You know what I am at such a lost. I have no idea what hoppiness taste, ales, pale or amber is. I just know that you all say you think I would like an amber ale. So, I will ask at dinner that way. Two more questions, what is black and tan, or guiness. Are they amber ales?
Oh once I tried this beer yuesling(sp) I liked it pretty well also. But, no where near how I loved that red trolley, yummy!
Yuengling is a local mass produced lager up here in Philly, and I think they now have a brewery near Tampa as well. Typical american mass produced beers (Coors, Bud, Miller) use a ton of rice, which is basically a no-no filler ingredient in beer. Yeungling, Red Trolley, and all of the other brews that don't use the rice give you some real flavor to your beer.
Guiness is a stout. Stout's and Porter's are very dark beer ... the best way to describe them is that they have a coffee or almost burnt quality to them. When you mix a porter or stout with a lighter beer, you get a black and tan. Supposedly the traditional black/tan is Harp Lager and Guiness Stout mixed. Yuengling bottles a black/tan that's a mix of thier basic beer (not thier lager) and thier porter.
A common misconception is that Guiness is very thick and heavy ... it's actually one of the thinnest beer out there, but people confuse the dark flavor with being 'heavy'.
There are tons of types of beer styles, but for basic simplicity, I'll break it down to three categories:
1) LIGHT SIDE: White and wheat brews. If you drop by the Germany pavilion in Epcot, try some
Fraziskaner. This is a wheat brew that will be way lighter than something like Red Trolley. Outside of Epcot, look for any other wheat ot white brews like Hoegarden or Blue Moon.
2) MEDIUM: Let's throw all the reccomendations made ealier about the ESBs and amber ales into this group.
3) DARK: Stouts and Porters. Grab a
Guiness while at Raglan Rd or Rose and Crown to get a idea of these.
The above is really making things basic, but if you try a Franziskaner, Red Trolley, and a Guiness you'll get an idea of the beer spectrum.
As for hopiness, compare any standard beer like Bud, Miller etc .., and then try a
Sam Adams (stadard boston lager). Sam Adams is one of the more hopped mass produced beers. That 'tang' or bite you get after a swallow of Sam Adams is from the hops, that you don't get with Bud/Coors. Once you recognize that hops bite, you can compare it among beer.
Well, the above is probably a decent primer to beer tasting. Again, if you get the chance while at Epcot, try the Fraziskaner and Guiness to see what you like. Just because everyone loves Guiness, doesn't mean you have to as well.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of stouts and porters, and I HATE Guiness. Yet one of my favorite beers is an English Stout (Samuel Smith Outmeal Stout).
I guess the moral is to find a style you like, but never be afraid to try any new beer, as you just might find a hidden gem.
Hopefully anybody nervous about beer found the above useful. As you can tell, I love beer, and wish for the day when beer tasting is held right up there with wine tasting
As long there's plenty around for me to drink, I'm a happy camper
