When I see someone drinking a “predictable” beer I often want to take them by the hand and show them that there is an alternative, that there are beers with flavor. (On my less magnanimous days, I think “Oh good, they’ve left me the good beer.”)

Shawn Connelly, the Beer Philosopher, has started a new series to do just that.

No, he’s not hogging all the good beer. He is guiding people who are just starting to find their way to “better” beer.

These articles are not intended to be meticulous in their technical accuracy, and they are not exhaustive. This is by design. For those who know beer well, it becomes apparent very quickly that a comprehensive examination of a topic like Beer Styles, for example, can quickly reach book-length proportions. I’m not writing such a book … those with a lot more beer brains that I have already done so. Instead, I have chosen to gloss over or omit information that may be otherwise relevant, but not essential to a basic understanding of the subject matter. So for some of you, these articles may be remedial, at best, but hopefully even seasoned beer aficionados will find something useful.

Beer Fundamentals: A New Series for the “Brewbie”