New to the drinking of microbrews!

So I generally only drink the typical beers, Miller lite, or labatt blue. I am wanting to change my palates to the micro brew/home brew. We went out last night for late birthday and had a couple last night. I had a petoskey brewing horny monk, a New Holland, white hatter, and a full circle. The first and last were not to bad. The white hatter was to much orange flavor for me. My question is, do you have suggestions on how to get use to drinking the more hoppy craft beers? I want to be able to make my own here soon. But I want to be able to drink what I make. I had to quit drinking once I ate something. For some reason I can't eat and have a beer of any sort. Water or a pop. My goal is to babble to drink a stout with flavors of coffee. I love coffee. I apreeciate your suggestions.

Coffee porter

That would a good goal. It sounds good with it being a coffee. I am trying to get use to the bitterness and the hops

Well...I don't about "getting used to it." Granted the more bitter spectrum of beers are often an acquired taste- I didn't start of just loving IPAs the first time I snagged beers in high school. If you don't like 'em, no reason to force yourself to drink them, but as your palate becomes more acquainted with the hows and whys and ins and outs of craft beers you probably grow to appreciate them, and maybe love them. Enjoy the ride!

GrumpyKoby said:

That would a good goal. It sounds good with it being a coffee. I am trying to get use to the bitterness and the hops

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If you think you would like a coffee porter but not as bitter or with hop aroma you need to learn to brew your own, tweaking a recipe to get what you want instead of what the original brewer liked. There are a lot of recipes on this site and if you choose one, ask about it and how it can be changed to your palate.:rockin:

hillhousesawdustco said:

Well...I don't about "getting used to it." Granted the more bitter spectrum of beers are often an acquired taste- I didn't start of just loving IPAs the first time I snagged beers in high school. If you don't like 'em, no reason to force yourself to drink them, but as your palate becomes more acquainted with the hows and whys and ins and outs of craft beers you probably grow to appreciate them, and maybe love them. Enjoy the ride!

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+1, your beer taste will constantly develop and and change as you try more things. Continue to explore the styles you enjoy and come back later to those you were unsure about, you may find yourself liking them down the road. Or you may slowly drift away from a style and realize you are no longer a fan of it (I used to love IPAs and really have no pleasure drinking them now) find breweries to tour and do as many tasters as you can wherever you go. A brave new world awaits!

hillhousesawdustco said:

Well...I don't about "getting used to it." Granted the more bitter spectrum of beers are often an acquired taste- I didn't start of just loving IPAs the first time I snagged beers in high school. If you don't like 'em, no reason to force yourself to drink them, but as your palate becomes more acquainted with the hows and whys and ins and outs of craft beers you probably grow to appreciate them, and maybe love them. Enjoy the ride!

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I will start to drink then more often to get my palate aquaninted to the hops and bitter of micro brews. I need to remeber Rome wasn't built in a day. I will start small and taste everything small and remeber the ones I like. Also start appreciating the beer and how they become that way. Thank you for you help and suggestions.

Start reading up on homebrewing. By learning the hows and the whys concerning certain grains, hops, etc it will really open up your mind AND your palate.
I was never a huge IPA fan until i started homebrewing. I gained such an appreciation for the hops once i understood them and their differences that now i cant wait to try a new IPA whenever i can.
Again, read, read, read, and i can almost guarantee it will be like going to the Louvre after taking an Art Appreciation course.


haha, first post by the way after lurking for some time. i guess you could say i was passionate about this topic!

It's one of those things. I personally fell in love with craft beer the first time I tasted a SN Pale Ale. Its all about what you like. I have always loved a hoppy brew and I found IPA styles to be instantly enjoyable. The best thing to do is to simply try a large variety of craft beers and narrow down what you like and don't like in a beer. The beauty of craft brewing is that you have control over what you are creating. If you like x and y, then you brew to acheive a beer with all the qualities of x and y.

By the brews you listed I am assuming you are in Michigan. You can go for something a little less bitter. Try a Bell's Amber Ale. Not real bitter but a very good brew.

Get some Sierra Nevada six packs or singles if you can find them. BevMo or Total Wine would have a nice selection. I always buy what i like and pick up a few singles of something stray.

ESB's or plain ol' Pale Ales (not IPA) seem like good gateway drugs into hop appreciation.

RM-MN said:

If you think you would like a coffee porter but not as bitter or with hop aroma you need to learn to brew your own, tweaking a recipe to get what you want instead of what the original brewer liked. There are a lot of recipes on this site and if you choose one, ask about it and how it can be changed to your palate.:rockin:

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My goal is to learn to brew, I will be starting small. I will be being from extract. As soon as I figure out what kit to get and a brewing pot to use, or get. Once I get that down I would like to explore in the total custom craft brew. It sounds fun and can be a challenge at the same time. I also need to learn what a lot of stuff means. Such as when talking about 1.05. Just an example I know a lot of info missing there. You are right though I would love a cold coffee with a nice kick. Beer coffee would be awesome.

GrumpyKoby said:

My goal is to learn to brew, I will be starting small. I will be being from extract. As soon as I figure out what kit to get and a brewing pot to use, or get. Once I get that down I would like to explore in the total custom craft brew. It sounds fun and can be a challenge at the same time. I also need to learn what a lot of stuff means. Such as when talking about 1.05. Just an example I know a lot of info missing there. You are right though I would love a cold coffee with a nice kick. Beer coffee would be awesome.

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Sounds like you really need to try one of my favorites,Left Hand Brewing's Milk Stout. It tastes like iced coffee with a bit of that traditional stout roastiness on the back. Their Nitro Stout has that,with more chocolate malt flavor as well.
I also like midwest's Cascade Pale ale kit,close to Sierra Nevada's pale ale,but lighter colored & well balanced. There are also milk stout & SN pale ale clone recipes in the recipe section in the red strip at the top of the page.
Welcome & enjoy the ride!...

Others touched on this as well but craft brews do not necessarily equate to hoppiness/bitterness and you mention "getting used to it" but there's no need to try and make yourself like something you don't care for. Your tastes will change over time and you may find you start to like beers with a bit more bitterness but to go from Miller Lite to a big IPA is quite a jump.

I personally don't like really hoppy beers, and I'm a pretty seasoned beer drinker even though I'm a newbie brewer. I like stouts and Belgian quads / strong dark ales a lot. These beers are more malty than hoppy - but are still craft beers. Take a look for stouts, porters, quads, old ales, Scotch ales... some of these may be more suited to your tastes.

AleHaveAnother said:

Start reading up on homebrewing. By learning the hows and the whys concerning certain grains, hops, etc it will really open up your mind AND your palate.
I was never a huge IPA fan until i started homebrewing. I gained such an appreciation for the hops once i understood them and their differences that now i cant wait to try a new IPA whenever i can.
Again, read, read, read, and i can almost guarantee it will be like going to the Louvre after taking an Art Appreciation course.


haha, first post by the way after lurking for some time. i guess you could say i was passionate about this topic!

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Thank you for the first post, when I stared this thread it was my first post also. I have realized since then what a great group of people on here. So willing to help and suggest to get a newbie started in the right direction. Do you have any good books to read or a good place to start reading?
May your glass be empty from good company and enjoyment!

I would suggest starting to develop your tastes by trying some things. When I am getting "crowd pleaser" beer, I usually go for amber ales or wheat beers because they are almost always going to be easy to drink, mild flavored, and popular.

I started down this road with Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat beer - if you can get it in your area, this is a great beer to start with, one that I still love in the summertime. It's refreshing, light in body and easy-drinking.

Once you find something that you like you can try other brewery's beers in that style, or if you find a particular brewery that you like a couple of there things, try some other offering like a pale ale, porter or stout. IPA was the last taste that I "acquired", but now it's the first thing I go for when presented with options.

Disclaimer: this hobby (passion) is like anything, the more you want to get into it, there are more rabbit holes to run down than anyone could fully explore in a lifetime! Cheers!

If you have any brewpubs nearby, ask for a sampler flight. Many of them do this but don't have it listed on the menu. It will be several different beers in small glasses so you only get a little of each. If you don't like one, you don't have to feel like you wasted a $5 on a beer to pour out.

GrumpyKoby said:

My goal is to learn to brew, I will be starting small. I will be being from extract. As soon as I figure out what kit to get and a brewing pot to use, or get. Once I get that down I would like to explore in the total custom craft brew. It sounds fun and can be a challenge at the same time. I also need to learn what a lot of stuff means. Such as when talking about 1.05. Just an example I know a lot of info missing there. You are right though I would love a cold coffee with a nice kick. Beer coffee would be awesome.

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For kits and kettles it's not hard to go wrong. I'll show you how I got started

First read How to Brew or the Complete Joy of Homebrewing. Ignore the more advanced parts first like the parts that talk about AG brewing, water chemistry, yeast starters, etc. They'll come with time and you don't want ot overwhelm yourself with information. Knowing proper cleaning, sanitizing, and just the general rules of thumb go a long way to making a good brew.

Your tastes will also evolve the more you drink. A lot of people don't like hoppy beers when they start but develop more of a taste down the road when they realize why certain hoppy beers aren't what they like. I went the opposite way, I used to think I didn't like Belgians, then realized it was just certain methods of brewing and ingredients I didn't like.

As far as what to get, I'll just show you what I bought. I bought all this stuff from my LHBS, so you can choose to get it elsewhere but this works great for starting out with extracts.

First i got their "complete" kit. No kit is truly complete, but this gave me everything I'd want, with the most important thing being an auto-siphon. Using a racking cane is a pain. If you get a cheaper kit buy an auto-siphon. Trust me.

LINK

This gives you your bottling buckey, fermenting bucket, auto-siphon, thermometer, hydrometer, bottle brush, carboy, carboy brush, airlock capper, etc. Basically everything you need to make a batch of beer except bottles, caps, and the kettle.

Obviously bottles you can use any pry off beer bottle, avoid twist offs they won't seal properly. You can just buy cheap caps or yuo can buy fancy oxygen absorbing caps which will help further protect your beer from oxygen exposure.

For Kettle i just got a cheapo 5 gallon kettle, it stinks for anything other than heating water but I've dealt with it.

This is what I got

LINK

Kits they have their own extract kits which they give fantastic directions on how to brew them. I highly recommend their kits if you want to order them, if not, find something local.

LINK

RM-MN said:

If you have any brewpubs nearby, ask for a sampler flight. Many of them do this but don't have it listed on the menu. It will be several different beers in small glasses so you only get a little of each. If you don't like one, you don't have to feel like you wasted a $5 on a beer to pour out.

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Do this. I would start with the low alcohol beers.