When I sit down to drink a beer, I want something different. Something new. Something I've not tasted before. I get far too bored too easily drinking the same thing more than a few times, so for me, a beer has to be original.
It's also got to taste absolutely amazing. Far too frequently (according to my bank manager) I'm disappointed by the lack of flavour in a beer, and I chuck it down the sink. I don't buy beer to get drunk, I buy it to enjoy drinking it. So a beer has to be mighty tasty.
It doesn't matter what style of beer it is. I love all variations I've come across, be they lager, pale ales, golden ales, IPAs, porters, stouts, wheat beers, fruit beers, lambics...whatever...I really don't care all that much, as long as it is good quality, and tastes nice.
I'm not snobby about what beer I drink either, so the price and the brewery doesn't matter, it's the beer in my glass at that moment in time that matters. I've had some incredibly tasty beers that have cost next to nothing, and I've dropped my jaw to the floor over beers that cost as much as £40 a bottle. I've enjoyed some big brand beers in the past, and I've loved tiny little niche producers too. It really doesn't matter to me.
If the beer tastes amazing, I'm in.
How about you? What do you look for in a beer? Do you prefer the comfort of a familiar well-known beer, or like me, try to seek out something new every time?
