How many types of beer are there? What's the difference?

Since the advent of microbreweries, the sky’s the limit.
It’s like a surly, speech slurring revolt against the tyranny of the Budweisers, Milers and Coors of the world.
And to a lesser extent, the Stella Artois’

There are hundreds and they are all different. Drink your way through them and figure it out for yourself. What could be a more valuable and honorable a pursuit than that? But here’s a link that might help you sort it out.

I used to hate beer until I was introduced to Belgian Strong Pale Ale. That site also has a helpful education section.

Buy the cheapest six pack you can find and drink it. Then spend two dollars more on a six pack and drink that. Continue that cycle until you see what fits you best and branch off from there.

I drink PBR. It works for me.

Many types. All Good. Try one and then the next. Find your style. Don’t get stuck. Lagers and Ales and Dortmunders, Oh My! F’n A. Have fun. (By the Way, PBR is Piss, but I lick pussy so I must have some tolerance for it…cheers JP)

My dad likes German beer.
He gets drunkz off of this.

yumm beer, delivery please!!

@Samantha_Rae Here are a couple of beer delivery systems for your perusal: The two kegs and a stack of pizza on a bike system and the mini-fridge beer launcher Whatever suits your circumstances.

Ha, figures I’d be posting about the same time as Lilly. We’re both beer geeks.
Here is a list of the GABF winners with the categories.
http://www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/pdf/winners/gabf09_winners.pdf

@silverfly In response to your question, give me an idea of what you like and where you live, and between @lillycoyote (who lives on the East Coast) and me, (who lives on the West Coast) we can give you some ideas.

@lillycoyote That beer launching fridge is hilarious!

People love alcohol and they love doing all kinds of funny things with it, so there are surely more kinds of beer than you could ever hope to try or imagine. I’m more of a wine drinker myself, but even if you aren’t you’re probably well aware of the vast number of wineries and wines out there, and you know you will never try them all. Just find something you enjoy and always keep an open mind.

The differences are plentiful. Distilling process, spices added, filtration, intermediate steps in distillation, the list goes on. Some are more watered down, some are spicier, some have a citrus flavor.

My personal favorite beer (nobody laugh) is Blue Moon Belgian White wheat beer, which has a citrus-y flavor and is sorta girly.

@Rarebear Yes. What a great idea. And while I certainly prefer drinking my beer on tap or from bottles, until the beer launching mini-fridge technology is perfected, I’m thinking cans are the way to go.

@noyesa Just a quibble. Beer isn’t distilled, it’s fermented.

Blue Moon is brewed by Coors, but it’s a pretty good beer. If you like that, I recommend trying any one of a number of Belgian Tripels. These are light colored, citrusy, and a little sour.

@noyesa I live in Texas… drinking a Shiner 101 Czech Pilsner as I type. I like Blue Moon on occasion. I didn’t know that Coors made it. That’s actually kind of upsetting. And PBR? Gnarly! My favorite so far has been Peroni”

@Rarebear Yes, I knew it was brewed by Coors, which I found interesting because I absolutely hate Coors. I’ll take your suggestion, thanks!

@silverfly Coors and Budweiser are actually running a little scared from the craft brew market as craft brew is one of the biggest growing industries. They still have a lion’s share of the market, but they are brewing these beers, sticking craft labels on them, and then marketing them as microbrews.

Sometimes microbreweries or beer stores will run tasting events. It’s really fun and you will learn a lot about different kinds of beers. Some taste like cold coffee (Imperial stout) and others taste like grapefruit (IPAs – India Pale Ales). Lambics taste like a fruity sparkling wine. Some beers are good to cook with, others are a great cold substitute to a soft drink.

Last count at the local beer store, they had 800+ beers in their inventory.

If you acquire a taste for IPAs, you’ll have a hard time wanting to drink anything else.

@kevbo Interesting you should post that. I’m a hophead, and am actually drinking a homebrewed IPA right now. But lately my tastes are changing a bit. I had the Samuel Adams Nobel Pils which is outstanding, and I’ve been drinking lately a lot of thick stouts and porters.

Haha! I found a case of Inversion IPA at Costco today and am enjoying that. I do like other styles (Chimay!), but more often than not it feels like a missed opportunity for an IPA.

@kevbo Ah… you must live in the Pacific Northwest. I love Inversion.
Look for Pliny the Elder.

I’ve heard about that one. Apparently, Trader Joe’s up there gets some secret stash that’s kept in the back and people pay big bucks for.

I live in ABQ

@kevbo And they had Inversion at Costco in ABQ? Cool! I live in California and I don’t even get Inversion in our Costco. I can find it pretty easily though at some specialty beer stores I go to.

I just checked. Russian River doesn’t distribute to NM. Anyway, it’s my favorite current beer.

Yeah, it was new. 23 bucks for a case! We also get Stone now which, uh… rocks.

@kevbo 23 bucks for a case for PTE is actually not bad, and if you’re an IPA fan, well worth it. It’s a finicky and difficult beer to make (I know, I’ve tried to homebrew it twice).

And yes, Stone does…er…rock (nice one). I’ve been to the Stone Brewing Company in San Diego and it’s really nice.

Yeah, it looks pretty cool from the video I saw (that came with the case.

(the Inversion was $23… sorry)