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"justflow1983":5o5w865p wrote: If you start people on an accessible proper beer like a Fuller's ESB, [/quote:5o5w865p]
I actually don't like ESB and I wouldn't give it to someone as a starter beer. I'd imagine that light beers would be a better entry level so as not to scare people off and then build up to the dark hop monsters! <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

It depends on whether people like sweet. I find belgians and wit/weisse beers are rough on my stomach from the sugar. Its all about selection, and maybe what is more important than the type of beers is how its introduced to people. Free samples in a shot glass might be a way to help people over the hump.

Bitterness, even of the light and pale variety, is a harder taste to acquire than strength and darkness, IMO.

I'd heartily agree with BeerNut on the bitterness. The hoppy lagers like Brooklyn or Sam Adams have been how I've introduced a lot of continental Europeans to American style beers. They're mild enough but have a nice aroma to show people what's missing from BMC. I've even gotten one Czech friend completely hooked on cascade-nosed IPAs.

I've also never really had a problem with getting people to drink good beer. I think its more of an attitude thing than anything else, some people I know just are afraid of what could be perceived as the snobbish interest in fine things. The best thing about craft brewing in the states is that the local factor trumps that fear.

I'd say so.

Met a guy in the Bull & Castle Beerhall once who wouldn't countenance drinking anything other than Guinness there, since it's made just up the street.

Luckily I had my flipcharts handy to explain both globalisation and pasteurisation to him. I'm sure he thanked me the next day.

Also, I wonder if there's really any point in setting up a "beer nerd" kind of place yet focusing on introducing new people. If there was a place better than the Porterhouse or B&C I would be dragging my friends there, and they'd gain an appreciation at a grassroots level. If you don't serve macros, they have no choice but to go for a try.