My roommate has never had a beer
It’s true. Don’t ask me how it happened. Though, to his credit, I didn’t have my first full beer till I turned 21 (I gorged myself on a tepid Rolling Rock).
In 2 weeks AJ (the roommate) will be turning 21. He’s been coming to brew beer with us on Monday Night and has yet to taste the fruits of his labor. So here’s the goal: We want to acclimate AJ to good beer as quickly as possible. None of this star ing off on Bud Light and Heineken stuff.
And for this reason, we need your help. What should we start him on? He’s agreed to play along with us, so your beer expertise shall not go unused. If you’ve had any of our beers, feel free to include those in the list as well. Because, needless to say, they are delightful.
Jonathan, Joel & Jeff
July 18th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Tell me more of this “beer.”
I hear Natural Light is delightful. Also this “Coors” with the wide mouth can and that shows you when it’s cold. That MUST make the beer better. (note sarcasm).
Oh teach me the ways of hops and barley.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
There is only one song that appropriately articulates this very special day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKwk_xPIXJw
I don’t recall when I had my first, however, I do remember when I first craved one.
July 19th, 2007 at 8:02 am
It’s really hard to say what kind of beer will pique his interest - it seems to have varied among my friends. Wheats, fruit-beers, Fat Tire, coffee stout, and amber were all starting places for my friends. No one ever says - “Yeah, once I had that double IPA, I never looked back.”
I suppose if your friend likes bitter - grapefruit and such, he may like an IPA - but I’d probably start with something else.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:01 am
Simple amber, brown, or red ales are a good starting point. They’re a little heavier on the malt than hops, so there will be a bit more sweetness which might help. I might avoid Fat Tire due to the heavy biscuit nature, but that shouldn’t be too hard as you can’t get it in Georgia anyway.
Then there’s always Guinness, dry and creamy, also low hopped.
I’d HIGHLY consider trying a belgian. It’s so different than many other beers that if he doesn’t like a stout or red ale, he might absolutely love a belgian triple, or even a quad… And you can blow his mind when he realizes that it’s just barley, sugar, yeast, and hops creating the beer, and those complex fruity estery flavors aren’t due to fruit :-)
I wouldn’t go any heavier on the hops than Sweetwater 420 or Sierra Nevada… Unless he likes spicy/bitter.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:08 am
The problem with a Belgian would be the alcohol content… this guy hasn’t drunk anything before. I don’t want to knock him out before the party starts. A Belgian would be a proverbial roofie.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Duvel in moderation should do the trick. Aim high and he will never even consider micro-swill.
July 23rd, 2007 at 4:15 am
Stick to a good American pale ale, surely? Don’t give him that Guinness crap.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
Ahh… Samuel Smith’s lager is good… I actually had a BMC drinker who said she absolutely loved it.
Their Pale Ale would also be good, as it’s more of an English Pale Ale than an APA, so it’s smoother on the hops.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:11 am
off the top of my head i vote for:
victory hopdevil
dogfish midas touch
rogue dead guy and hazelnut
ommegang witte
and of course we should start him off with a liter of PBR so he knows how beer spoiled is about to be. nothing but love for ya goche
-a