Rogue Golden Ale- A transition beer, perhaps?

Miller Light tastes like shit. Yuengling is tolerable. I don't care to comment on Coors or Bud. During a brewery tour, Ed Stoudt claimed that there's "no such thing as a BAD beer" because beer, in and of itself, is a great beverage. While I may disagree with the "no bad beer" sentiment, I get where he's coming from....

What's reassuring is that more and more people are making the cross over from mass produced poor quality beer to more thoughtful and delicious beers. There's hope for everyone.

But the issue with "crossing over" (that's what I'm calling it) is that the taste-buds of the mass production beer consumer are royally fucked. Consider they're used to drinking a watered down beer that's cut with cheaper products (corn) to yield more beverage. If you give a craft beer virgin a beer with too many hops, they'll go into shock. If you give them something too malty, the virgin will spend an hour trying to choke it down.

I've seen it happen, this is how I know.

I thought that I found the perfect "transition beer" when I sipped on the Rogue Golden Ale. Not strong in aroma or in taste really. *maybe* a little floral on the tongue, but really, it just taste like... a beer. In theory, you could give this Golden Ale to someone that is not yet accustomed to the complex flavors of pale ales, stouts, IPA's, seasonal brews, or Belgians and they'd drink it without a struggle. I opened this beer while playing poker with a group of friends that prefer Miller to any other beer available. I was happy to force one of them to taste my beer...

Ironically, my only experiment failed when my Miller Light drinking friend tasted the Rogue Golden Ale and said, "It's not hoppy enough." More research needs to be done to reach a conclusion. In the meantime, I still recommend this beer to craft brew virgins and beer drinkers looking to broaden their horizons.