Is beer an acquired taste?
- Thread starter strawman
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I love alcohol, but never cared for beer. At parties, one beer would last me all night, and I'd end up pouring half of it out.
When I started playing Irish music, most pubs only pay session musicians in beer. So if you want to get paid, you better learn to like beer. Now I really enjoy beer--though I prefer beers with more flavor. I'm not a big fan of the pilsner style pale and mild beer (aka: budweiser, coors, etc) that seems be the most popular in the US.
When I started playing Irish music, most pubs only pay session musicians in beer. So if you want to get paid, you better learn to like beer. Now I really enjoy beer--though I prefer beers with more flavor. I'm not a big fan of the pilsner style pale and mild beer (aka: budweiser, coors, etc) that seems be the most popular in the US.
Don't like it. I am likely, though unverified, a supertaster, so am sensitive to the bitterness of alcohol. That said, even supertasters can learn to like alcohol. I just never did. I think part of it was my anti-peer-pressure stance in high school and college that simply kept me away from trying it at a critical time to adopt the taste.
GasBandit
Staff member
When I was younger, I didn't particularly like beer - I just drank it to get drunk, as it was the cheapest way to accomplish inebriation.
Now almost 20 years later, I find light beer a refreshing alternative to drinking water or soda, when I'm not in the mood for hard alcohol.
Now almost 20 years later, I find light beer a refreshing alternative to drinking water or soda, when I'm not in the mood for hard alcohol.
Beer is definitely an acquired taste in my opinion. I love beer. and my desire for which kind of beer will change depending on mood, what I'm eating, what I'm doing, all sorts of different circumstances. Different beers go with different circumstances.
I also love hard alcohol, and the same is true. It is much more enjoyable to sit and casually have a cigar over a glass of fine scotch than say having the same cigar over a glass of wine. bad example, but alcohol is situation.
I also love hard alcohol, and the same is true. It is much more enjoyable to sit and casually have a cigar over a glass of fine scotch than say having the same cigar over a glass of wine. bad example, but alcohol is situation.
Beer is a complex beverage. I definitely think it is an acquired taste, as in it takes X number of beers before the enjoyable/likable facets build up to where you start to enjoy it*, where X is smaller for some people than it is for others.
Its complexity also means that it interacts with other foods/flavors/smells in unpredictable ways, so the pairing makes a definite difference.
Try the following example:
-Purchase a bottle of Unibroue's La Fin du Mond at your local establishment (if it's not available where you live...sorry).
-Prepare a serving of some form of sweet pork (pork chops w/apple glaze, glazed ham) or salmon (maple glazed).
-Pour a serving of La Fin du Mond. Taste it. Notice the taste.
-Now take some bites of the meal. Taste the beer again. Notice the difference.
I do have an ideal taste/feel in my head of what a beer I would like would probably taste like, I just haven't found anything yet that matches it. So far, the closest I've come has been with strong, Scotch ales, such as Under the Kilt or Skull Splitter. High ABV, dark malty flavor, mild sweetness.
--Patrick
*Like smoking, only healthier.
Its complexity also means that it interacts with other foods/flavors/smells in unpredictable ways, so the pairing makes a definite difference.
Try the following example:
-Purchase a bottle of Unibroue's La Fin du Mond at your local establishment (if it's not available where you live...sorry).
-Prepare a serving of some form of sweet pork (pork chops w/apple glaze, glazed ham) or salmon (maple glazed).
-Pour a serving of La Fin du Mond. Taste it. Notice the taste.
-Now take some bites of the meal. Taste the beer again. Notice the difference.
I do have an ideal taste/feel in my head of what a beer I would like would probably taste like, I just haven't found anything yet that matches it. So far, the closest I've come has been with strong, Scotch ales, such as Under the Kilt or Skull Splitter. High ABV, dark malty flavor, mild sweetness.
--Patrick
*Like smoking, only healthier.
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My tastes are kinda like Dave's. I generally only like alcoholic drinks if I can't taste the alcohol. Or it's not the strongest flavor. The only beer I like is Guiness, and I usually sip it, if I finish. But sweet wines, beers with flavors, mixed drinks are my go-to if I'm going to drink, unless I can get a Shirley Temple. 
I learned to drink beer during the introductory week of college. Beer was the only thing the ever ordered (which they did by unit of length, not number of glasses). Sure you could not drink, but it would probably make it a very lousy week. I'm glad I did learn to drink it, because the special brews are something I cannot live without anymore.
I drank like nuts while in China, and generally enjoyed it, but now that I'm back home and drinking
1. Expensive
2. I don't like drinking at home
3. Going out to drink is a pain in the butt since I don't live in a major city with decent public transportation or cheap taxis
so I don't really bother anymore.
1. Expensive
2. I don't like drinking at home
3. Going out to drink is a pain in the butt since I don't live in a major city with decent public transportation or cheap taxis
so I don't really bother anymore.
Out of curiosity, have you had any of Founders' Breakfast or Imperial stouts? Those fit your descriptions pretty well. I'll also have to save a bottle of my Kentucky Breakfast Stout to share with you. If not, you should also give Brewery Vivant's Belgian Dark ale a shot.
Additionally, I'm definitely of the opinion that beer is an acquired taste--particularly given how many different styles there are. I absolutely detested beer at first, but that was because my friends were all very big fans of India Pale Ales (generally very high/biting bitterness) while my favorite types of beers are more in line with @PatrThom 's. I definitely understand how some people simply don't like the "base" flavor profile shared across most beers, but I think part of it (or at least for me) is learning to tolerate it enough for the other flavors in the beer to be more prominent than the alcohol burn.
There was a beer festival in Shanghai back in May and I swear every other beer tent was IPA everything.
My liquor cabinet has sooooo many cordials in it, some of which I've had > 15 years.My tastes are kinda like Dave's. I generally only like alcoholic drinks if I can't taste the alcohol. Or it's not the strongest flavor. The only beer I like is Guiness, and I usually sip it, if I finish. But sweet wines, beers with flavors, mixed drinks are my go-to if I'm going to drink, unless I can get a Shirley Temple.
I've seen the Founder's Breakfast, but don't think I've ever tried any. The oatmeal ones have a roastier flavor. I'm guessing I'm not a supertaster, but I do still have certain trigger flavors that I just don't like, like when people assume every caramel-esque flavor has to taste burnt or else it's not authentic.
--Patrick
The weather had started to cool, which in Texas just means 80ish, so my family and I went camping. We got to the camp site at about midday and set about making camp. Once we had everything in place my mother reminded us that we have to get fire wood for the next few days. Now keep in mind that my mother is a closet Pyro so fire wood for a few days means filling the bed of the truck up from the pile at the camp host. Log after log after log had to be loaded up, only stopping to leave at least some for the other campers. Of course we aren't keeping the truck next to the fire ring so all of it then had to be unloaded and piled up at just the right distance. Finally, after doing the same repetitive task twice in a row in just slightly warmer weather than you'd want to do it in I was able to sit down and enjoy a cool breeze coming through. My dad offered me a cold Shiner Bock. It was the most refreshing thing I'd ever had.
Up until then beer had always been kinda icky.
Up until then beer had always been kinda icky.
My grandmother would keep a can of MGD or something similar in her fridge for when she finished her gardening.
--Patrick
Definitely an acquired taste, the first couple beers I had as a teenager tasted BLEH. I do have a preference for certain beers, but a crappy canned beer can be refreshing...at 1 AM after a night of obvious mistakes.
If you get the chance, definitely give both the Breakfast and the Imperial stout a shot. Breakfast stout should be on shelves in a month or so; Imperial stout a few months after that. I'm not a fan of roasted/burnt flavors, but they are absolutely fantastic beers. The Imperial stout in particular is dangerous because it's 10% ABV and does not drink like it.
I've slowly begun changing my opinion on IPAs, but it's difficult because so many places tend to simply make them bitter bombs. A number of places seem to be going towards a trend of more hops flavor/aroma with less pure bitterness (I know when I've brewed my own I FAR prefer this type compared to a lot of commercial IPAs), but it's definitely the beer style I'm least likely to order if I'm unfamiliar with the brand/beer in question.
In general, I'm not really a fan of beer. There are a few I like - Pike Brewery's Kilt Lifter Scottish Ale, Full Sail's Sessions Black Lager, Corona or PBR on a hot summer day, Hoegarden, and Leinenkugel's had a good summer Wit (without honey) that I liked - but most beers have too much bitter hoppiness for my taste. I like the citrus notes of some hops and the floral aroma, but once you've boiled all of that out and you're just left with the bitter, I'm done.
Seconded. If you brew your own beer, it's fun to do "hop bursting"--adding all the hops at the end of the boil. You get a tiny bit of bitterness, and then a ton of the citrus/floral/etc. flavor and aroma from hops.
I have grown to like beer. I think my biggest problem with beers in the past is that I was drinking cheap crap rather than something good. I like stouts, porters, and tripel ales.
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Living in Colorado, I can generally find at least one beer I like. They are never light in color however. I also basically hate alcohol if I can taste it, and it's one of those tastes that I became super sensitive to after being pregnant with my daughter 9 years ago, so it's even more annoying.
Beer is my favourite. I sometimes like a glass of wine or fruity drinks down south but nothing compares to a nice cold beer.
There are some beers I like more than others but the only beer that really grossed me out was a mandarin orange one. Not good.
There are some beers I like more than others but the only beer that really grossed me out was a mandarin orange one. Not good.
I haven't had a lot of luck with fruit flavored beers. Coconut beer, blueberry beer, pumpkin beer, apple beer (honestly, just have a nice cider), apricot beer, peach beer... either you have to ferment the fruit and change the entire complexion of the fruit flavor, or you just add fruit flavoring after the brewing process and hope that the brewery didn't use a crap beer. The obvious exception to this concept, of course, being Lambic, which is awesome.
Canadian friend of mine once said "American beer is like sex in a canoe. fucking to close to water"
Which is true, or used to be, if you can see through it. i generally don't like beer I can see through.
Some real good ones, if anyone is looking:
Which is fantastic, glass required
and
Which is a Russian black porter. at 7.7% alcohol which is fantastic
Which is true, or used to be, if you can see through it. i generally don't like beer I can see through.
Some real good ones, if anyone is looking:
Which is fantastic, glass required
and
Which is a Russian black porter. at 7.7% alcohol which is fantastic