Say you want to give a brief beer tutorial to somebody who is interested in beer but only knows whatever style is most popular in your country/region (e.g., for the USA, light lager). Assuming you have access to any beers you like, and picking a semi-arbitrary number, what five beers would you use to help demonstrate the range of styles and flavors beer can have? I have my own idea, but would be interested in seeing what others have to say.
This almost sounds like naming BJCP commercial examples for given styles. And there's the rub: there are so dang many styles, I'd find it hard to do what you propose with just five. You'd do well with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Guinness Stout, Victory Prima Pils, Schneider Weisse, and Westmalle Dubbel, but you'd still wind up leaving out so much. Tough call, hmm? You still have abbey triple, a whole range of lambic-based beers, one-offs like Orval, German Bock and Doppelbock, amber lagers, porter, and on and on...
New Glarus Belgian Red Shlenkerla Ur-Bock Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Lindeman's Cuvee Renee Gueze Jever
Definitely hard to restrict to five, but here we cover:
Tart & fruit Smoke & "malt" Hops & high alcohol Sour Herbs
I was tempted to put a berliner weiss in for the sour, as you get wheat character; similar for herbs I was originally thinking spice -- like a wit or a pumpkin beer or a spiced winter/Xmas beer... But Jever seemed a more extreme lesson. Of course, you could go higher alcohol and/or barrel aging (Goose Island Bourbon County Stout? Utopias?) to replace the Bigfoot, but then what for hops?
Bud Bud Light Miller Light Coors PBR
There, I think that's all the beers, plus one of those weird ones.
Seriously, it's a tough question to answer. I'd have to know first of all how adventurous their palate is to begin with, as well as how much they're inclined to quality or trying things out of the ordinary. If I've got someone who thinks Olive Garden is excellent and that anything on offer at Chili's is too spicy, I'm going to be directing them to some more pedestrian options. If they're someone who likes a variety of flavors, who's not afraid of trying the unfamiliar and who is adventurous in their food and drink, I'm choosing an entirely different set of beers.
I'd have to actually think about what I'd include on each list, but I know they'd look very different from each other.
-Steve
There are no "herbs" in Jever- other than hops, of course. In the German expression "Friesisch herb" on the label, "herb" translates to something like "dry-astringent" IIRC.
True, but this would just be an introduction. Obviously five tastes of beer won't run the full gamut, but it's a start. The kind of thing that sparks my interest in giving people a gentle push down the road of beer education is hearing people say things like "I don't like beer; I tried it once and it was awful."
Ah, didn't know that... It certainly tastes different than other beers I've had. Hmm, not sure if I should keep it on the list, or replace it with something SURELY spiced/herbed...
I'd certainly start with a fine pilsner and explain to him that this is where it all started. What he usually drinks, light style lagers I presume, are a very poor commercial representation of what started out to be very fine lagers. Pilsner Urquell comes to mind. I can get it quite fresh by the case load here in Aus, but I hear of so many on this group who can only get out of date skunked bottles (don't go there!) Steve W (in Aus)
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