ALCOHOL ADVICE

Assuming you guys are American, the legal drinking age in Australia is 18. I turned 18 a few months back and want to try alcohol for the first time. My slightly older mates have been doing it for a while and i want to know what its like. In spain/ uruguay/ argentina, we sometimes mix things like coke/other sodas with red wine and so it tried it and it actually tastes really good. It was my first experience and I did this out of curiosity and it was the only way for me to make wine drinkable. I’ve taken a sip of whisky and although it might of been a shitty one, it smelt and tasted like shit. the smell was alot like cleaning products idkw. I want to try beer but dont know where to start or how to get over the alcohol part. The popular beers here are carlton drought ( which is from melbourne and i like the smell ), victorian bitter, great northern, cascade, corona, Heineken, XXXX, Uberbrau, Stella, etc. Yes i am responsible and understand the science behind drinking. im just doing to for fun.