What Is Craft Beer and How Do You Choose One to Drink?
Craft beer is beer made by a small, independent brewery that prioritizes traditional ingredients and flavor over mass production. If you're standing in a taproom menu and don't know where to start, the fastest way to choose is to work backward from flavors you already like: citrus and pine point to pale ales and IPAs, roasted coffee and chocolate point to stouts and porters, and light, crisp refreshment points to lagers, pilsners, or wheat beers. This guide explains what separates craft beer from mass-market beer, how to read a taproom menu, and how to pick and taste a style that fits you — using a real taproom like O'so Brewing Company in Plover, Wisconsin as a concrete example.
What Makes Beer "Craft"?
The term describes who makes the beer and how, not a single flavor. The widely used industry definition (from the Brewers Association) rests on three conditions:
- Small: annual production below a set ceiling (6 million barrels under the current definition).
- Independent: less than 25% owned by a non-craft beverage alcohol company.
- Traditional: the majority of volume comes from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients — malt, hops, yeast, water — rather than adjuncts used mainly to lighten the body.
Mass-market beer is typically brewed at enormous scale with a consistent, mild profile designed to be inoffensive and identical everywhere. Craft beer trades that uniformity for range: the same brewery may pour a hazy IPA, a barrel-aged stout, and a fruit sour in the same week.
O'so Brewing Company fits the craft model directly. It's a brewery and taproom in Plover, Wisconsin, serving Central Wisconsin since 2007, and it pairs its beer with pizza and events in a lively taproom setting. That combination — a production brewery with an on-site taproom — is one of the defining features of the modern craft scene.
Common Beer Styles and What They Taste Like
You don't need to memorize dozens of styles. Most taproom menus sort into a handful of families, and knowing the family tells you roughly what you're getting.
| Style family | Typical flavor | Bitterness | Good if you like… |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lager / Pilsner | Clean, crisp, bready | Low | Light beer, but with more flavor |
| Wheat / Hefeweizen | Soft, slightly fruity, sometimes banana/clove | Low | Easy drinking, cloudy beers |
| Pale Ale | Balanced malt with citrus or floral hops | Medium | A middle ground between light and hoppy |
| IPA (incl. hazy) | Pine, citrus, tropical fruit; hazy versions are softer | Medium–high | Bold hop flavor, grapefruit, mango |
| Amber / Red Ale | Toasty malt, caramel, mild hops | Medium | Slightly sweet, rounded beers |
| Porter / Stout | Roasted coffee, chocolate, sometimes cream | Low–medium | Dark coffee, dessert flavors |
| Sour / Wild | Tart, acidic, often fruity | Varies | Citrus, yogurt-like tang, wine |
| Belgian-style | Yeasty, spicy, fruity, sometimes strong | Low–medium | Complex, aromatic beers |
Two useful rules of thumb:
- Color is not bitterness. A black stout can be smooth and low-bitterness; a pale IPA can be aggressively bitter. Color comes from malt roasting, bitterness comes from hops.
- ABV changes the experience. A 4% session beer and a 9% imperial stout are different drinking occasions, not just different flavors.
How to Read a Taproom Menu and Pick a Style
Taproom menus usually list each beer with a style name, ABV (alcohol by volume), and sometimes IBU (International Bitterness Units). Here's how to use those fields:
- Start with the style name. That's the single most reliable signal of flavor.
- Check ABV. Under ~5% is a sessionable, have-several beer. Over ~8% is a sipping beer — treat it like wine.
- Use IBU as a rough bitterness gauge. Low (under ~20) is mild; high (60+) is assertively bitter. IBU is imperfect, especially for hazy and sour styles, so don't treat it as absolute.
- Ask for a taster or flight. Most taprooms, including brewery taprooms like O'so, let you order small pours so you can compare several styles side by side before committing to a full glass.
- Tell the bartender what you normally drink. "I like light lagers but want to try something hoppier" gets you a better recommendation than guessing.
If you're new, a practical first flight is: one lager or wheat, one pale ale, one IPA, and one dark beer. That covers the main flavor axes in four small pours.
Tasting, Serving Temperature, and Food Pairing
Serving temperature matters more than most people expect. Very cold temperatures mute aroma and flavor. Rough guide:
- Light lagers and pilsners: cold, around 38–45°F
- Pale ales, IPAs, wheat beers: 45–50°F
- Ambers, porters, stouts: 50–55°F
- Strong and barrel-aged beers: 55–60°F, closer to cellar temperature
How to taste:
- Pour into a glass — aroma is a huge part of flavor, and a can or bottle hides it.
- Look at the color and head.
- Smell before you sip; note the first thing that comes to mind (citrus, bread, coffee).
- Take a small sip and let it warm slightly in your mouth.
- Notice the finish — does it end bitter, sweet, dry, or clean?
Food pairing basics:
- Crisp lagers and pilsners cut through pizza, fried food, and salty snacks.
- IPAs pair well with spicy and grilled food; the bitterness balances heat and fat.
- Wheat beers suit salads, lighter fare, and citrus.
- Porters and stouts work with chocolate, coffee desserts, and roasted meats.
- Sours pair with sharp cheese, seafood, and fruit.
Since O'so serves pizza alongside its beer, a crisp lager or a balanced pale ale is a low-risk match for a shared pie, while a hoppy IPA will stand up to a spicy or heavily topped slice.
Visiting a Brewery Taproom for the First Time
A brewery taproom is different from a bar: you're drinking at the source, often steps from where the beer was made. A few things to expect and do:
- Check hours and events first. Taprooms often have limited or event-driven hours, so confirm before you go.
- Order a flight if you're undecided. Small pours let you sample broadly for roughly the cost of one or two full beers.
- Ask about the flagship and the seasonal. Staff usually steer you to what's freshest and most representative.
- Plan for food. Some taprooms have full kitchens, some host food trucks, and some allow outside food. O'so offers pizza and events, so food is part of the visit rather than an afterthought.
- Arrange a ride if you plan to sample broadly. Even small pours add up.
- Buy cans or growlers to take home if you find something you like — taproom-only releases are common.
If you're in Central Wisconsin, O'so Brewing Company in Plover is a straightforward example of the format: craft beer, pizza, and events in a lively taproom, operating since 2007. Use it the way you'd use any brewery taproom — go in with a style in mind, order a flight, and let the menu guide you from there.
Quick Decision Guide
- Want something easy and refreshing? Lager, pilsner, or wheat beer.
- Want hop flavor without extreme bitterness? Hazy IPA or pale ale.
- Want something dark and rich? Porter or stout.
- Want something tart and different? Sour or wild ale.
- Not sure at all? Order a flight and tell the bartender what you usually drink.