Lots of good advice above. You have to look at it just like getting into anything else. You can get advice which will eliminate going blindly into it but like food, you're going to have your personal favorites and individual tastes, just like cigars. Think back to when you had your first cigar and where you are now. I still go back to the very first cigar that I had, a fuente short story. You know what you like as far as mass produced beers and even at your local places, you'll find some extensions of larger microbreweries i.e. Boston Brewing Co (Samuel Adams), Sierra Nevada etc. yeah these may not be the current definition of a microbrew but they still put out something besides the basic "Bud" so to speak.
Just like Cigars, you have your HTF's and extremely HTF's and with less even distribution, some are harder to find depending on where you live. If I remember correctly, you're in MN right? I"m sure there is somewhere near you that has at least some craft brews, you just have to look. there may not be a "beer store" per say but a lot of liquor stores will carry at least the larger microbrews i.e. stone or near you 3 floyds.
Take it slow and just try as many as you can so you find a niche for you but regardless, like cigars, you're going to want to try every seasonal and htf, at least 1 lol.
When I was in college, there weren't any microbrews per say so we used to take our road trips on the weekends to go to Toronto and bring back the Molson Canadian in the brown bottles. Today, you have such a choice, I'd hate being a college student lol. I was introduced to microbrews in Chicago where Goose Island Brewery was a bus ride away and had a great burger! G1
