[quote=Carolyn-Beer & Brewing Editor]How do YOU acquire a taste for beer and its many varied and international styles?
Beer is universal. It has existed in different forms and styles - even within some of the most obscure nations of the world - for 10,000 years which says a lot for its seductive side. When I started to discover the different sides of beer, I "thought" I did not like many of them. My tastes, however, have changed.
I am not a big fan of beer. I think it takes some time to acquire the taste of beer. Thanks for sharing this information.
I have seen debates about whether beer should be lightly tasted, or guzzled in large quantities; whether beer or wine are better with food; whether the purpose of beer drinking is to catch a serious "buzz", or lightly lubricate social interaction; and comments, from some, that beer fills them with gas or imparts a heavy hangover.
I came across a great comment about beer from Beer Hunter Michael Jackson's first article in Playboy Magazine - from August 1983 - called "Beer Chic." In it, he says,
"There are easy tastes and difficult ones. What comes easily can quickly disappoint. Many of the best things in life are acquired tastes: oysters, steak tartare, marrons glaces. Like sex, good beer is a pleasure that can better be appreciated with experience, in which variety is both endless and mandatory. The pleasure lies, too, in gaining the experience: the encounters with the unexpected, the possibility of triumph or disaster, the pursuit of the elusive, the constant lessons, the bittersweet memories that linger."
So I ask again, how do YOU acquire a taste for beer and its many varied and international styles? [/quote]