I tell this story a lot to anyone who will listen. I chased a lot of beers over the years, but the one I chase the most is an American Lager. It's probably one of the stupidest beers to chase (as I have been told many times), but it really helped me to take my brewing to another level.
My wife challenged me with "I'll bet you can't brew a beer I like". When I asked her what beer that might be, she told me to brew a Michelob Golden Draft. It got me to brew lagers and that style is really can be tough. As they say, any flaws in the recipe, ingredients or process stands out like a sore thumb.
I started with American Lager yeast and found the best yeast for American Lager is Fermentis 34/70 dry yeast. The best adjunct I was able to find is Minute Rice. The best malt is Rahr Premium Pils and any low alpha acid German hop works really well in that style for bittering.
I started in 2014 and started winning medals on and off for the first couple years. As the beer progressed and I got closer to my wife's liking, it picked up bigger wins until 2021 when it won a silver in NHC. Then the next year (2022) I won another silver in the NHC. The process led me to brew German beers and those are now my favorites. I started out brewing brown ales and now I brew mostly lagers. I never thought it would go this direction. So next time someone challenges you to do something you never intended to do, at the very least, think about.
The bad part is I have to brew the beer and have it on tap more than I would like, but honestly it's one of my favorite beers.