Never liked beer until I worked for most of a year as a bartender at an Italian restaurant in downtown San Francisco and had the opportunity to taste some beers I never would have picked up otherwise: Birra Moretti and Pilsner Urquell were the ones I remember tasting for the first time. Stuck on Pete's Wicked Ale for a few years, then Newcastle for a few years, but still usually preferred a good wine or mixed drink.
Several things happened within the last couple of years to convince me to brew. One, I live close to some very good breweries: Anderson Valley, North Coast Brewery, Lost Coast. Two, I went to Prague last fall and drank real pilsner in a 400-year-old brewery - I normally like darker, maltier beers, but the experience was inspiring. Third, I now have a few friends who brew, though they don't live close by, and one let me taste his smoked porter at a conference - awesome. Fourth, even though I don't have a LHBS I was able to spend an hour at a HBS in San Francisco and another in Santa Rosa, CA recently, and left with both heart and wallet lighter. Fifth - I realized I wasn't getting any younger, and though I once had dreams of being a winemaker, I think I like making beer better! (Plus, my one wine experiment was terrible.)
Brewing a nut brown ale this weekend, and pondering an experiment for later in Sept.