Show 1: Gateway Beers
Prebeer Preamble: How do you save someone you love from their own bad beer habits?
Beer 1: After a shocking act of self-sacrifice, Eric and I crack open some Pilsner Urquell. Discussion of hop varieties, history, and skunkiness ensues.
Interbeer Interlude: Beerlosophy Essay “Pay Attention”. I rant about how no one notices anything, then recount the touching tale of my conversion to good beer *sniff*.
Beer 2: Eric and I now dive into the complex and uniquely Californian Anchor Steam beer. Could this be the one to turn Joe Megabrew’s head?
Beer Geek Moment: Lager and Ale. The crucial and often misunderstood distinction between the two families of beer is made crystal clear in under three minutes.
Postbeer Postscript: How do these two beers fare in our merciless evaluation process? And will the best “conversion beer” be the best beer of the day?
March 23rd, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Between listening to your show (which is great, by the way) and the Wingin’ It Terrible two in the same day….I’m having a hard time seeing myself on the wagon for the remainder of the week.
March 24th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Wagons are for little boys!
March 24th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
Cool show on gateway beers. I think you’re on to something when you mention trying to educate them at college. The older a person gets and the more fixed they are on going to the same hole in the wall bar, the more they will backslide if you ever get them to try a better beer.
Some sports type bars will have sam adams (which can be a good gateway beer), and though it can be hard to convince some to cough up the extra buck or two, it can be done.
March 27th, 2006 at 7:48 am
Hey, I just wanted to say that I’m loving the podcast. I agree with Fred that education at the college level is a good idea. I began my beer education while I was in college (actually before I could legally drink). A friend turned me an one of my roommates on to Tsing Tao, Kirin, Sam Adams, and many others. I have since gone on to be a true beer geek, beer snob, and homebrewer. I’m making more mead at the moment than beer, but I hope to get back to all grain brewing, soon.
I agree with you that Heineken is certainly not a great beer, though it did seem to be the beer of choice during the 80’s for yuppies. I have heard that one of the reasons was the “European” flavor that it has. That flavor is better know to us, as “skunk”. I guess the joke is on them. I was thinking that another possible gateway beer could be John Courage. As I recall, it is pretty light, has some decent flavor, but is not too complex the the beer-geek-in-training.
Hopefully, I will be able to do a drink and listen, soon. I listened to the first two shows at work, and the drinking part would be frowned upon. Keep up the good work!
March 27th, 2006 at 12:13 pm
fred, you mentioned Sam Adams (boston lager, I presume), and Chip, you mentioned John Courage as gateway beer candidates. My plan is to make “gateway beers’ a recurring show theme, so I’m wondering: does anybody else have a good candidate in mind? Shoot me an email, leave a voicemail, or leave a comment; I’m taking notes, and will try to get to them in upcoming gateway shows.
March 31st, 2006 at 11:03 am
Hey Charlie, I haven’t started listening to your podcast yet, but I will soon start.
If you haven’t mentioned it, I’d like to suggest that people join some sort of beer club. In most cities, there will be at least one bar that has a beer club of some sort. The one I go to is Old Chicago. These bars usually have a large selection of beers and will give you prizes/money for completing tours. In the case of Old Chicago, you get at least $40 back for every 110 beers you drink. Hey, if you are out drinking anyway, it is a nice way to reduce your tab over the long run. A beer tour may also encourage you to try out beers you might normally not try.
Hope this helps!
April 2nd, 2006 at 1:18 pm
I found myself making an Omlette Run early this afternoon. You know what I’m talking about. That happens when you let your wife sleep in while you and your son take off for a quick round of disc golf, and she calls you saying “I want omlettes” but you have nothing in the house. That happens to everyone, right?
Anyhow, I found myself walking down the beer isle of the local grocer (not my favorite place to buy beer) and I noticed one, and only one, remaining six pack of Anchor Steam. After listening to the conversation last week, I had to have it.
So here I sit, thinking about how much more character I wished the beer had, but thinking of all the beer-wussies out there who cannot handle character. Yes. They all could enjoy this beer. And if they didn’t make a yucky-face at the all-too-faint bitterness at the end, I can see them skipping the MegaLight next time.
Kudos on a great show, guys. You’re on the Magnificant Seventy.
April 4th, 2006 at 3:45 pm
Thanks for the good words. I’m proud to be Evo’s-aggregator-worthy!
April 7th, 2006 at 11:13 am
You were wondering about other possible “gateway” beers aside from those mentioned. I would personally suggest Yuengling’s Traditional Lager. Perhaps I am a bit biased as I am from the Philadelphia area, but it is a decent enough beer for those looking for something a step up from fizzy American beer - but aren’t ready to make a huge jump. Also, it’s one of the few beers I’ve ever known of that you can go into a bar and ask for “lager” and get.
April 7th, 2006 at 11:55 am
Just finished listening to this show — bit behind, but catching up!
A few comments:
I really don’t like Pilsner Urquell. You guys mentioned the skunky taste; I couldn’t get past it. I think it’s up there with the nastiest beers I’ve ever tasted. This is totally subjective, of course, but I personally wouldn’t recommend it as a gateway beer, because I don’t think my Coors-Light-drinking dad is going to enjoy the taste of skunk urine.
Potential gateway beers:
- Brown ales. Newcastle Brown Ale, Honey Brown Ale, Sam Adams Brown Ale.
- Actually, most Sam Adams brews would be good gateway beers. Boston Lager is an obvious first choice; more character than Natural Light, if nothing else, but still a familiar style.
- You mentioned hefeweizens, and I’d add in lambics in that category. Refreshing, crisp beers will be an easier sell than an IPA, for sure.
- Marzens/Oktoberfests. My personal beer of choice in the Winter months.
In terms of other gateway strategies:
Beer clubs at bars. I was once a member of a foreign beer club at a local bar (I’ll pimp it, it was Der Braumeister in Cleveland), where you had to drink 50 different foreign beers from their list of 100 to get the perosnalized stein. Similarly, here in Memphis, there’s a place called the Flying Saucer, where you have to drink 200 different beers, including imports, micros, etc., to get a personalized plate to hang on the wall. Those kinds of clubs are fun, and provide an education in the process.
On lousy Americn beer:
You know where crappy American tastes really good? On a hot Saturday afternoon at the baseball stadium, along with a hot dog. You mentioned “hydration” as a reason to drink Bud Light, and that feeds into the same thing….
Anyway, I’ve rambled long enough. I’ve enjoyed the 2 shows I’ve heard so far!
April 7th, 2006 at 3:36 pm
Good observations, John from Memphis. Say “hey” to Mark for me! Seriously, I’m totally with you on the Sam Adams thing. The Boston Lager has “GATEWAY” tattooed all over it.
And lambics are just about the only beers my wife drinks, being so approachable and all. I imagine both Sam Adams and a lambic will make an appearance on the show (different episodes, probably), sooner rather than later.
April 16th, 2006 at 12:29 pm
I find it a little suspicious and unfair that you drank Bud Light as part of the show but refused to give it a score. Could it be that you’re afraid it might rank higher than you think?
April 16th, 2006 at 1:45 pm
August, we witheld our scoring of Bud Light out of one emotion only: misplaced pity.
Here’s mine:
Appearance: 2
Aroma: 2
Taste: 1
Mouthfeel: 2
Holistic: 2
Doesn’t even hit double digits.
April 20th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Just found this podcast and am catching up. It’s entertaining and educational.
I’m a beer lightweight. I never really liked it and only drank light beer and Corona. But I married a woman who is partial to bocks and IPAs. She has got me to try a lot of different beers, and even though I still don’t like the really the really heavy and bitter beers, I have to say I can’t drink light beer any more.
My suggestion for a gateway beer is the one that moved me - Shiner Bock. It is very smooth and lighter than other bocks. It got me used to the hops bitterness so I could move on to more complex beers.
May 2nd, 2006 at 5:26 pm
My son told me about your podcast. I’ve enjoyed the first four programs and am anxiously awaiting the next one.
A couple of ideas for gateway beers:
Spaten Opimater
Goose Island Nut Brown
The Optimator has (IMHO) more flavor than Pilsner Urquell, but it’s very drinkable and easily accessible for a Bud Light drinker.
The Goose Island Nut Brown is probably the smoothest nut brown I’ve ever tasted. It’s got a good malt flavor, but still easy to drink and doesn’t demand a lot of attention.
Oh, and if you ever do a show specifically about hoppy beers, you have to include Twisted Pine Hoppy Boy. I think the Twisted Pine brewery is in the Denver area. This stuff is so hoppy it’s cloudy with them and smells like a bag of hops. Every true beer geek should have it at least once. I came across it at the Falling Rock Taproom in Denver. It’s just amazing how well it goes with a bacon cheeseburger.