Becoming a Beer ConnoisseurEnjoyed for centuries, beer is more popular than ever before, with breweries from Chile to China offering ales, lagers and stouts to an ever-thirsty global community. If you’ve always stuck to one brand of beer, dipping a toe in the wider world, with it’s hundreds of distinctive flavors and colorful brand names, might seem intimidating. With a little help from a beer expert, however, you can learn all you need to know to become a sophisticated sultan of suds.
Paul Pacult of Wallkill, NY is editor of the Spirit Journal newsletter and the author of the book The Beer Essentials: The Spirit Journal Guide to Over 650 of the World’s Beers. Here he offers his expert advice for developing a taste for great beer: - American lagers. For many beer drinkers, the standard American lagers, those mass-produced brands that keep sporting events on the air with their huge advertising budgets, are all there is to beer. But Pacult sees these mild beers as just the starting place. They’re good beers, but not great beers, and the goal is to get your taste buds headed in a new direction.
- Microbrews. The next step, according to Pacult, is trying out some lovingly crafted microbrews like Sam Adams and some gutsier small-batch lagers. Beers like this offer more character and a more concentrated flavor for a bolder taste.
- British ales. Once you’ve begun to appreciate microbrews, it’s time to move on to British ales, which Pacult considers the best beers in the world. These include brands like Sam Smith’s, Young’s and Fullers. A bitter from Britain is a good compromise between the meaty, heavy beers of Europe and the lighter American beers. It’s an enjoyable midpoint, and the place where Pacult suggests most beer drinkers go.
For more information on gourmet beers, check out the following organizations and websites:
Realbeer.com
www.realbeer.com
Beer Advocate
www.beeradvocate.com
World of Beer
worldofbeer.com/features/feature-200108.html | 
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