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Wheat beer
Belgian witbier
The gentlest first step away from lager. Witbier is a hazy, pale Belgian wheat beer spiced with coriander seed and dried Curaçao orange peel, so the first sip tastes of citrus and soft bread, often with a hint of honey or vanilla, rather than hops. Bitterness sits low and strength stays a sociable 4.5 to 5.5 percent.
The style died out in 1957 and came back in 1966 when Pierre Celis revived it at what became Hoegaarden, which is still the easiest bottle to find. Allagash White is the classic American version. Serve it cold, with or without the orange slice.
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Wheat beer
German hefeweizen
For anyone who thinks all beer tastes the same, this is the eye-opener: banana and clove, coming from the yeast rather than from any added fruit or spice. Malted wheat makes up at least half the grain, and high carbonation gives a fluffy, mousse-like texture and a dry finish, while bitterness stays low.
Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier and Schneider Weisse are the classic bottles. Pour slowly into a tall glass, then swirl the last inch in the bottle and add it, cloudy yeast and all.
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Kölsch (beer)
The one to try if lager is the only beer you have ever drunk. Kölsch looks almost identical, brilliantly clear and pale, but it is fermented as an ale, which adds a faint fruitiness and a delicate balance where no single flavor shouts. The bitterness is moderate rather than low, so this is a polished version of something familiar, not a radical change.
The name is protected for breweries in and around Cologne, where it arrives in a tall, narrow 20cl glass called a Stange. The small pour keeps it cold and lively to the last sip. Reissdorf, Früh and Gaffel are the names to look for.
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Shandy
Radler
Half beer, half lemon soda, and the easiest yes on this list for anyone who likes a cold lemonade. The citrus covers what lager haters usually object to, and the alcohol drops to roughly half that of the beer, so a radler made with a 6 percent festival beer lands near 3 percent.
The German name means cyclist, and a popular story credits a Bavarian innkeeper in 1922, though British pubs were already mixing beer and lemonade as shandy decades earlier. Austria's Stiegl makes the ready-made versions worth hunting down: the cloudy lemon Radler pictured, and a Grapefruit Radler that blends its lager with grapefruit soda, both at only about 2 to 2.5 percent depending on the market.
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Kriek lambic
Pour this for the friend who orders rosé and swears beer is bitter. Kriek is Belgian lambic blended with sour cherries, and bitterness barely registers: the style allows almost none. What arrives instead is red fruit, tartness and a sparkle closer to a fruit wine than a pint.
Choose the bottle by how much sourness you can take. Lindemans Kriek, at 3.5 percent, is balanced between sweet and sour and makes a gentle introduction. Traditional versions such as Boon Oude Kriek are dry and properly tart, a reward for the second round. Framboise, the raspberry version, works the same magic.
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Berliner Weisse
Napoleon's troops reportedly called it the Champagne of the North, and that is the right frame for a skeptic. Berliner weisse is a very pale, very fizzy wheat beer with a clean lemony sourness in place of hop bitterness, which is close to undetectable. At roughly 3 to 4 percent it suits an afternoon in the sun.
Order one in Berlin and you may be asked red or green: a shot of sweet raspberry syrup or grassy woodruff. American brewers often add fruit instead, which turns it into something like a tart soda for grown-ups. For the straight version, Berliner Berg and Bayerischer Bahnhof make classic examples.
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Gose
A beer for margarita people. Gose is a tart German wheat beer brewed with a little salt and coriander seed, so it tastes bright, lemony and faintly savory, with no hop flavor at all. The salt should read like a pinch of sea salt on the rim, never like brine.
It began in the Middle Ages in Goslar, on the Gose River, and later became Leipzig's beer, where Bayerischer Bahnhof still brews a classic Leipziger Gose. American brewers have embraced it, often with fruit added; Anderson Valley and Westbrook both make well-regarded versions, and the canned ones are some of the most refreshing beers to bring to a barbecue.
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Flanders red ale
The red wine drinker's beer. Flanders red ale is aged in oak until it turns sour and fruity, and the result is often compared to a high-acid Burgundy: cherry, plum and a tang that keeps you sipping slowly. Bitterness stays low because acidity, not hops, does the balancing.
Rodenbach, the West Flanders brewery founded in 1821, defines the style. Its standard Classic blends in plenty of young beer and is the gentler entry, while Grand Cru is two-thirds long-aged beer and noticeably sharper. Duchesse de Bourgogne is sweeter and softer, which makes it a safe first bottle for someone nervous about sour flavors. Serve it in a wine glass and watch the skepticism fade.
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Stout
Milk stout
Dark beer scares a lot of skeptics, and milk stout is the cure. The name comes from lactose, the milk sugar, which the yeast leaves unfermented, so it stays behind as sweetness and a fuller body. The flavor is coffee and chocolate with cream stirred in, more like a sweetened espresso than the bitter, heavy pint people expect from anything black.
It is not especially strong either, usually 4 to 6 percent. Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro, with its cascade of tiny bubbles and pillowy head, is the bottle to start with. Lactose means it is not one for anyone avoiding dairy.
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Dubbel
For the person whose objection is that beer tastes thin and fizzy. Belgian dubbel is deep reddish-copper, rich with malt, and full of dark and dried fruit: think raisin, plum and caramel, with only gentle bitterness and a fairly dry finish that keeps it from cloying.
The style grew from the strong brown beer of the Trappist abbey at Westmalle, whose Dubbel celebrated 100 years in 2026, though accounts differ on exactly when the recipe took shape. Westmalle Dubbel, Chimay Red and St. Bernardus Pater 6 are the classic bottles. It runs 6 to 7.6 percent, stronger than a lager, so treat it like a glass of wine with dinner rather than something to drink by the pint.
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