For distant things, I wouldn't bother with manual focus too much, unless you want to learn the old-school way.
Maybe somewhere hidden in the menus is something that lets you persuade the camera to autofocus with the centre autofocus point only. Aim that centre point at what you want at maximum sharpness, see where the autofocus leads you and then tweak around that point manually.
When happy, lock the focus by pressing shutter button a bit or press AFL, then recompose and make photo.
Should give you some feel for the manual focussing, I think, but YMMV. I learned using an old camera with focussing aids ground into the matte glass focussing screen. It's different.
Also, keep a close look at the aperture you are using, don't let the camera determine depth of field, should be a choice, not a coincidence.
More beer is in order now.
Yeah, I've been trying some of those things. I definitely need to see if I can change to the single-point focus and was planning on trying that on my next time out.
And...are you saying that I need to take some pictures of beer? Because I can do that!
Go for it, I say, but I was referring to a trip to my freezer.
Single-point is now activated. We'll see how it goes!
Best of luck. Don't worry, there will be a time when you stop fighting the camera and just take photos.