really-like-but-just-didnt-28485/

Yuengling..

Sam Adam's Oktoberfest, never been impressed by a Sam Adam's beer, only ever felt a reaction of it's ok but not great to their beers, however this is up near the top of my Oktoberfest list out of more than 30 varieties tried.

Southern Tier.

I had never heard of them. It was just another beer in a huge cooler of microbrews. The only reason I chose them was that I had to pick out 2 more beers to flesh out a DIY 6-pack. To me, it was just two slot-fillers from a no-name microbrewery that I wish I didn't had to buy to flesh out the sixer.

Whoa.

The beers were fantastic! I became an instant fan.

When I first saw the labels, they reminded me of a couple of high school kids trying to be like BMC. They just had that polished look to them that was absurd for such an unheard of brand. It looked bold and brash.

Southern Tier and Goose Island (which is local to me) are now my two "safe bets" for craft beer. They make stuff that is easy-drinking, has some mass-appeal, not particularly weird, and goes down better than you'd imagine (in 6-packs). Of course, with the bombers or 4-packs, all bets are off. But Southern Tier impressed me just with their honest, quality, representations of a style.

Lived on Busch Light in college and I still absolutely love the stuff. I am totally into the beer scene, love IPAs, Belgians, stouts, even saisons, but I do not really consider myself a beer snob. I always keep some Bud in the fridge for friends and family that aren't into the beer scene, and I will never pass up an opportunity to smash a Busch Light. Brings me right back to my rickety college house with the beer stained ceiling, crooked stairway, matted carpet, dishes piling out of the sink, spitters on every flat surface, and a glorious case or keg of Busch Light always on hand...phenomenal.