Joel wrote:

Say you want to give a brief beer tutorial to somebody
who is interested in beer but only knows whatever style
is most popular in your country/region (e.g., for the USA,
light lager). Assuming you have access to any beers you
like, and picking a semi-arbitrary number, what five beers
would you use to help demonstrate the range of styles and
flavors beer can have?
I have my own idea, but would be interested in seeing
what others have to say.

This almost sounds like naming BJCP commercial examples for given
styles. And there's the rub: there are so dang many styles, I'd
find it hard to do what you propose with just five. You'd do well
with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Guinness Stout, Victory Prima Pils,
Schneider Weisse, and Westmalle Dubbel, but you'd still wind up leaving
out so much. Tough call, hmm? You still have abbey triple, a whole
range of lambic-based beers, one-offs like Orval, German Bock and
Doppelbock, amber lagers, porter, and on and on...
--
dgs