kegs: if you had it to do over again ...

[pen25]

if your used to bmc beers and want to taste easy to find brews that gives you a taste for different beers try blue moon a fat tire. mothership wit the last two both from new belgium. i have to say i just had my first mothership and good lord was that good.

 

[Chriso]

Also be on the lookout for German Pilsner beers. They are similarly "light and fizzy" like American Lagers are, but offer a different taste experience, while still "feeling" the same. I really like Kulmbacher Edelherb Pils (mini-keg, not the bottle..., well ok, a bottle if it's not aged and skunked. damn imports.)

 

[JWHooper]

Hey thanks! I expected to get rightfully blasted for my rather unfair and testy reviews of what are obviously very good beers (if you like real beer). I was just so disappointed because I practically had my keezer built, and I do love this hobby (well, the wine part, but I love to cook so beer would have to be fun).

I will be the first to admit that I really hated beer when I first tasted it, and it took me years to get used to even the colored water of most commercial American lagers. I guess that developing a taste for Harp and then Black & Tans in the last few years made me overconfident that I could handle more.

To be more honest, the Magic Hat #9 and Shiner Bock were not bad. Even the Wee Heavy wasn't bad. My god, I don't think I'll ever be saying that about the Trippel though, it really honestly gagged me and made me sick. I thought it would get better so I kept drinking it. Wow, whatever that overpowering taste is (maybe it is triple hops or something) I cannot handle that at all.

For now I'll just keep trying the lighter varieties and making up batches of Apfelwein. Maybe I can develop a taste for real beer over time.

 

[MadDwarf]

Under My Kilt Wee Heavy: Tasted like what I would expect might come from under a kilt at a urinal from a sick dwarf. It sucked.

If I find out who's been giving away my secret recipes, I'll have their head on a pike. Of course, afterwards I'd be happy to send JWHooper a few sample bottles of my new "Traitor's Mouldy Ear Porter"

Seriously, don't worry about the styles you don't like, just concentrate on finding good examples of the ones you find interesting. Nobody said you have to enjoy everything out there. But I'll wager that if you continue drinking and appreciating the craft beers you like now, you'll find yourself revisiting some of these styles down the road with a completely different reaction.

I've introduced lots of friends to craft beers, and it always seems to follow the same pattern. We try a range of styles, most of which don't interest them, until they find one that fires the "Hey, this is really good! This is beer?" reaction. I've given up on predicting what that initial beer is - sometimes it's something very close to the American Light Lagers they're used to, sometimes it's a Russian Imperial Stout that looks like it came right out of the crankcase of a '63 Studebaker. But once they've found it, they drink it for awhile, then slowly start trying beers that are similar, then beers similar to those, until after a year or two, they're drinking up and down the spectrum.

 

[Philip1993]

For now I'll just keep trying the lighter varieties and making up batches of Apfelwein. Maybe I can develop a taste for real beer over time.

Keep it in perspective before you bail. If you had a buddy who was used to wine coolers, you wouldn't expect them to appreciate (or even like) your homemade 10yr old Merlot...

Brew a light citrusy APA or IPA (or a wheat) and see what you think.

 

[Chriso]

Yeah - after all, a year ago a Tripel made me vomit, but now I'm learning to appreciate Dubbels and Belgian Golden Strong Ales... Soon I'll work my way back up to another Tripel. But not New Belgium's Tripel. Something about that beer still makes me churn inside. I'll try a "real" one instead.

A year ago I would've scoffed at a Duvel. But now it's quickly become one of my favorite beers, and one I'm DYING to try to clone.

 

[Homercidal]

Don't back out now. There are plenty of different lighter styles that may appeal to you. Belgian Wit, Blondes, American Wheat, etc. You could even do lagers and whatnot if you really wanted to.

My advice is to find a really good beer store nearby and sample some different styles. You can look online to determine what you might like. Also, some dark beers do not have a real strong flavor. Usually, but not always.

Where are you in Michigan?

Also, you can still keg pop (I didn't blink at you calling it this, because, hey, I'm from Michigan too!) and apfelwein. Sparkling Apfelwien on tap is supposed to be pretty good, from what I hear.

 

[JWHooper]

I'm less than a mile from either Dragonmead or Kuhnhenn's right now because I work in Warren. But I don't ever want to taste anything like that Belgian Trippel for a long, long, long time. I had a microbrew sampler in Houghten (in the UP) once, and didn't like most of them. Even the ones that weren't overpowering still weren't great for me.

I'm game to try again, but there is no use in trying something that I haven't a chance in hell of being able to brew myself.

 

[flyangler18]

I think a light and spritzy Kolsch might fill the bill nicely for you.