Take one down and pass it around . . .

It's O.K. to be a little suspicious. After all, good beer looks, smells and tastes a lot different than that case of "light" beer you just bought. Just be warned--as you start to like the good stuff, the realization that you've been buying weak, tasteless, cheaply produced swill for so long can be pretty painful. Quality also comes at a higher price. Bargaining with liquor store owners won't get you anywhere, though--case discounts rarely apply to microbrewed six-packs. So try not to get too depressed, the best things in life always seem to cost more, and drinking quality instead of quantity is a decent trade-off. Once you've finally accepted that you can't stomach cheap beer anymore, you'll be all right--you've opened the path towards a whole new range of conversation with that attractive stranger at the bar. It's just a matter of expanding your vocabulary a bit to describe what you can now appreciate.

Before you begin

When you speak of beer, you're usually talking about how it looks and smells, as well as what it tastes like. People's tastes may be different, but chances are you'll be able to agree on a surprising number of things. It's mostly a matter of understanding a bit about what beer is made of, and how those ingredients contribute their own characteristics to the finished product. As you drink more beer, you'll develop some appreciation for the good stuff--beer that isn't brewed just to make the most money possible in the least amount of time.