The beer that got you into beer

Barnstormer said:

I too was a BMC drinker until I had a Newcastle. Then I found anchor steam. After those I never looked back. I don't really drink them any more but they were pushed me into it. Oh I also got turned on to Bearish Irish Stout. So much better than Guinness.

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It was Newcastle for me as well. I actually didn't like any beer before that.

Augsburger

mjdonnelly68 said:

Luckily I missed the debacle around New York state's drinking age. NYS raised the drinking age from 18 to 19 in 1982 and then from 19 to 21 in 1985 (when I was 17). My older sister was caught in the web though. She was legal at 19 for six months before they raised the legal age to 21. That's just mean...

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I never had a problem getting served in NYC from 17 - 20.5, then Giuliani started cracking down on the bars. Worst was when I was 3 hours from legal, and the bartender told me to come back at midnight.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Bret Grants Scottish Ale

Terrapin Hopsecutioner

Mine was DFH 90 min. Prior to that all I had was coors lite.

Fraoch. I need to brew a clone of this...

My gateway was Sam Adams and Fat Tire. But it was my work travels to Alaska that put the nail in the coffin. I'm still trying to tweak my recipe to clone Alaskan Amber. Glacier Brewhouse will forever be my favorite brew pub followed closely by Sleeping Lady. I still have dreams about Glacier's stout. In fact, my Glacier Brewhouse growler is my yeast starter vessel.

During family functions everyone used to drink MGD, but my dad would always have his Makers Mark. I always thought it tasted terrible, even when I was younger and just wanted to sneak a buzz. Ocassionally my dad would bring some good old Sam Adams. That was the first beer that I tasted and said, hey this is pretty good. I would say though that Chimay Red was the first beer that made me stop and think about beer as more than a good tasting form of alcohol.

Wow havent thought about it in a wile i was 21 I got a blue moon from the store and it blew my mind. After that what did it all in was seirra navada pale ale, sense theen drinking beer has been very tasty. And probably what started my beer collection that I love so much. Oh cant forget the tommy knockers bock and maple nut brown.

I drank on the low side (Coqui 900) to higher side of the realm (Sierra Pale Ale). It wasn't until I had DFH 90 min and Makana Meadery Honey Sun Mead that I realized I wanted to try to make stuff. Now, it's hard to seek any commercial beer as long as there's something on tap at my house.
Oddly enough, having kids has given me more time to spend brewing.

It used to be Old Style and little else until years ago (before Miller bought them out) I bought as 6 pack of Leinies Bock. It was an eye opener, beer didn't have to be yellow, and it could have flavor! It's been a long strange road since then.
Now when I look at beer in the store I have a hard time finding something that interests me. I usually think,"I could brew that , and do a better job". Not that I think I make that exceptional beer, but I really shouldn't have to explain it to you folks, Right?

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.

Mongrel said:

I never had a problem getting served in NYC from 17 - 20.5, then Giuliani started cracking down on the bars. Worst was when I was 3 hours from legal, and the bartender told me to come back at midnight.

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Missed it by THAT much...

Red Hook for me. Still one of my favorites.

captianoats said:

Red Hook for me. Still one of my favorites.

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Copperhook is amazing IMHO. I really like their ESB as well.

Boucanier Red was the first beer that seemed totally different from the ones I was drinking (usual mas market lagers).

Easy for me, Deshuttess Black Butte Porter. Even now if I could only take one beer onto a desert island, that would be it.

I think there are two defining moments in my life that got me into beer. The first was the day before I went to bootcamp for the Marines. I had an Arrogant Bastard that was a game changer. The second was after a long stretch in a foreign country where all they had was Miller Lite that made me crave something with flavor more.

Boston Lager.

Chimay. Picked some up at the state liquor store because it looked interesting and cost more than I figured beer should cost. Drinking it I realized just how big the world of beer actually was. This was an excellent beer and nothing like a BMC or local micro brewed pale ales.

Back in college at MTU: Keweenaw Brewing Company's Redjacket Amber. The beer that started it all. Today, I don't care for it anymore really, but I never forget.

Shiner Bock was the first beer I had that made me realize I liked beer.

It was a combination of beers including

Moose Drool
Petes Wicked
and finally Redhook ESB

There was also Grasshopper Ale in there somewhere which I remember liking enough to buy a case of stingers and drank them all in about 3 days

Sam adams chocolate bock on my 22nd birthday

Guinness Draught, Sam Adams Boston Lager, and Leine's Creamy Dark.

That's when I knew that Busch Light and Old Mil were just a tiny spec on the beer spectrum. It was also then that I realized that I should be making something better, not just buying it.

Guiness... then Blanche de Bruxelles... then McEwan's Scotch Ale! I started brewing to make a (CHEAP!) clone of the latter. Still haven't tried to make one, as i'm having way too much fun doing more different stuff.

But I'd say the one that made me a brewer forever is the Dieu Du Ciel "Chaman" IIPA. Completely shocked me. Then I bought another... then, I was completely addicted!

I used to drink lots of the usual Canadian beer: Moson Canadian, Rickards Red, Sleeman, Kokanee, etc. Then, one day a buddy and myself went down to a local bar to watch the hockey game. They had someting new on tap. Something that I've never heard of before. Rickards White (Blue Moon for you americans). Oh that sounds interesting, let's try that. It came in a nice big glass with a slice of orange on the side. I didn't think that belonged anywhere near a beer but I decided to give it a shot anyways. It was an eye-opening experience into what beer could taste like. It started a many year journey of trying anything new on the shelves of the liquor store that I've never tried before.

In grad school I had an affair with Guinness, because I was a grad student and was supposed to love Guinness and red wine and philosophy and all that good "smart" stuff. But after graduating, we went our separate ways.

Fast forward 10 years and I'm working in a German beer hall (because graduate degrees in music aren't even as useful as you might think, which probably isn't very) and my eyes locked on Hacker-Pschorr's Munich Dark. I knew I'd never be a one beer kind of girl again. I had picnics in the park with Reissdorf Kolsch, late nights with Monschoff Schwartzbeer, even a brief dalliance with a rauchbier whose name I fail to remember now. Then came the English, then the American craft beers, which is where I've settled down. What can I say? I'm easy for beer.

Growing up in N. Idaho in the 70's & 80's the most popular beer was BMC and some Canadians. I liked Labatts and occasionally a Molson - way better than the BMC crowd. Turning point for me was one night on a whim grabbed a 12 pack of Lowenbrau Dark - same price as Labatts. I was hooked!!

Good flavor, cool foil bottle (girls loved it) and at 18 me and my friends thought we were beer snobs. Friday and Saturday nights you would find me and my best friend Mark hitting up BMC keggers with our ever present Snickers bar and 12 pack of Lowenbrau Dark.

A friends homebrew is what turned me onto beer, all I knew before that about beer was BMC and I hated it; so share your homebrew, you might save a few people.

Going to college in Austin, Shiner Bock was my first non American Light Lager to get into. From there, I got into Fat Tire and then New Belgium's Ranger IPA. I've been a hop head ever since.

I actually didn't start out on BMC, but actually Newcastle. I think that was a pretty good start, actually. Then it was Heineken and a brief foray into light american lagers and then directly on to literally everything Sierra Nevada ever made, and the rest is history.

Meister Brau, $11 for a 30 pack, as a teenager it was a no brainer

Black Widow oatmeal stout

budweiser. Splitting and stacking firewood aged 6-11 in the early 80's. As far as hoppier beers go, Pete's Wicked and Sam Adams in the early 90's. Again in later 2000's finding bigger beers like Un*Earthly, DFH Indian Brown.

Rheingold

Growing up, my dad used to always drink Hamm's and Coors. Did wonders to turn me off of beer for a good long time.

Deschutes Cinder Cone Red (the old formulation, not the one they used the last time it was brewed). Supporting cast came from New Belgium Fat Tire and Widmer Bros. Drop Top Amber.

It's been a long, fun journey ever since!

Spotted cow was the first beer that I tried that made me think, wow beer can be tasty.

now I only think its ok