New to beer. How should I expand my palate?

I just got a homebrew setup and I'm brewing my first five gallons of apfelwein. I'm 21 so I just recently became legal to drink beer. Prior to that, I was at college, so my exposure was mainly Natural Ice, or, when I was at a classy dorm room, Bud Lite. I've tasted very few "real" beers so far, but thus far I've figured out that I like stouts (I also love black coffee and espresso, so maybe I have a thing for bitterness), but I've scarcely tried any other beers.

What would you suggest I try to get an idea of what's out there, and to get an idea of what my first beer homebrew should be? This is partly to collect beer bottles before my apfelwein finishes up in a month or so. I have a case of bottles and some plastic soda bottles, though, so I'm not in a huge panic to get enough bottles to hold it.

PS: I also don't have a huge budget for this. I don't want to try anything really premium until I know what I like. Also, if it helps for local craft beers, I live in NJ.

Find a bottle shop that sells singles and try every one.

Find a brewpub and order the sampler.

I'd also suggest taking some time to get acquainted with different styles.

You could decide for a week or so you're going to try IPAs. Then move on to something else. Get exposure to several brewery's offerings of a certain type of beer. Take some time to enjoy it, understand what you are tasting and why it tastes the way it does.

Maybe go in with a friend or two. Put your money together and buy some singles to share.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Find a bottle shop that sells singles and try every one.

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+1

Also, it's not a good idea to use plastic soda bottles for home brew...

Some sort of Nut Brown beer is always a good starter. Kit recipes are typically pretty balanced.

Check out the BJCP guidelines(pdf) for beer styles. Each style has a listing of commercial beers that are good examples of the style; some are harder to find than others. If you like how it sounds, seek it out.

I have a couple of friends that meetup with me once a week and we typically get a 6er and a couple of bombers of stuff weve never had before.. makes for a good night.

hang out on the boards and just listen to the commercial beers being talked about.

Also: Guinness, Bass Ale, New Castle Brown Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Pilsner Urquell, Stella Artois...just to name a few easy to find "non-Budweiser" type beers.

Also, try some lambic beers, especially the fruit lambics by Lindemann's (they are like $7 a bottle but utterly unique and interesting)

Go to a liquor mega store and see what they have on their shelves. It might take some trouble in finding these types of places but it will help you out in the long run. Especially if they have a variety of more than 20 brands. Like some have stated try them all. Hell, your 21. You got a lifetime ahead of you. I wish I had been that interested in "REAL" beer when I was your age. Get cracking!

Both Sam Adams and Flying Dog sell mixed 12-packs of their beers. This gets you 2 bottles each of 6 different beer styles to try. And the bottles are definitely reusable for homebrew. That's a pretty cost-effective way to try a variety of different beers.

Although both brewers make some nice beers, not all of their beers are regarded as the "best" in that style by most people. But it should give you an idea what styles you might like to explore in greater depth.

Also, some beer and liquor stores will let you buy mixed 6-packs of whatever beers you pick out for a fixed rate. Sometimes that can save you a little money over buying a bunch of singles.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Find a bottle shop that sells singles and try every one.

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+2 Experiement. Variety is the spice of life.

LVBen said:

+1

Also, it's not a good idea to use plastic soda bottles for home brew...

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Why?

They have slightly more oxygen ingress through the container than glass.
You can put a carbonator cap on them.

Otherwise they are functionally identical to glass.

I'd search out nearby bars with a large number of beers on tap. Preferably not all BMC (Bud/Miller/Coors) types. Although, this kind of bar is easier to find and since it sounds like you haven't tried many of these, it is not a bad place to start. Get 3-4 friends together and split pints so you can taste 3-4 beers while only consuming 1 pint. More tasting, less drinking.

I'd also recommend trying at least 3-4 of any style before you decide you don't like it. Even within a style, there are examples I don't like, while I might absolutely love another. There are good IPAs and there are bad IPAs (or at least ones I'm not so fond of).

It sounds like you're in a very similar situation to where I was a couple months ago. Except I never drank BMC beers consistently.

I used beeradvocate.com and the style descriptions they have there instead of the BJCP because I found beer advocate's descriptions to be more accessible as a new beer drinker. I then looked at the top examples of the styles that sounded most interesting to me and figured out which ones were distributed in my area. I then bought two singles each of everything I wanted to try.

Don't get sucked into thinking that you won't like a style without trying it first. I was picking up a vibe from these forums that either you liked hoppy beers OR you liked malty beers, but probably not both. However, I've realized that this isn't true for most people, and especially not me, as I have enjoyed some really hoppy beers and wonderful malty beers.

I also agree that you should try more than one of each beer and more than one type of each style. One of the best lessons I learned about beer appreciation came when I bought Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald porter. It has somewhat of a smoky character to it, which I found to be absolutely disgusting in the first bottle and I thought about just giving it away to someone else. For some dumb reason I tried a second one and by the end of the second I decided that it wasn't ideal, but I'd finish it on my own. By the end of the six pack I thought it was great and I would consider it the best porter I've had and one of my favorite non-imperial beers.

i suggest going down to BevMo and start buying beer. do your best not to get the same style (don't confuse with brand) of beer twice. the more beer you drink the more your taste buds will adapt and the more you will start liking beer. when i first started drinking beer i didn't really like beer. to me it all tasted the same. but after i started brewing i started drinking more beer and sure enough things started tasting better and i could tell the difference between beer style.

i too like the dark beers.

remilard said:

Why?

They have slightly more oxygen ingress through the container than glass.
You can put a carbonator cap on them.

Otherwise they are functionally identical to glass.

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Because they let in too much light, and the plastic is too weak to handle high carbonation levels.

+1 to the make your own 6 pack places. Also, don't be too swayed by reviews on Beer Advocate. They are a bunch of beer snobs who only review huge Russian Imperial Stouts and knock your socks off bitter IIPAs with high marks. Its getting better, but a beer doesn't need to be 8+% and 50 million IBUs to be a great beer.

Be willing to spend a little more money. An average craft beer 6 pack is in the $8 range. Some more, some a little less. the 750mL bottles of Belgians are between $8-20 a bottle. The great thing about beer, is that you can get some of the best in the world for under $20. The same cannot be said of wine.

LVBen said:

Because they let in too much light, and the plastic is too weak to handle high carbonation levels.

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Ok, lets not turn this into an argument over plastic vs glass. Plastic is great for bottling homebrew. Also, soda bottles hold a LOT more pressure than glass bottles. Think of how fizzy soda is. Probably 4-5 volumes. The average beer is around 2.5 volumes. If you don't keep your beer in a window, the light argument is moot.

pjj2ba said:

...I'd also recommend trying at least 3-4 of any style before you decide you don't like it. Even within a style, there are examples I don't like, while I might absolutely love another. There are good IPAs and there are bad IPAs...

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+1 to this!
All beers are not created equal (even IPAs!). When you find one you like you can search in the recipe forum for clone recipes, or build one on a website like brewmaster's whse.

LVBen said:

Because they let in too much light, and the plastic is too weak to handle high carbonation levels.

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Ooooookaaaaay.

Clear glass actually is more transparent than clear PET. Not sure about brown v brown.

As noted, you have it badly backwards on on tolerance to high carbonation.

remilard said:

As noted, you have it badly backwards on on tolerance to high carbonation.

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Oh yeah! Duh! I was thinking of the environmentally-friendly water bottles that split open under pressure. If they had soda, they're likely to be fine for carbonation.

where abouts in NJ? I can make a few suggestions for some places in Northern Jerz that have LOTS of brews on tap

and just found my fav new place in Brooklyn...reBar - its in the DUMBO section - basically right beneath the Manhattan Bridge - 15 great styles on tap and 150+ bottle list

Central Jersey, with (unfortunately for your suggestions) a greater familiarity with the south (went to college in the Princeton-Trenton region).

TVarmy said:

Central Jersey, with (unfortunately for your suggestions) a greater familiarity with the south (went to college in the Princeton-Trenton region).

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Central Jersey has a couple good stores...

Route 18 in East Brunswick, A&P Supermarket plaza (behind the KMart) theres a Wine Marketplace and they have a ton of single bottles

Oak Tree Road in South Plainfield has Oak Tree Buy Rite

In Aberdeen on Route 34 there's Gallos in Strathmore (bowling alley) Plaza.

Have you ever been to Triumph in Princeton? My gf and I drove down there for lunch and some brews Saturday as a matter of fact...their Centennial IPA was fantastic. Not as huge a selection as some of the places I know up in NNJ but worth going for their sampler.

At some point take a trip to reBar in Brooklyn- it will be well worth it.

Other thing I've done is made friends with my local liquor store owner. If theres a brew I want to try he will generally order it in for me and is good about selling just a 6-er and throwing the other few from the case into his cooler so I dont need to bite the bullet for 24

You are never going to just expand your palate in a weekend. It's kind of like trying to get rich quick.

You should grab at least one 6-pack of a particular beer that you haven't tried yet every week (Or more often if you like)

Or, you can begin going to a Homebrew club and taste different styles from other beer lovers.

You could always find good homebrewers (HBTers?) in your area and sample a few of their beers if they are willing to share... which they generally are IME. That could be your most cost effective way to improve your beer horizons and possibly brewing experience.

Again, the best thing is to try different beers. Find out what the style is for each beer and see how you like it. There is an overwhelming choice of styles out there, so you have your work cut out for you. (I know you can do it!)