[RunDownHouse]

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uhm.. beer for the most part tastes like beer

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If you think a stout tastes anything like an IPA, go buy both a Young's Chocolate Stout and a Stone Ruination IPA. Both can be had in Nashville, TN, so both are pretty available in the US. They're about as similar as a filet mignon and a Thai curry: the former are roasted/charred with an almost buttery texture, and the latter are sharp and biting with plenty of citrus flavor to cut the heat. Guess what else is similar? They're both beer.

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wheat beer is wheat beer.

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In the spirit of the above paragraph, buy a Pyramid or Widmer hefe and then buy a Paulaner or Weihenstephaner hefe. Completely different flavor profiles. Better yet, get one each of those, and then get a Belgian Wit; even Blue Moon will do. Again, very different flavor profiles.

There's nothing wrong with drinking what you like. The big breweries, generally Bud, Miller, and Cools, aim for specific goals, and what they do, they do very, very well. That being said, beer in general provides such a wide variety of flavors that, given access to any beer in the world, you'd be much better off pairing a beer with your meal than a wine. Wine makers hate to hear it, but beer lists in upscale restaurants are growing, "cellarman" are increasingly being sought-after in complement to sommeliers, and craft beer, as a segment of beer sales, is growing at a a healthy pace. Statements like, "beer tastes like beer," are rooted solely in ignorance to the point of being nonsensical.