"Oh, I don't like dark beer"

[Xpertskir]

Why is it that when I tell people I brew, and like assertively flavored beer, this is the response I get? (rhetorical question)

It's especially amusing because I mostly brew IPA's

 

[boscobeans]

Give them a blindfold taste test.. They might just be shocked at the results.. LOL

bosco

 

[duboman]

I get that all the time as well and it's just their preconceived notion that dark beers are heavy and bitter. It really is just lack of knowledge so it's up to us to educate them. I just turned some of those folks onto a black ale and boy were they surprised, now they can't get enough!

 

[sweed]

My first brew was a brown ale. It was darker than a normal brown, but I got a few, it looks like a guinness. I don't like dark beers. They take a sip, some really liked it,.and some thought it was really hoppy,.which it def wasn't. My family all enjoyed it, though. My lightest had been my IIPA, a nice light copper. I might try to make a really light color pale in the spring.

 

[inhousebrew]

Well....everyone knows that Guinness is thick, heavy and loaded with calories and booze...

Seriously though, it's because we've been socialized into drinking light crap water beers. People don't like stepping out of the comfort zone most of the times when it comes to food and drink (or anything else for that matter). I just like someone saying they don't like Asian food because they make assumptions about it that often times have no grounding in reality not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as one singular type of "Asian food" or "Dark Beer" for that matter.

 

[xmacro]

Well....everyone knows that Guinness is thick, heavy and loaded with calories and booze...

Seriously though, it's because we've been socialized into drinking light crap water beers. People don't like stepping out of the comfort zone most of the times when it comes to food and drink (or anything else for that matter). I just like someone saying they don't like Asian food because they make assumptions about it that often times have no grounding in reality not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as one singular type of "Asian food" or "Dark Beer" for that matter.

Guinness only has about 130 calories; really not that much at all

 

[Hammy71]

Guinness only has about 130 calories; really not that much at all

Psst....it was sarcasm.

 

[daksin]

Well, especially among older crowds, for many people, pale ales and the like ARE "dark beer." My FIL talks about playing cards with his buddies and drinking games with "Light and Dark" beers, where light was Schlitz and Dark was Bass.

 

[xmacro]

Psst....it was sarcasm.

Sarcasm really doesn't come through well

 

[mhuntwork]

I got it...

 

[Horseballs]

Upon tasting my 7.0% IPA - "this is really good! What others do you have that I can try?" I offer my 4% dry stout, "No. No no no no no. It is too heavy and alcoholic for me."

Even after assuring them that the stout was about 100 calories fewer and almost half the alcohol content, they still refuse to try it because it is too heavy and too alcoholic. Jesus Christ.

 

[jwwbrennan]

Advertising works. Beer advertising works very well.

It's important big beer companies don't damage the message with a product that has character other than wet and cold.

"Hey, this isn't my beer. It has flavor."

Someone could end up tasting hops or malt and then what would the horses do?

 

[jonmohno]

Why is it that when I tell people I brew, and like assertively flavored beer, this is the response I get? (rhetorical question)

It's especially amusing because I mostly brew IPA's

They are simply stating,that they only like light tastless refreshing easy drinking beer. Anything darker that bright yellow and it may go down like medicine for them.That and closed mindedness and "sticking to what they know"

I have a funny one for you. I was at some of the fiancess relatives for Fourth of July picnic and decided Id bring a 12 pack of some Pale ale. I get one out and they notice what it says,and say Pale ale? What is that,some kind of dark beer? Other guy goes "NO *******,it says Pale" Pale ******* that means light. They were brothers so it was all good. They refused to even try one though by the way and just stuck with bush light or something. I know what they would have said though "This is bitter! blaach!

 

[inhousebrew]

Sarcasm really doesn't come through well

I try to initiate sarcasm online with the .... to show that something is not as it should be.

Perhaps it's not working well, perhaps you people are just not smart enough...

 

[Jaehnig]

I try to initiate sarcasm online with the .... to show that something is not as it should be.

Perhaps it's not working well, perhaps you people are just not smart enough...

Look up the "I am an idiot" thread.

On another note, these dark beer haters have not yet acquired this portion of their tongue which allows them to not only enjoy nearly ever beer but also allows them to discern a dark beer from a non dark beer or the posters case an IPA.

 

[atom]

"after i read this beer cheat sheet, i knew what the difference was between a light beer and a dark beer as far as points go..."

 

[chemman14]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfgRwqoRl3E&noredirect=1

"after i read this beer cheat sheet, i knew what the difference was between a light beer and a dark beer as far as points go..."

My thoughts exactly when I saw this commercial... hahah

 

[Gameface]

I hate the "I don't like dark beer" comment. It's like saying I don't like brown food, it tastes too much like food. Can't blame people for not having a degree in beer styles, but it's just a frustrating comment when you're trying to share homebrew with someone who might like it if they would only give it a chance...but they can't give it a chance because it's "dark."

People have turned down my ESB because it's dark (13SRM).

 

[malweth]

Commercials like that propagate the problem... I think the real issue is that people don't like to sound stupid, which means they have to make a statement (right or wrong) about the beer they're offered. Simple differences like dark and light are easy to see (and clearly easy to misunderstand). It's interesting how this works with beer drinkers (not straight-line BMCers)...

I think my family (immediate only) are very open to me correcting them about beer... but they still make crazy comments from time to time. "I don't like dark beers.... but just a sip of Guinness (clone) is OK" -- how can that statement not be about calories. Yet drinking my 7%ABV Amber is no problem.

I'm actually very surprised at WW. I'd have thought they'd be so up on caloric content that they wouldn't post drivel like this. It's much easier to approximate calories by ABV (and still not 100% correct, but at least it's close to the truth). ABV and taste (dry to sweet) would be most correct, and fairly easy to tabulate. I'm not on it (but am watching weight), but here's a great point list:
Weight Watchers Points for Beer.

 

[medusa1066]

My father in law (a hardcore BMC) told me that the Centennial Blonde tasted dark

 

[jwwbrennan]

I think commercials like that are the leading cause of information obesity. People consuming large amounts of undigestible information (dark beer is a left hand beer - I'm right handed so it makes me fat) causes early conversation death.

Good beer is like lobster, I like those who don't like it, it leaves more for me.

 

[Xpertskir]

My father in law (a hardcore BMC) told me that the Centennial Blonde tasted dark

Jeez....i have that on tap now and none of my friends like your FIL complained about that beer. You in MASHERS BTW?

 

[landshark]

My father in law (a hardcore BMC) told me that the Centennial Blonde tasted dark

I got this from my dad (at time thought Busch Lite is a premium) when I first started brewing. I brewed a wheat beer around 7 SRM and he was "Oh that's way to dark of a beer."

A year later he still drinks Busch Lite (Hard to kick 40 some years of drinking it) But I'm getting him into Pales and Ambers. Working on Stouts, that may take a while.

 

[Halbrust]

What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

 

[Horseballs]

What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Nothing wrong with disliking dark beer. The problem is when people "don't like it" because they think it is necessarily huge in calories, alcohol and absurdly bitter - which isn't always the case. A lot of people refuse to even try something because "it is too dark," which is ridiculous because they probably don't have the slightest idea of how that beer will taste, so how can they know they don't like it?

I'm betting I could make a dark mild and a high gravity belgian tripel and people would be convinced the mild was a huge alcoholic beast, but would love to chug-a-lug that tripel. Because, you know, dark beers are too heavy.

 

[JordanThomas]

My father in law (a hardcore BMC) told me that the Centennial Blonde tasted dark

LOL "tasted dark" makes about as much sense as "sounding smelly."

 

[Xpertskir]

What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Chill out. The point of this thread is the blanket statement made by people who dont "get beer" that any beer with flavor is "dark"

Drink whatever you want, trust me I'm not losing sleep about what you do or dont like.

 

[xmacro]

I try to initiate sarcasm online with the .... to show that something is not as it should be.

Perhaps it's not working well, perhaps you people are just not smart enough...

What do you mean by "you people" . . .

 

[NateW]

I've heard this quite a bit. I always tell them, "Dark is not a flavor."

 

[Gameface]

What's wrong with not liking dark beers?
I'm still extrememly new to drinking beer. But I've had 4 dark beers now and hated each one. The bitterness from the roasted grain was very off-putting.
Will I ever have a dark beer I like? Maybe, but I'm doubting it.

Well what is it you're calling a "dark" beer? That's a big part of the issue to me. Many people who only drink BMCs think anything darker than a Bud Light is a dark beer. You can get beer pretty dark without using any roasted grains that provide that roasty bitterness. I don't consider a pale ale or an ESB to be a dark beer, but it's a lot darker than a Bud Light and that's enough for a lot of people to call it a dark beer.

It bugs me I think because it implies that all dark beers taste the same, and nothing could be further from the truth.