Some caveats on Maligne's advice: while the various beers he listed there are all excellent, I would argue that some of them are really pretty extreme for a first-time drinker. Storm King is an imperial stout (8%+ alcohol, very strong flavors), and will kick your ass. I'd really recommend something like Murphy's, or maybe a Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout to get a person started on stout. Similarly, throwing a stout as well as a porter at a new drinker, just like a pale ale and an IPA seems excessive. Also, I'm going to offer some more mass-market beers in case you have trouble finding some of the stuff on Maligne's list. Obviously this is all personal opinion, but I'd go for:

Pale Ale (American or India): Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is an excellent choice here, as well as the Dogfish Head 60 minute if you can get it. Samuel Smith turns out a pretty good IPA from what I've heard.

Something from the Stout/Porter category: Murphy's Stout, Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout, or Rouge Chocolate Stout are all delicious and accessible Stout entries. If you like that, go for what Maligne listed in the Porter category.

English Bitter: A really drinkable and excellent beer that's got some good flavor on it. Don't be fooled by the name, it's not very bitter at all. Red Hook makes an ESB (extra-special bitter) that I enjoy, and is not a bad/drinkable entry into the category.

Brown Ale: Newcastle is not a bad intro here, and Sam Smith Nut Brown is good as well. Smuttynose Old Brown Dog is pretty good as well.

Pilsner: Pilsner Urquell is a pretty good (and would probably be easier to get than the Victory Prima Pils), but the Prima Pils really is excellent.

Rogue Dead Guy Ale is a bit of a weird style (Maibock), but it's a very good introduction to good and drinkable ales.

If you could give us your rough location we could probably do a better job advising what regional beers would be good and a bit more available. Beer Advocate - Respect Beer. is an excellent resource if you're looking to branch out.

Hope you enjoy drinking beer, and good luck!

Dead Guy was what I was trying to think of for the "Ale" category but couldn't quite put my finger on it, but yeah, that nails it. I don't really consider Storm King all that hardcore, maybe an Old Rasputin or a Sierra Nevada would be a little more approachable. I definitely wouldn't recommend a Heineken-owned Murphy's.

Do you drink coffee? What is your "harder stuff" of choice? Vodka? Whiskey? Red wine?

Anyway, without knowing your tastes it's kind of hard to make one recommendation. Here are four, ordered from "I drink only vodka and white wine" to "I drink coffee, scotch, and red wine."

1) A good pilsner -- Pilsner Urquell is widely available
2) A good wheat beer (aka witbier, weissbier, weizen, hefeweizen) -- probably the best widely available example being Samuel Adams White Ale, this time of year at least
3) A good brown ale -- Newcastle or for something a bit "stronger" (tasting, not necessarily ABV) anything that's a "Nut Brown Ale"
4) A good English-style IPA (India Pale Ale) -- Dogfish Head 90 Minute is a great IPA without being overpoweringly hoppy or bitter but has limited availability. Sierra Nevada is an American Pale Ale that is more widely available but I would categorically not recommend this as an introduction to beer, too hoppy and bitter.

If I had to recommend one single beer without learning more I would say try a wheat beer, they are more flavorful than a pilsner but not overwhelming to novice beer drinkers. (Many women who don't drink beer will enjoy a witbier.)

Hefeweiss and Hoegaarde are essentially the same... the first means wheatbeer, the later being a branded wheat beer.

Buy large bottle of Heferweiss, stuff a thick slice of lemon into the top a la san Miguel et al, then tip into a long glass... then kick back in your conveniently placed comfortable chair and watch the pretty girls walk past in their summer dresses. Heaven!

Am I going to get snubbed for being a big fan of lagers?

Brooklyn Lager was one of my favorite, but it's gotten hugely overpriced in the past year. I also loved Hyland American Pale Ale, which is a microbrew out of Sturbridge MA. Unfortunately, the dope-smoking hippies there couldn't keep to a schedule and their distributors dumped them, so I can't get it any more.

Flying Dog Reviews (Bought a twelve pack, Four diff. beer types)

Classic Pale Ale: Unimaginative, boring, skip it.
Golden Ale: Chemical taste, enough said.
Snake Bite IPA: WOW, unbelieveably hoppy, powerful strong, delicious. Better than sierra nevada by a longshot in my opinion. Rivals Dogfish-Head IPAs.
Porter: Really quite pleasant, simple, enjoyable, versatile.

I love proper beer. A great site which is compiled by other lovers of beer:

The Oxford Bottled Beer Database

There are 000's of beers from all over the world, and this directory really can help track some brewers/stockists down where ever you are!

My round?

Thanks for the link, I just got myself a new favorite.

Got a six of Magic Hat's HIPA over the weekend.

Much like #9, it's quite drinkable without being particularly distinctive (i.e. good, not great). Not as sharp as a lot of the IPAs I like, which may contribute to my opinion of it.

Brother David's Double:
Anderson Valley Brewing Co. - Brother David's Abbey-style Ales

Fantastic Belgian-style ale, lots of complex flavors.

Picked up a few new good beers over the weekend.

First, the Goose Island Pere Jacques. A Belgian style Dubbel with lots of malt and not much hops. WOW, this beer is good. I don't have a "golden palate" but I detect notes of candied sugar and raisins. You can't tell that it's 9% ABV. I had the 2006 vintage, so I want to pick up a couple more 4-packs of this -- one to drink now and one to cellar. Really an instant favorite for me.

Second, the Sam Adams 2008 LongShot Grape Pale Ale. This is not like drinking grape Crush, the beer is made with green grapes, not red, and has more of a tartness to it than a sweetness. Not hopped as much as an IPA, not piney/citrusy APA hops, more like an English Pale Ale. It's different from what I expected, you taste the grapes first and the hops second rather than vice versa. Not bad, but I'm sure that it mostly won because it's "weird" for using grapes.

Third, the Sam Adams 2008 LongShot Weizenbock. I've never had a Weizenbock before so I didn't know what to expect from the style. To me this tastes something like a cross between a Duvel, a bock like Optimator, and a weissbier like Hacker Pschorr. We are definitely not obeying Reinheitsgebot with this beer, there are too many other flavors I think. You can taste the wheat there but it's not necessarily the main flavor note to me. You can taste the alcohol a little bit. Pretty good but my standards were raised a bit too much by the Pere Jacques.

I drank all of these out of the bottles so no notes on lacing/color/head retention, I'm not a big enough snob I guess.

Going to try the Flying Dog Mixed Pack I picked up later on...

OK, finally a thread i feel i can actually participate in since i have some measure of experience and/or extensive testing with beer.

If you are a fan of the Belgium style ales i strongly suggest Unibroe's line of excellent beers. The lighter fruitier ones are nice during the summer and also more appealing to those of the female gender that are not fans of some of the heavier beers.

La microbrasserie Unibroue, brasseur de bières de dégustation

Lately i've been getting a mix pack from Clipper City Brewing in Baltimore called 'Heavy Seas'. It comes with their 3 standards of an IPA, Pils and Porter, plus a seasonal fare. Minimum alcohol content is 7.25% up to 10% so they pack some punch and they taste great.

Heavy Seas | Clipper City Brewing Co. ~ Home of the HEAVY SEAS

As others have noted, Victory Brewing has some excellent selections. I'm a huge fan of Hop Devil and Storm King Stout. I normally buy one six-pack of each and alternate till i wake up naked on someone's front lawn.

As for macro beers, i'm not a fan. They lack quality, taste and a kick. Although i do love my Guinness. However i now only drink it by adding Vodka...wait...you must try it. It's called a 'Black Cossack'...or at least that is what i was told. What you do is you pour a shot of vodka into your pint and then fill it up with Guinness. I just now looked this up on the web and they claim you pour 1 or 2 shots and drink it quickly like a car bomb or some variant of that, however, this is incorrect to the way i was shown and enjoy. Try it, it adds a slight kick to the Guinness and tastes great.

My love of beer forces our raids to start on-time since they know on weekends i start drinking when i get home from work. As the main tank on one of my servers' it's imperative that we move quickly since i have no guarantees on my skill after 4 hours. They have tested this theory and it's been proven that after 4 hours my ability to hold aggro and pull effectively diminishes exponentially over that 4 hour threshold.

Everyone is talking about some really good beers...some are harder to find then others. I must say I am very lucky to live in New Hampshire. I live 15 min form some of the best beers anyone could ever ask for.
Let me post a few that are rigth down the street..

[b][Smuttynose Brewing Company/B]- Smuttynose Beers

The Portsmouth Brewery- Welcome to the Portsmouth Brewery

Tuckerman Brewing Company-http://www.tuckermanbrewing.com/

Redhook Ale Brewery- Redhook

These paces have won many awards for the Beer that they produce. The way I look at it...The darker the beer the better
the flavor. Drinking beer for the flavor is where its at, you want to get shit faced...drink that shit they call hard stuff.
Real Men drink Beer!
GFY to all and have a great day. Ohhh I forgot, Sam Adams Is awesome as well, Winter , and October fest rock !

Kona Brewing Co. has been making some really good stuff. They're LE Pipeline Porter is amazing if you can still get any.

The Trogenator double bock is pretty good also, if you can't find the nugget nectar.

Troegs Brewing Company

Just back from the beer store (finally found a good one). I picked up a 6 of the new Sierra ESB; pretty excited about it and hoping it lives up to the praise it's received here. Also got singles of:

Troegs Trogenator
Troegs Pale Ale
Left Hand Jackman APA
Lost Coast Indiga IPA
Buffalo Bills Blueberry Stout (mainly for the wife - it's not bad though!)
Victory Hop Devil (the ol' standby)
Avery Mephistopheles (also excited about this one)

Should make for an interesting night.

If you're willing to make the (relatively short from portsmouth) trip to Portland ME, you can visit probably my new favorite brewery: ALLAGASH - WELCOME. They're one of the best Monastic style breweries in the country. I had the Tripel one night this week and was absolutely floored.

As a slightly impaired note on one of the new Dogfish Rarities, Palo Santo Marron: Wow.

Very dark, 12%, brown ale. Definitely going back to see how much more I can snag of the very limited amount available.

Hey guys I have been glancing over this thread a bit. It's good to see some fellow beer enthusiasts.

If you can get your hands on any sprecher beer buy it up. I have had all of their premium reserve beers and they are all fantastic.

Sprecher Brewing Company

The only problem is that I can not convince any of the local liquor stores to carry it. I live in Iowa and we have some very odd import laws. I am heading out to a new store tomorrow "Beer Crazy" for another effort.

I drank this bad boy last Christmas. It doesn't taste that much different than The Beast, it's very 'caramelly'/malty, but the smokiness reinforces that it's a Stout.

I made the mistake of drinking this first and very quickly at that.

Take. Your. Time.

You're too late, he ambushed me last night. I have to admit I knew it was going to be something, but I didn't quite grasp what I was getting into.

Mephistopheles is the crafty shape shifter, the second fallen angel.

The Beer
Pours evil. Black sludge with a small worn-leather foamy head with little swirls of darker brown. Smells metallic and slightly alcohol-y. Pleasantly surprised with the extreme complexity of the taste. No less than 5 flavors throughout, starting with a good bit of alcohol (as with most Avery's) but only lasting for a moment - it quickly gives way to caramel and "ale" flavors towards the middle. The finish was all smoke and charcoal and espresso and was delicious and totally reaffirmed that this is, in fact, a stout you're drinking, in case you somehow forgot.

The Aftermath
Even drinking it slowly (you have to), I think I confused my system. I had only had one other beer last night, but seriously for the rest of the night it felt like I had polished off a six pack or more. It wasn't just the alcohol, it was...something else. All those flavors. I sailed through the night in a daze, completing the daily heroic at breakneck speed and continuing to learn "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."

The Verdict
Good beer if you like stouts (or even if you don't) and want to take a trip to someplace dark. I haven't had a DFH Worldwide in awhile, but I'm pretty sure that for the money (8 dollars a bottle) that would be a better choice. But then again you'd miss out on the cool name and label.

I agree with everything you mentioned. This beer is really one of those you pull out to share with 3+ people, use brandy snifters, champagne flutes or even shot glasses/shooters and take your time. I think the flavor is complex enough with enough sweetness in the middle to justify doing so.

It's 16% and relatively smooth because of it's next-to-nil carbonation. Dangerous combination for a beer.