What are your main objections to trying GOOD beer?!
Answers: I'm speaking to those Bud/Miller/Coors people out there: With so much GOOD craft beer out there, what are your main objections to trying something new. This also applies to Sam Adams drinkers as Boston Beer is considered (by those in the know) to only be a slight step up from the BMC type beers. I know there are a lot of good bottle shops and specialty stores out there, but yet on here all I see are people talking about the usual. I see one or two people who seem knowledgeable (Alesmith being one) but for the most part all I see are questions about BMC, Sam Adams, Corona, Heineken and Guieness (all crap). Have you had bad experiences? Elaborate.
Interesting to hear some opinions...coming from someone who only drinks craft beer, I try to get my friends to drink outside of the B/M/C range. A few of them have developed tastes for good beer (and alcohol, too), but many of them are not accustomed to the taste and won't drink anything with any kind of flavor. Most people I talk to honestly cannot even distinguish a mass produced from a craft beer.
I guess just like food, good beer and spirits are an acquired taste to those who are used to watery American brews. I've also tried to convince friends to appreciate the taste of a good gin or bourbon in a drink like a Gimlet or a Manhattan instead of just covering the taste if crappy vodka with sweet mixers.
Some people just like cheap beer and that's their perogative. It might be that they also like micros but that buying macros is just cheaper and easier. Plus if you are going to consume a lot of beer - say at a party, bbq, or just plain ol' saturday night you aren't going to want to drink 15 Mac 'n Jacs.
Basically, who cares. You can like what you like, and they can like what they like.
Cost, I average a case of beer a day, So I suck down Natural Ice....
I stick to good bottle conditioned top fermented or trappist European ales. I live in the UK and most people put up with the mass produced nitrokeg crap, their loss.
Well, I'm not a BMC drinker, but in Durham, NC we have a beer fest every year. The Durham Bulls Ball Park is taken over by microbrewed beer companies. Its great b/c you can try all different pilsners, lagers, ales, porters and stouts for one entry fee. Take some paper so you can write down the great ones. I DO like a good oatmeal porter.
Craft beers tend to have a heavier tast/texture that a lot of commercial beer drinkers finf "too Heavy"
A dishwater beer goes down and out quite fast and the alcohol remains. Craft beer seems more bloating.
But I'll take a cold pint of "Guinness" anytime.
I have no objections to trying GOOD beer. I do on occasion drink what you declare as crap as well. I had a nice hand crafted Belgium ale the other day but I guess I could not appreciate it properly because I then had a nice Guinness. If I had been at the Ale Asylum I would have had their oatmeal stout which I like a little better, it is fresher so it should be better. Any chance you can send me a list of the beers I should be drinking.
For me there aren't any objections to trying "good" beer. I like to try new stuff, but I don't want to waste money on beer I don't know I'll like. "BMC" are all pretty cheap, decent and drinkable.
I'm like a kid in a candy store when I walk down the beer aisle; I want to try them all but don't want to spend a ton of money on a new beer that sucks. So I stick with whatever is drinkable and cheap, Bud/Miller/Coors.
Since you're so familiar with good beer, why don't you recommend a few?
its the taste. i'm accustomed to the taste of the beer brand i prefer.
I'm afraid it might hurt my lily-delicate mouth and taste yucky, or I might like it and become an elitist snob...
Firstly, Guinness is decent beer, though I prefer their Extra Stout! Also, Sam Adams beers are outstanding. There are way more than the standard Boston Lager. And I don't know ANYONE who considers Boston Beer just a step above BMC. Jim Koch has done more for the status and perception of Better Beer in this world than anyone except maybe Michael Jackson (rip) or possibly Charlie Papazian. Sure, there were others before him (Anchor, Sierra Nevada, New Albion), but he took things to a national level... and he did so with excellent beer, not with clever marketing schemes. Now he's doing commercials, but the commercials are all about the beer, not horses or bikini girls or man-laws.
That being said, I know that one main reason BMC drinkers are reluctant to try Better Beers is that they are overwhelmed. Think of how scary that beer cooler or aisle must look to someone who's not enlightened to all the styles and their unique flavors, aromas, textures, etc. I've seen people walk up and down the front of coolers for 20 minutes, looking at every beer, not sure what to do, only to walk away with Stella, Bass, Molson Golden, or some other macro-crap.
The main problem I've seen, is lack of marketing by craft brewers and their wholesalers. That's not to say that they should run ad campaigns and ruin the image of their beer by dumbing it down with gimmicks, but they do need to find a way to communicate to the average consumer who doesn't know any better, yet.
And buying patterns are tough to break. I've done it myself, but it usually takes confronting the person one-on-one and discussing why he/she is buying crap-quality beer. For drinkers of "Grocery-Store Lite" and "NASCAR Lager" the best thing to do is steer them towards what I call "gateway beers" such as Leinenkugel, Blue Moon, or Yeungling. These beers are lower in price, and not as complex as some of the true craft breweries. It's a lot easier for a Bud drinker to start drinking Blue Moon, than it is for him to jump right into Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA (though wouldn't that be outstanding!)
The bottom line, and the only reason I joined Y!A in the first place, is to continue to spread the knowledge of Better Beers, and to convert a few followers along the way. My goal is to educate. I want people to take one thing away from their conversations with me: there is more out there than bland, fizzy, yellow liquid that barely meets the definition of beer.
Some people are afraid to change. They do as they are told, and those comercials are good at telling people what to like.
People who respect beer ask questions on this site.
I don't object to it...I'm in college and when you're playing a game of beer pong or Beer Olympics you are not going to go buy the expensive stuff.
I spent 3 weeks in Germany and I went out almost every night because the beer was so good. Nothing seems to compare here, so I just stick with what won't break my wallet. But I do live in the middle of no where.....so that doesn't help much.
Personally if I could find Radeberger Pilsner or Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbie in Indy, I would probably go broke.