I've had some Dogfish and it's good, and there are a few micro-brews around here that do all sorts of IPA's and the like. I haven't heard of the rest. My neighborhood in Indy is....up and coming? (i.e. kind of down at the moment) so the beer selections at the store is limited, and the bars serve mostly domestics in cans.G. Keenan wrote:What you need is a gateway beer. That one beer that redefines your idea of what beer can be and makes you want to explore a new beer landscape. Beers like Newcastle, Guinness, and Sam Adams are fine beers, but not quite at that level. In general, the bigger the brewery the less interesting the beer. Can you get Dogfish Head beers where you live? Try to find their Festina Peche, or 90 Minute IPA, or Aprihop. In fact, IPAs are a good place to start exploring. It's a good summer style and there's a lot out there and in general they will be made by craft brewers.
The mixed six pack is a good approach. Or hell, just a lot of different six packs. Drink a lot of beer, period. Is there a bar near you with a really good beer selection? If so, become a regular there and talk to the bartenders. Bartenders who know a lot about beer, especially ones who have a say over what beers the bar orders, love to talk about beer and will happily recommend new ones to you and answer questions about how they're made. Also keep your eye out for local promotional events. Lots of breweries want to pimp their brews and will have events at bars where a set price lets you taste all their different offerings.
I kind of did this with whiskey, but whiskey is a much more narrow genre. I usually stick to Jameson - best bang for you buck, but after just having a few different types of scotch and whiskey you can fairly easily taste the different flavors in each.
But with beer there's so many different brews it's harder to taste the subtleties in each one. You almost need a knowledgeable beer snob with you to help taste some of it. I love beer, and it all tastes good to me.
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