What beer set you free?

If any of you are like me, you used to drink Bud, Miller Coors. I slowly transitioned into better beer, but I still drank the cheap stuff. So my question is, what beer really set you free and you've never looked back? What beer made you say, I will never drink the cheap stuff again?

As my name implies, I am a Dogfish fan. I was stationed in Delaware, pretty close to the brewery. One day I picked up a 4 pack of the 90 and drank all four. I was tanked and loving it. That was when I decided only the best for my liver!

What about you?

Fat Tire for me.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for me.

Working at a brew pub. I realized I liked that beer a lot more, now if I would have only cared about how it was being made back then. I still drink the cheap stuff though, but only when I go out to the bar on a mission..

There was no one beer. I drank Natty Light through college. "Graduated" to Bud, and then after getting sick of it moved on to a variety of beer. I actually always drank variety, but variety meant picking up a Coors 6 pack one night, then a MGD the next, then a Heineken etc etc. However, once I started testing the waters I probably drank Shiner Bock, Pete's Wicked Ale, and Fat Tire more than anything. Oh, and Schlafly's Pale Ale.

It was flying fish ESB for me. That was my gateway beer into SNPA then DFH. From there I found out that good beer did not have to be heavily hopped, or brewed on professional equipment.

Sodbuster Pale Ale from the River Market Brewing Co. First bartender job at the local brewpub in 1999. I still stop in about twice a week to consume that lovely beer and to share a few of my own. To the good ole RMBC! Saved me from a life of sh*tty beer and introduced me to the brewing process!

Victory Hopdevil

Depends. The logical step from the kegger-fare in college (Natty Light, typ) was to the more widespread macro-craft brews that were/are relatively popular and available at most grocery stores and even some convenience stores. Sam Adams, probably, with some intermittent SNPA in there. Got a bit of a sweet tooth for awhile and drank a bunch of newcastle. Then I had some stuff from Wychwood, I think it was the Hobbie, and that was more of a jump than anything before.

Guinness comma even back when it was illegal for me to drink. I could drink Guinness when I couldn't stand BMC.

I honestly think it was my first homebrew. I always used to drink either Sammy, or Heiney, or some Canadian Lager, or even (GASP!) Corona before I began to brew. I wasn't drinking cheap beer, but I wasn't really drinking GOOD beer (just stuff that cost a little more). I'd occassionally have something at the brew pub, but beer wasn't something that I really paid a lot of attention to until I started making it.

Guinness was my first love...Then I found Ommegang Rare Vos....It was all downhill from there. Found many beers that were so much better then those two. But Guinness and Rare Vos made think about what else must be out there.

SNPA.

My first west coast pale ale.

Ryanh1801 said:

Working at a brew pub. I realized I liked that beer a lot more, now if I would have only cared about how it was being made back then. I still drink the cheap stuff though, but only when I go out to the bar on a mission..

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that's what liquor is for

When I first started to drink (illegally) it was Corona and Smirnoff Ice (the only thing my cousins would buy). Then I began to like Corona more than most beers... then one night at a baseball game I had a pint of Blue Moon and suddenly I realized how bad Corona was and from that point forth I made it my goal to sample as many different brews as possible...

My favs: Sam Adams Octoberfest and Summer Ale, Blue Moon, Dogfish Head Shelter Ale, Independence Ale (no longer around), Guinness, New Castle, Victory... then to my favorite brew that completely opened my eyes and inspired me to brew:

Paulenor Salvator Dobble Bock

9/9 said:

Victory Hopdevil

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One of my personal favorites.

I was lucky...I never really had much of the BMC. Since I grew up in Chico, Sierra Nevada was about the same price when you consider alcohol content. Therefore most parties stocked the fridge or kegs with Pale Ale/Porter/Stout/Wheat. There were some people who would cheap out and buy kegs of swill, but I usually got someone to buy me a sixer of the good stuff. I suppose then you could say SN Pale Ale set me free, but I've never felt imprisoned by the BMC.

Now, in terms of wanting to brew my own beer and really getting into sampling...I'd have to say Kona Moon Porter from Six Rivers Brewery. I don't even care for porters that much, but this one opened my eyes and made me try new styles I'd previously written off.

When I was 18 or 19 my boss brought some Blacken VooDoo back from New Orleans for me. Ever since I have enjoyed all the craft brews and stayed away from BMC.

Guiness for about a year - then I discovered Bridgeport IPA. I will still drink BMC occasionally as situations come up - my friend keeps Coors on draft at his house and I will go to watch MMA, it's good friend politics to just grab a mug.

I dunno, early on it was Optimator and then Sam Adams (when their Lager was the only thing available and was decent at the time...it has changed). That was a long time ago. After that, I'd have to say Ommegang Abbey Ale.

I guess the irony is that I've NEVER liked BMC. The "cheapest" beer I ever drank more than one of was Killian's Irish Red, which was essentially my drink of choice for a few years.

It was actually a local brew pub, Barley and Hops, that got me turned on to better beers with their Tuscarora Red Ale. Looking back it wasn't all that good but it was good enough to get me interested in other beers. The cool part is that Bob, the owner of my LHBS is a "founding member" of Barley and Hops... I suppose it's all connected in some cosmically unfathomable way.

z987k said:

that's what liquor is for

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Around here they still charge about 6 bucks a drink for bar liquor. More then this poor college kid can afford.

i don't know if it was any one beer. i moved out to california and started trying all the hoppy west coast beers beers. Triple Rock was a good find...great local brewpub.

I was drinking Chimay for a long time when I lived in the city and didn't even know what belgian styles really were. Then i went on a Belgian beer kick for about a year.

Now I like a bit of everything. Not really into the hoppy stuff as much any more. Anchor Steam is still one of my favorites, though. yeah...i'm gonna go with Anchor

I always had Shiner Bock as my good beer, so I knew there was better than BMC out there. In college, I had so much variety available I could go weeks without buying the same 6 pack. Um, not that I drank that much in college :cross:

So I guess I never had that totally eye-opening experience- I just got old enough to buy it ....and afford it!

the_bird said:

I honestly think it was my first homebrew. I always used to drink either Sammy, or Heiney, or some Canadian Lager, or even (GASP!) Corona before I began to brew. I wasn't drinking cheap beer, but I wasn't really drinking GOOD beer (just stuff that cost a little more). I'd occassionally have something at the brew pub, but beer wasn't something that I really paid a lot of attention to until I started making it.

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Pretty much the same thing for me.

Dude said:

Fat Tire for me.

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This was our beer of choice in high school. That sort of ruined all of us for BMC.

Mine was Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale, I never even knew what hops tasted like until I tried one of these. I drank them for a few weeks, while they were available, then went back to BMC, and gagged. Never looked back since....

Ryanh1801 said:

Around here they still charge about 6 bucks a drink for bar liquor. More then this poor college kid can afford.

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ah, here it's $4+ for anything not bmc and $3 almost across the board for mixed drinks, if not less.

It was when I was in Germany for the first time at the tender age of 16 that I discovered beer. I got hooked on all the different Helles from Munich and then fell flat over when I had a Franziskaner Hefeweizen, then the Koenig Ludwig Dunkel.

In fact, i think i'll go have one right now...

Back in 1992-ish, the beers that changed my drinking life were New England Brewing Company's Atlantic Amber and Gold Stock Ale (not produced any more). They were also what made me want to start homebrewing.

I think I'm still pissing out all the BMC I drank in college.

Achor Liberty, SNPA, Chimay, and the bastard

the_bird said:

I honestly think it was my first homebrew. I always used to drink either Sammy, or Heiney, or some Canadian Lager, or even (GASP!) Corona before I began to brew. I wasn't drinking cheap beer, but I wasn't really drinking GOOD beer (just stuff that cost a little more). I'd occassionally have something at the brew pub, but beer wasn't something that I really paid a lot of attention to until I started making it.

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That's me almost exactly. I thought I was drinking good beer. I will forever be thankful for the Sam Adams Homebrew commercial which got me started.

It was this girl I dated for a while in 1988 that insisted on Saint Pauli Girl.

After we broke up I finished all the SPG that was left in the fridge. After that was gone I bought a sixer of Bud. I drank about half of one. I poured out the rest of the Bud sixer and never really looked back.

gennesse cream ale and miller high life... what? those set me free when i was knee high, and i still drink them...

aekdbbop said:

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+1 for Newcastle.

Pyramid Hefeweizen!I think it's crap now.

My first homebrew turned me on to the wonderful world of beers. It was a honey wheat, but the style had nothing to do with turning me on to beer. Through the process of brewing my first beer, I became so interested in brewing that trying new beers and styles became essential and delightful task.

Mine was really two different beers, first was a pale ale from a local brewery called schlafly that I had at a wedding. It was really fresh and I remember thinking man this is freaking delcious. Then I tried the bottled version and it wasnt the same so I bought a six of Flying Dog Pale Ale and really loved that hop flavor. It was all over from there.

i was back home for new years during college one year and on the way back from the beer store where i had "splurged" and bought bud, he shut my hand in the car door...and to say he was sorry, he gave me one of his Big Daddy Brown Ales from Mad Anthony's (local to Fort Wayne, IN). i was hooked, i just couldn't afford it often. so after college i started buying more and more micro's. i still miss not living around Mad Anthony's, if you're ever in Fort wayne, i would stop by. since then i've fallen in love with their Old Woody Pale and their IPA. but once in a while they'll have their Big Daddy on tap, and i'll have to get one!