Expert: Matt Dick - 12/15/2011

Question
Hi Matt!

My boyfriend is turning 21 soon and as part of his gift I would like to get him a few different types of beer to try.  I don't really know much about beer as I just turned 21 myself.  I had Yuengling Lager recently and really liked that- maybe something along that line??  I really have no idea what he may like... Do you have any suggestions for types of beer I should get?  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Whitney

Answer
gahhhh!

Whitney,

I wrote a long-ish response and then the browser crashed and nothing was saved.  So I'll try to recreate what I wrote.

First of all, what a great girlfriend you are!  He's lucky to have a gf who's willing to help him explore beer!  You must be in the northeast of the US, correct?  Yuengling is usually not easy to find south of DC or west of about Ohio.

I will run through a few common styles, but if you want an exhaustive (and I mean *really* exhaustive, there are zillions of beer styles), you might try The New World guide to Beer by Michael Jackson--not the crazy pop singer, incidentally.  I will run through a fun sampling of styles with some suggestions for specific beers to buy (get six packs so he feels obligated to share with you!).

Yuengling's a really good start--it's a light lager from America's oldest brewery and is a favorite of mine (my brother lives in DC and is very dedicated to this beer).

When you go through a sampler of beers, get a good variety, and if you want to taste several beers at one event, start with lighter-bodied beers and move toward darker, that way your palette won't be completely blown when you're tasting the lighter beers.

So start him with Yuengling, a really solid lighter beer.  It's a lager, so it's a little likelier to be well-balanced and "smooth" tasting.

Then you could move to the Pale Ales, which is a common style you'll find anywhere.  Good ones you might find are commonly available are Anchor's Liberty Ale or Bass Ale.

India Pale Ales (IPA) are stronger and hoppier (more hops, more bitter, and quite a treat for those of us who love hops).  A really great IPA that you can get at most larger beer or liquor stores is Celebration Ale from Sierra Nevada.  Most of my hop-head friends (and I) swear by it.  it's strong and hoppy and soooo delicious.

Moving one to some darker styles...

Brown Ales are *very* different from pale ales, they are much darker in color, and are much sweeter.  Sweeter usually means the malt in the beer is emphasized as opposed to the hops.  If you don't love hops, the brown ales are the opposite extreme.  The most common brown ale that will be easy to find is Newcastle Brown.  I only occasionally want a brown ale, and Newcastle often fits the bill when I do.

Porters are my favorite style.  These are very dark, often very strong ales.  My favorite porter is Anchor Porter.  It can usually be found in larger liquor stores and will be a great introduction to the style.

Finally the stouts... these are like porters, except much darker.  A true stout is usually a beer you can't see through, even when you hold the glass up to a strong light.

Dry Stouts (not as sweet) are most common, probably because Guinness Extra Stout dominates the American market.  Incidentally I also think it's quite good, and a fin introduction to the style.  Get some, and try to see if you can note the slightly smokey flavor of what is called the patent malt (how dark a beer is is generally not related to how strong (in alcohol content( a beer is.  Guinness, for instance, is not as alcoholic as a Budweiser.  The darkness is generally related to how roasted the barley malt is, and black patent malt is very, very dark).

Sweet Stouts are the last style I will specifically endorse for this experiment.  These are big, bold (a friend of mine calls them "chewy") beers and are occasionally a totally happy surprise to a person who thinks they don't like beer, but bases that dislike on only knowing the American Light Lager (i.e. Bud, Miller, Coors).  Sweet Stouts are often pretty strong, but they are also a totally different drink from the much lighter cousins.  Mackeson XXX (triple stout) is a great example and, man is it great.

So enjoy this, and write me back and let me know how it goes, I'm excited for you guys.  Also, please hole yourself up at home if you plan to taste these in succession, there's no way you're going to plow through a Mackeson at the end of the night and be able to drive home.

Good luck!
Matt