Which 4 types of beer

If you were to walk into a brewpub, which 4 types of beer would you most like to see on tap? I don't mean brand, i mean, which style of brew would most intrigue you to sit down at the bar and have a sampler.

That's a really tough question if you're looking for a general idea of what to serve. If I was picking for myself, it would be

1. stout
2. ipa
3. barleywine
4. sour/belgian

If I was choosing something based upon what a majority of the public would enjoy

1. Pale, engligh or american
2. Wheat
3. IPA
4. Stout

I also prefer beers to be big and crazy.

1. Oatmeal Stout

2. Wiezen/Weissbier/Wit

3. Altbier

4. English Brown/Mild/Bitters

Probably like to have some seasonal transitions like: a Saisson or Session ale in the summer, a 90 Shilling Ale or Imperial Stout in late fall/early winter, some kind of spicy fest beer for the holidays, and a good cider for those times when you want something lighter flavored and refreshing.
Just my opinion, but these are what I like to drink. If, you are adding food to the fare bill, we can go to the moon with other choices.

1. Pale Ale
2. Wit/Hefe (can't choose)
3. Fruit
4. Lambic

1. ipa including iipa
2. pale
3. stout
3. hefe

McMalty said:

If you were to walk into a brewpub, which 4 types of beer would you most like to see on tap? I don't mean brand, i mean, which style of brew would most intrigue you to sit down at the bar and have a sampler.

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If they're making a great IPA, they're working well in the middle of what's the most popular (hence easiest to judge) craft style at the moment.

If they're making decent lagers, they've got great sanitation, temp control, clarity, and are doing more than the typical kolsch/blonde ale effort to appeal to a broad range of drinkers, and I'm really tired of breweries ignoring what's basically half of the world's beer spectrum.

If they're making decent sours, they're putting serious time into the process.

And I just love brett.

1. IPA
2. Sour brown cherry ale
3. Brett Saison or brett belgian pale
4. Munich Helles or pilsener

I love malty beer so I may be bias

1 Baltic Porter
2 Belgian Double
3 Scotch ale
4 Bavarian Hefeweizen

I also love the malty beers:

1) brown/porter
2) dubbel
3) saison/wit
4) scotch ale/imperial stout

I would list Belgian Dubble or Belgian Strong, but those are usually hit or miss unfortunately, as they are my favorite styles.

1. Belgian Blonde
2. IPA / IIPA
3. Imperial Stout (rich)
4. Hefeweizen (for my wife)

IPA (or pale that's big on flavor/aroma)
Saison
RIS
Berliner Weisse

IIPA for a hoppy round
Stout or Porter of some kind
Definitely a Hefe or other light, fruity wheatbeer
Craft Lager

I don't generally like lagers, and would stick with the first three myself, but I'm waiting for that day I open a micro/craft brewed lager and understand what cold fermentation could be.

1. IIPA
2. RIS
3. Belgian Strong Ale (dark, trippel, quad, etc)
4. Wit

1/Pils/Helles for mass appeal
2/Stout
3/Bitter/Pale
4/Weissbier

Sours on tap.....I presume the place should stay in business? I'd definitely say a good brew pub should have some sours bottled, but on tap? To sell to three geeks a year......not a sustainable business model.

1) IIPA - it's just a fact that a serious number of beer geeks will go well out of their way for a great IIPA

2) RIS

3) FRESH weizen. A great taste that just isn't properly achieved in bottles, and a brewpub shouldn't ignore the fact

4) Some sort of sour beer or Belgian, depending on the season (Berliner Weisse can't be beat for a summer quaff, and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale is fantastic in the winter)

I'm not saying you should ignore lagers, just that I personally wouldn't be intrigued by any.

depends on my mood, my wallet, and the time of year.

here's one answer:
pale
hefe
porter
barley wine

The wife and I were actually talking about this same thing the other since we have 3 taps and were thinking about going to 4. We didn't agree on 4 so we came up with a comprimise.
1. IPA/IIPA/Black IPA
2. A rotating German tap of Dunkel and Hefe.
3. Something easy drinking for all like an ESB.
4. Probably a brown ale or scotch ale

1. IPA/IIPA
2. Oatmeal Stout/Irish Stout/ or similar
3. APA
4. Brown Ale

I am toying with the idea of a 5-6 tap keezer in the future.
My plans are to have an IPA, APA, Stout, Light Lager/Ale (for the BMC folks) Brown Ale and maybe one wildcard tap for whatever I feel like brewing. Prob drink less stout in the summer and less light lager/ale in the winter. I can always swap half empty kegs for whatever we feel like drinking at the time.

It's so hard to decide what to keep on tap

I'm looking at putting together a keezer to, and I'm seriously considering about jumping right into an 8-keg system with a stout tap, 6 other beers, and one reserved for soda. And I'm really just HOPING that's enough! I like my variety a LOT. But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to use a beergun to bottle kegs that are almost finished, although I'm so sick of bottling... just bottled a friend's batch today with an emily capper and he used twist-off bottles (albeit reusable Canadian ones) and ended up breaking FIVE bottles (56 good ones), and there was little bits of glass everywhere...

Only reason I don't already have a keezer is that I need to make sure I can keep it immaculately clean. A breakdown product of an amino acid that beer is very high in tends to build up in draft systems, and since I'm on a medication that inhibits my body from breaking it down further, it can quickly make my blood pressure shoot through the roof and give me a stroke. I'm not even thirty, so that's especially crazy :/

IIPA
Oatmeal Stout
Well Balanced APA
Crisp Clean Pilsner

I think the audience is actually wrong for this question, not really trying to sidetrack, but the actual answer here will not be representative of what would actually keep a pub, brewpub or not they are a business, open.

You need to sell BMC styles to get the normal punters in, not just beer geeks who eat hops for breakfast and crap belgian starters for afters.

I agree with the last poster. If you have two taps, you need two that will appeal to the general population at least. You can reserve the other two to maintain 'brewer' cred. For the first two, I'd say a golden ale, wit/wheat, lager, or maybe even a less hoppy pale ale. For the other two, go somewhat crazy. IPA, stout, belgian, whatever... just no sours, lambics, etc...

IPA
IBA
RIS
RyePA

Black IPA
RIS
Oatmeal Stout
Any Special or Limited Releases

ajwillys said:

I agree with the last poster. If you have two taps, you need two that will appeal to the general population at least. You can reserve the other two to maintain 'brewer' cred. For the first two, I'd say a golden ale, wit/wheat, lager, or maybe even a less hoppy pale ale. For the other two, go somewhat crazy. IPA, stout, belgian, whatever... just no sours, lambics, etc...

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Don't forget, though, that the OP asked "What 4 beers on tap would you like to see that would make you sit and have a sampler" not "What 4 beers on tap would keep the bar packed"...

1. IPA
2. Stout (Oatmeal, RIS)
3. Rotating German tap (Doppelbock, Helles, etc.)
4. Good bitter/special/extra special

Pale Ale
Kolsch
Porter
Scotch Ale

Miller Lite
MGD
Budweiser
Budlight Lime

edit: with a frosty mug

EoinMag said:

I think the audience is actually wrong for this question, not really trying to sidetrack, but the actual answer here will not be representative of what would actually keep a pub, brewpub or not they are a business, open.

You need to sell BMC styles to get the normal punters in, not just beer geeks who eat hops for breakfast and crap belgian starters for afters.

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That wasn't the question though, it was what do YOU like to see?

If it were the question you're assuming, we'd be seeing a lot more of lists like

blonde
pale
porter
ipa

i would say probably:
amber or blonde
ipa
stout
something seasonal or something that changes regularly

ArtVandelay said:

Miller Lite
MGD
Budweiser
Budlight Lime

edit: with a frosty mug

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Same mug but change to

Mic Ultra
Select 55
MGD 64

IPA
APA
BPA
Barely Wine

I would most like to see things that are rarely produced by American brewpubs....or in American Craft Beer in general....That would immediately exclude big beers that have come to saturate the American brewery revival. Beers like:

"Imperial" anything.....

Don't get me wrong. I love good, strong, big delicious beers, you can't deny them. But, I just want to see something I do not see often, and be happy to know that some brewers are excited by refinement. There are excellent flavors in that stuff.

Kölsch
Pilsner----to get that fresh taste that just doesnt come when a bottle has to cross the
Atlantic
Strong Scotch Ale
Seasonal Belgian

1. 6
2. 8
3. 10
4. 12

ArtVandelay said:

Miller Lite
MGD
Budweiser
Budlight Lime

edit: with a frosty mug

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I cannot believe that u posted this.....but to each his own, that's why I asked

EoinMag said:

I think the audience is actually wrong for this question, not really trying to sidetrack, but the actual answer here will not be representative of what would actually keep a pub, brewpub or not they are a business, open.

You need to sell BMC styles to get the normal punters in, not just beer geeks who eat hops for breakfast and crap belgian starters for afters.

Click to expand...

Getting a lot of great feedback. I'm actually kinda interested in both......what would YOU like to see, and what do u think would keep the place open. The American public is becoming more beer savvy, (hence this ipa revolution we're in). So beers that are good enough but not to far off base to open some eyes to their ignorance, but also some stuff that u and I would carve our names in the bar stools to sit there and drink. It's such a delicate balance right now, the wrong line up could turn away patrons, but the right one could start a personal revolution for them. Oh......just ales btw.....who has time/effort for lagers. Great stuff guys, keep going

olllllo said:

1. 6
2. 8
3. 10
4. 12

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Abv? I don't understand ur list

McMalty said:

Abv? I don't understand ur list

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Belgian Abbey Style

McMalty said:

If you were to walk into a brewpub, which 4 types of beer would you most like to see on tap? I don't mean brand, i mean, which style of brew would most intrigue you to sit down at the bar and have a sampler.

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IPA
Imperial Stout
Barleywine
American Pale Ale

McMalty said:

Abv? I don't understand ur list

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BJCP categories?

pale ale
scotch ale
ipa
porter

me:

1. Seasonal anything
2. A sour- berliner weiss/flander's red
3. porter
4. a malty session beer like an Irish Red, Southern English Brown, Alt, Mild

For joe public:

1. Some kind of American Pale or IPA
2. Wheat Beer like a Hef or a Kolsch
3. A stout or porter
4. seasonal anything

You don't know how many times I go to a bar and I've already had everything, so I go with the seasonal. A changing line up shows that you still are trying things, inventing things, that you still care and aren't stuck to the same four things.

Also, if you're doing market research... what beer void are you opening in that only has four taps? Vegas?