Breakout Beer

What was your 'Breakout Beer'? What was the beer that someone turned you on to? Or that beer that you saw @ the store one day while you were feeling adventurous and picked up that made you say, 'Wow! Beer DOES taste good!!'? What was your 'Gateway' to the Craft and Art that we love so dearly?????????

Long legs means more room for beer!

Picture it, the year is 1999, a young college kid is drinking underage at a bar in Blacksburg, VA. He orders a locally made New River Pale Ale. Yum. A trip to the local beer store, The Vintage Cellar, in search of more NRPA introduced him to craft beer and his wallet's never been the same.

Don't forget to tell us your story!

Freshman year of college in 2001. After a term of BMC I was introduced to Mirror Pond. The rest is history.

It was this year at the age of 33 I tried a "Hefe" cause a friend said I should try a Blue Moon and the waitress said it was the same thing...WRONG! Anyway tasted the Hefe and said wow beer can taste good?! I then got into brewing and have tried dozens of beer styles since. But the fact remains commercial beer is still sh*t and I can't stand IPA's. My friends can't understand how in 5 months I go from hating beer to a beer nut. They try my beer and love it but are to lazy to get into it themselves. They'd rather go to a store and pick up a case of redneck water and "get hammered". You can lead a horse to good beer but.....!

My first taste of beer was on a trip to Germany. I can't remember if I was 20 or 21. It was some kind of weissbier and I wish I could remember what it was. Our host wasn't really a beer drinker but knew we'd be there and thought we ought to have some German beer. After that, we had rauchbier at a restaurant. Loved it all!

Absolutely hated beer (I was used to the crap my friends had BMC) and at the ripe age of 26 I think my first was "gateway" craft beer was a UFO Raspberry Hefeweizen (or some sort of Raspberry blonde) at this place in Boston (brothers are both beer nuts; his last night out before getting hitched) that sells just about any beer you can imagine (can't remember the name). Grew from there I suppose...

I actually started with a beer called Downtown Brown, a really nice American Brown Ale made a brewpub in the town I used to live in. From there I realized that the majority of beers my friends were drinking just didn't have much flavor going on with them. I went crazy from there, and I'd say things REALLY started for me the first time I had a Kwak, and fell in love with Belgian beers.

About a year or so ago Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale.... Not one of my favorites now, but it for sure oppened my eyes the the world of craft beer!

I had started drinking BMC in high school (didn't really like getting drunk all that much though, just did it because everyone else was), kept on through college, until one summer after sophomore year I was visiting family friends in California where I was introduced to SNPA and Stone's smoked porter. Haven't really looked back since. Now it's senior year and I'm brewing my own. I guess you could say I have a little bit of a beer affliction.

For me it was drinking Longtrails my older brother would buy for me. That was back when craft beer cost less than $6 a six pack.

First beer I had once I turned 18... Let me think for a second.
A few months before as I was 17 I had had two 3.5% pilseners (you can buy 3.5% at the grocery store at 18 but nothing stronger than that here, the party people were lazy, you also need 20 to buy from the alcohol monopoly, which has the strong stuff)

After that, I'm not wholly sure. I think I bought a few 3.5% to try for myself, just to get an idea. I realized that I probably preferred ale, but I was undecided. What came after that... I believe it was a dark Czech lager, Bernard, at a Czech restaurant. Either that, or a Kilkenny at a pub (I later switched to Guinness for my simple pub beer). Anyway, what really got me interested was the Czech lager. But then I discovered the great "Beer corner" of my nearest town (Göteborg/Gothenburg), where there's several pubs every block. One of them was "Haket" ("The joint"), which was a pub specializing in having hundreds of beer sorts. And well, that's where I ended up.

Probably one of my dads home brews when I was about 15... Ever since then my love for the art of brewing has grown dramatically and I'v almost got my chem degree so I can finally go to brewmaster school and pursue my passion

My breakout beer was back in 2004..I was in Gainesville, FL visiting my younger bro in college..we were walking through downtown and we stumbled across a small, dingy pub by the name of Stubie..we walked inside, sat down, and took a look at their menu..over 250 beers..i never knew that many beers even existed!!!..I ordered delirium tremens first, then DFH world wide stout, then Xingu and the rest is craft beer history..

My breakout beer was Olympia Dark in 1974. Much better than all yellow beers up to that point.

NRS

The Army sent me to Germany in 1995, can't remember what beer I was drinking but it was amazing! Did 8 years there, then lived a couple more on my own after the Army. Once I came back here BMC beers just didn't cut in anymore, luckily the craft beer industry was booming by then and I've never looked back.

Family owns a restaurant with a beer license. Home working over the summers during college I used to down a Sam Adams or a new beer from an upstart brewery, Troegs Pale Ale. Moved back home after graduating and bought a Troegs variety case on the whim during college football bowl season. Cracked a Troegs Hopback Amber Ale.......and the rest is history.

Erdinger, although now a days I lean very far toward IPA, and dark beers instead.

Went to a couple Phish shows after my senior year of HS. Had Samuel Smith's Taddy Porters and Oatmeal Stouts in the parking lots, and that was that. I really only drank darker brews (or Belgians) until a couple years ago I had my first IPA that I enjoyed at a local micro (Jackie O's Mystic Mama anyone?). Up to that point I thought all IPA hops tasted the same, probably because of the prominence of cascades.

THis summer, went to the Alchemist (been there a few times before) and then toured a brewery in VT. Said to myself "I can do this", so when I got home, I did. First two batches turned out "okay", but 3,4,5,and 6 are a step up from just boiling cans of goo so they shoudl be much better. Batches 7 and 8 will be epic.

Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen on a crisp fall day about ten years ago. Up till then I only drank fermented grapes. I still pick up a 12 pack or two every year about this time for old time's sake.

Samuel Smiths nut brown ale! It was 1994 and I was at a bonfire party with a bunch of hippies. Wasn't old enough to buy beer, so I rolled a few logs to burn at the fire. I pulled one of those out and some bearded dude handed me a nut brown ale and sat down. Ahh, memories...

i was 19-20 working at a liqour store this was 9 years ago. and my manager gave a 6pk of something new we got in the store. i cant recall the name of it we only got a few 6 pk's of it and it didnt move to well but it was good. im by no means a full time beer snob but i like good beers and i can still throw back an 18 of bud light haha

It was either Bass, Newcastle, or Guinness. Who knows which was first, but these three were standard fare for me. In college I didn't like beer and only drank mixed drinks (gin & tonic for a while, whiskey drinks for most of college).

I had to work my way up to drinking things like Coors Light, which I only really began appreciating in the last few years.

For me it was Pete's Wicked Ale around 1991 or 1992.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale when I was 21, I was sitting at Patsy's Irish Pub (Laguna Niguel, CA) and saw a pitcher being brought out to the table next to us. I noticied how the color wasn't piss yellow like the pitcher of Bud tht was in front of me, so I ordered one up and loved it.

I was 17 and in Salida, CO. My uncle took the family to the downtown park there, and they were having a microbrew rendevous. Mom slipped off her wrist band handed it to me, and told me it was a one time pass. She screwed up cause I was hooked on beer after that. There I tried Odell Cutthroat Porter, and really spoke to me. I didn't start drinking a lot of craft until college, and reintroduction to Odell sealed the deal.

malweth said:

(gin & tonic for a while).

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When I was in the US this summer, I was seriously fascinated with the prevalence of gin & tonic. It happens on OCCASION that someone orders it over here, but it's usually met with laughter and "Got malaria, or what?".

My first "real" beer was a Summit Extra Pale Ale (from Mn.). At first, I didn't like it. Too piney, too citrusey, etc ... But strangely, I craved it later on. It was my first taste of a hop-forward beer and I was hooked ever since.

I started drinking good beer with good friends back in my high school days. We usually drank things like Guinness, Sam Smiths Oatmeal stout, Taddy Porter, Youngs double chocolate, Sam Adams Cream Stout, etc.

ayoungrad said:

For me it was Pete's Wicked Ale around 1991 or 1992.

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Pete's did it for me too. Had one recently and it was watery.

Back in high school a friend brought over a 6 pack of either St. Pauli Girl Dark or perhaps a Becks dark. Still like Becks Dark on occasion but not so much the Pauli Girl. I did work at a German Restaurant when I was way young that had a nice selction of Weiss' in the bottle. We had beer tastings and I tried a few. Mostly bought standard Leine's in the case after highschool. I wish I would have saved the bottles because now they are all in screw caps. And I don't drink anything with a screw cap anymore.

Now... well.. I have more than enough homebrew to keep me entertained.

Four years ago I had my breakout beer. It was a Blue Point Hoptical Illusion. Still one of my favorites! I'd had a few micros and craft beers before that but nothing else had that WOW factor that came with a great hoppy beer!

Uncommon Stout at Bent River Brewery, here in Moline.

La Fin Du Monde. Blindly ordered it from a bar when I was 21, and it was all over after that. I didn't know beer could taste like that. I think I'm still chasing a beer as good as that was the first time.....green dragon.

NochEineMassBitte said:

Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen on a crisp fall day about ten years ago. Up till then I only drank fermented grapes. I still pick up a 12 pack or two every year about this time for old time's sake.

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I got a case of that last year on a whim. Great beer. Haven't tried too many Oktoberfests, but most of them are from domestic brewers.

Not sure what my first non macro-lager beer was, but it was likely an import. I do have a couple of good memories though. My sister brought me back a sampler of beers when she visited Europe years ago. I think most were Belgian, pretty sure Duvel and Maredsous were in the mix, but don't remember all of them. Opened my eyes up to how good Belgian beers can be.

Along the same lines, another memory was going to a friend's bachelor party with a 750 of Chimay Red. I offered to share with the other guys there and nobody seemed interested, so I drank the whole thing myself.

Regarding domestics though, I can without shame say I'm one of those people for whom New Belgium Fat Tire served as a gateway beer. Also drinking a Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA at a local eatery a few years ago was pretty revelatory.

for me it was at the end of the coors brewery tour and they empty you out at the tasting room ( and gift shop after 3 or 4 beers ) and we had the blue moon, wow there is beer other than the silver bullet!!

when i was 20 I got my hands on some SN Pale Ale. I'd been drinking guinness for a few years before that, which was damn good, but it wasn't until SN that i realized the magic of hops

Guinness. I was 17. That was some 11 years ago, 6 of those I've been a home brewer, and I still respect the beer a great deal to this day. I enjoy it more often than I do craft brew attempts at the dry stout style. I can drink Guinness all night long (and would if I had the means) and it doesn't throw me on the ground. I've never been to Ireland, save my blood. Guinness is one of the few beers that I enjoyed as much when I started drinking as I do not that I'm a "professional" of sorts....

joelmole said:

Along the same lines, another memory was going to a friend's bachelor party with a 750 of Chimay Red. I offered to share with the other guys there and nobody seemed interested, so I drank the whole thing myself.

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There are far worse things than having a 750 of Chimay Red all to yourself!

9 years old. Budweiser that I brought to my Grandfather and Great Uncle.