The Elements of Style(s): A Handy Guide for the Newbie and Connoisseur Alike

I love beer - its continuous capacity to surprise and delight, to provoke thought and appetite, to bring people together and render simple happiness.

I also love learning about beer. This is an iterative process in thinking you know a good deal, then finding that there is always still more to know and try. That said, over the past few months of beer drinking and tasting and comparing and note-taking, I've at least established a working knowledge of many of the major styles of beer. For those just discovering the delicious and deep world of beer, I've put together a basic primer with information on these styles, including:

• Basic profile / tasting notes: Quick hits on the usual signposts for the style
• History: Learn a bit about the history behind the style; entirely non-exhaustive, as each style's genesis and development could spawn a book chapter
• Brewing notes: Find out the nuts and bolts on ingredients, process, and differentiators behind the style
• Tasted and strongly recommended: Notable varieties that I've tried and loved and would buy for loved ones, beer-lovers, and those who fall in both categories
• Yet to try, but have heard great things: Beers that I've seen praised all over the internet, described in rhapsodic tones at gathering of beer geeks, and generally dreamt about having the chance to drink
• Solid picks on a budget: Relatively wide distribution, lower cost (<$12/6 pack for some more common / less process intensive styles, <$9/16-22oz for rarer / more process intensive ones), and high quality; in the case that I have not properly sampled a given style, I will state that, "more tasting is needed" to form a good opinion

As you can see, there are dozens and dozens of style divisions past the ones that I'll include here, and any number of these styles can overlap, combine, or split into smaller, more unified sub-styles. I hope, though, that it nevertheless proves informative, and helps you navigate your exploration of beer!

Author's note - I owe much of this article, and the entire way of thinking that spawned it, to the genius and work of Michael Jackson, the highly-esteemed British beer connoisseur and writer who introduced the world to the idea of stylistic grouping of beer based on shared taste profile, brewing process, and history. The various editions of his "The World Guide to Beer" are an invaluable resource to the neophyte as is his website, The Beer Hunter, linked to above. He almost single-handedly saved several styles of beer from the ignominy of extinction, helped spear-head the craft beer movement here in the United States, and remained always a humble, guiding voice in the letters of beer. He will be missed.

The Styles

I'll start with sections on the styles that I've encountered most often in the course of my beer education. Some general disclaimers: (1) my beer tasting experience has skewed heavily towards American breweries' fare, without much strong background in Belgian, German, British, Danish, or other countries' beer, (2) I have combined closely related categories where I either lack appropriate experience to offer nuanced differentiation or where sufficient taste, process and historical similarities exist among the sub-styles to justify the grouping, (3) the beers on my lists skew towards those available in the NYC, Chicago, and SF Bay area, where I spend most of my time, and (4) this is a living document, so edits will be incorporated as time goes on. That said, on to the beer!

The Origin Story

When I was four years old, some distant relative on my Dad's side jokingly held a can of Miller Lite in front my nose. "Want to try some?" The smell was so revolting that I promised to categorically reject even the notion of beer indefinitely. "No" would be the only answer that I would have for that evil beverage.

A decade and a half later I found myself in college, and nothing about this relationship had changed - beer and I were still mortal enemies. It smelled bad, made the floors sticky, and led to people vomiting in my hallway's bathroom. Our estrangement seemed destined for the ages.

But as fate would have it, on the occasion of my 21st birthday BBQ, I received a four-pack of beer as a present. It came in a lime-green cardboard four-pack carrying case, and it advertised itself as a lady, classy and demure: Sofie. It had come from a brewery named after the island in the middle of my hometown's eponymous river; I was still wary of it. With a hesitating tone, I poured it out into a champagne glass. Pardon the pun, but this seemed high-flutin'. I indulged her, though, and there she lay, effervescent, the color of golden straw, the mid-day summer sun kissing her softly. I took a taste.

"Whole Lotta Love" "I Can Hear Music." "Here Comes the Sun." - and that's just constraining myself to music from 1969. A light went on that day - an epiphany that made me realize the error of my previous ways at a Flannery O'Connor pitch. How could I have cast aside such an incredible thing? It was if I had visited New York City as a boy, met one mean person, and decided the whole city should be destroyed, Abraham's arguments to the contrary be damned. Now, I realized that if I gave it a chance, there was a lifetime of amazing adventures to be had in Gotham and elsewhere, one great beer at a time, often with a friend.

As the famed Czech proverb goes, so too did that first encounter: "A fine beer may be judged with one sip, but it is better to be thoroughly sure." Not only did I want more of this beer, I wanted to try all the rest of them too - what's appreciation without a larger context? So I set out to the roads of this country with pint glass in hand, ready for all the hoppiness and happiness that awaited me.

Now it's been a year and a half of this treasure hunting, and I have nothing but fond memories and experiences to recall. Pliny the Elder on tap at trivia night in Palo Alto. Tracking down Zombie Dust in Munster. Raspberry Tart to celebrate an anniversary. Accordingly, I've decided to start this blog, The Amazing Adventures of Great Beer and Clay (greatbeerandclay.blogspot.com). In it, I'll feature:

• Reviews of and tasting notes on delicious, interesting, and new beers, including:
• Longer individual and head-to-head reviews of exceptional varieties and the journeys behind obtaining them
• Quick-hit lists of other beers
• Features and write-ups on notable beer events and pilgrimages in and around NYC (and occasionally Chicago!)
• Recurring pairing series that suggest matches for a given beer or beers
• Quarterly (all styles) and annual (both by style and overall) best-of lists and awards
• A "Beer Basics" section containing useful information for those just beginning to learn about beer, including sections on history, the brewing process, and styles, as well as links to other helpful resources, discussion boards, and communities

It's my hope to create and curate interesting, insightful, and educational content on notable beer, and to help situate that information in relation to other beer, culture, and history.

As a final note, I must thank Michael Chabon and his heroes for the inspiration for the blog's title. Comicbooks have always been one of my biggest sources of inspiration, learning, and enjoyment, so when I came across a certain Pulitzer winning novel, I was thunderstruck. Never before had someone so deftly and completely put the contours of my world of comic books to paper in such a "respectable" medium. If anything that I can muster here on the topic of beer is even 1/10th as good as his work on comicbooks, then I'll consider myself happy indeed - and you'll have something special on your hands.

'Nuff said - on to the beer!

-Clay