What Beer Was Your Point of No Return?

Never really liked BMC, but didn't know any better for a few years. I think Chimay's Grand Reserve was my first "Holy S*#&!" moment.

Mine was Lagunitas New Dogtown Pale Ale. This was after I had already started brewing. Before that my mission was to make some decent beer cheap. That's gone out of the window. Every since I've been chasing that high you get when you taste something that is the best thing you've ever consumed. The first deep inhale of aroma and taste is always the best with any new beer. Then I move on in search of the next one.

jborho said:

I fell in love with IPA's. Ofallon, Rogue, Sam Adams, any IPA......

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O'fallon 5 Day IPA is awesome. Are you in STL?

While Blue Moon and Honey Brown were my first craft style brews, I remember just trying to figure out what I liked. Friar Tuck had all kinds of beers that you could build a 6 pack of, so I first realized that I liked "ales" haha, then pale and india pale ales, and then brown ales. I really fell in love with Moose Drool, Shipyard Prelude, Hazed & Infused and Fat Tire. Shortly after, I got by beer brewing kit, and my first all grain beer was an attempt to combine the grain bill of a fat tire and hop bill of the hazed. That batch was kegged and drank within a week of being force carbed. It was really green, but delicious!

The beer that opened my eyes to a wider world of beer was Warsteiner Dunkel. I swore off BMC though after watching the documentary "Beer Wars" a few years ago.

Homebrew!! Seriously, I had some miller lite when I started brewing and after a few batches and tasting some other commercial good beers I haven't been able to buy another one since.

First beer that I can remember drinking and thinking 'Oh my god this is DELICIOUS' was my first Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. Still love it. The first beer that made me realize the beauty of the complexity of malts, hops and yeast was my first Trappist Rochefort 8.

I not think I could narrow it down to one. Guinness was probably the gateway to beer with more flavor. But, the point of no return was probably various brews by Flying Dog, Starr Hill, and another more local brewery. This is really the first time I'd ever thought about it, but it appears that local beer got me hooked.

I still drink Budweiser on occasion lol. I'm slightly ashamed to drink it, but I like it. Maybe if I had the equipment for my own largering I'd think differently.

Anyway, first beer I thought 'holy crap, why did I ever drink cheap sh*t'? Ommegang 3 Philosophers? Not too keen on it anymore, but it opened my eyes.

DFH 60min is responsible for my hop addiction though.

ChillWill said:

Anyway, first beer I thought 'holy crap, why did I ever drink cheap sh*t'? Ommegang 3 Philosophers? Not too keen on it anymore, but it opened my eyes.

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This is really cool actually. I wonder if there's not some beer gene in us. Because how many times have you heard your BMC sticklers taste a craft or homebrew beer and say it tastes bad and stick with their favorite tipple. Yet you tried something, and though you didn't like it, continued to explore the world of beer. I'm not bashing the standard person who is wedded to BMC, it's just that there is something about us love trying more and more beers, whether we end up liking them or not.

Revvy said:

This is really cool actually. I wonder if there's not some beer gene in us. Because how many times have you heard your BMC sticklers taste a craft or homebrew beer and say it tastes bad and stick with their favorite tipple. Yet you tried something, and though you didn't like it, continued to explore the world of beer. I'm not bashing the standard person who is wedded to BMC, it's just that there is something about us love trying more and more beers, whether we end up liking them or not.

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I'm willing to bet that an open mind to new things isn't strictly beer related.

I love trying new things, be it food, beer, cigars, etc. I'm not satisfied by repeating the same product ad nauseum.

Variety is the spice of life.

o4_srt said:

I'm willing to bet that an open mind to new things isn't strictly beer related.

I love trying new things, be it food, beer, cigars, etc. I'm not satisfied by repeating the same product ad nauseum.

Variety is the spice of life.

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I agree totally. Most of us on here are also foodies, a lot of us are serious home cooks too.

It took me a long time to think back that far and remember what brought me out into the light. I remember stealing a keg of SNPA from a party once in high school ( I know what a *********) and hating it. It just reveals how stupid teenagers are.

I think the first beer that really stands out to me as WOW was Old Rasputin from North Coast. My only experience with stouts at that point was Guiness and the Ol Raspy blew my mind. Its still one of my absolute favs.

Russian River Concescration.....10%, aged in pinot noir barrels and soured. Its amazingly complex and dellicious

unionrdr said:

Well,let's see...that's going back a few decades! I cut teeth on my grandma's keg charred sour mash,learned fishin,huntin,& auto repair startin at age seven. Somewhere around 8-9 dad started teachin me pit bbq. But the ones that got me goin were P.O.C. from Cleveland,Carling Black Label,& Duquesne. These just had really good beer flavor that's sorely lacking nowadays. But,as a young man,I loved little killers (small bottles of cream ale called little kings).

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Bet you'd kill for those little cream ale bottles nowadays, eh? I'd love some for barleywines.

Speaking of, these are some awesome 1970's era carling pints that I picked up years ago for like 5 or 10 bucks for all three cases. The one in front is a newer pint I threw in to replace one that broke, but you can see the line marks on them. They have a lot of character going for them.

Revvy said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUd6lYNc_EE&feature=related

Bet you'd kill for those little cream ale bottles nowadays, eh? I'd love some for barleywines.

Speaking of, these are some awesome 1970's era carling pints that I picked up years ago for like 5 or 10 bucks for all three cases. The one in front is a newer pint I threw in to replace one that broke, but you can see the line marks on them. They have a lot of character going for them.

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I wish I was making beer back then instead of wine,I'd have saved them. That would be nice indeed for barleywine,or some other rich beer. & get some cool 8oz glasses to serve'em with. Maybe I should start a new quest...Johnny Quest goes south central!lolz. But that thing about 1970's era stuff only shows up on the reply screen?
*PS-wow,that's weird. I post it,& womp! de it is...

first beer that made me never want to drink BMC again was flying fish farmhouse.

Side note, flying fish does not get enough love on this forum. They make some great stuff

My point of no return was Saranac Pale Ale. Tried it at 16 years old in high school, loved it, and sought out good beers ever since. Never looked back. Definitely had to drink some BMC in college at frat parties, but I tried to limit it to only those crappy swill-fests.

1997 I tried my first Oregon IPA (rest his soul) and it all went downhill from there. Before that, the best beer I'd had was a Boston Lager, my uncle told me it was the best beer out there, I agreed, being only a teenager. But everything changed that night in '97 when I discovered that delicious hoppy Oregon IPA

Revvy said:

Speaking of, these are some awesome 1970's era carling pints that I picked up years ago for like 5 or 10 bucks for all three cases. The one in front is a newer pint I threw in to replace one that broke, but you can see the line marks on them. They have a lot of character going for them.

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Wonder how that compares to the Carling that we have now in the UK, I assume it's the same brand as I'm sure until a few years ago it was referred to as black label. It's pretty awful stuff though... in comparison, Budweiser is sold as a premium drink.

Pilsner Urquell--On tap in Prauge. Never cared for Bud Light, but did like Coors regular. The Czech Republic and Germany made me a craft beer drinker and a home brewer. Sadly, the green bottle imported Urguell is far inferior to the draft sold in Europe.

Mine was Harp. After that living in Ohio Great Lakes Brewery took me for a ride into the world of great beer! I never really liked BMC they always tasted metallic to me....

Pike's Kilt Lifter. After that I started thinking about beer differently.

I never drank a large amount of BMC brews to begin with. But my point of no return was Warsteiner Dunkel. It's not something I drink anymore, but the 'W' was pronounced with a hard 'V' sound. And it was metal!

Pete's Wicked Ale, before they dumbed down the recipe.

eljefe said:

For me it was La Fin Du Monde. The taste, alcohol burn, uniqueness all contributed to my never going back to a BMC beer. Granted I had imports and micro's before, LFDM opened my eyes.

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thethirsty1 said:

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale still one of my favorites

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Gotta agree with that. Just had SN's Pale Ale for the first time a couple of months ago and it was heavenly. I made a clone of it and the first bottle after only one week of conditioning was awesome.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

1997 I tried my first Oregon IPA (rest his soul) and it all went downhill from there. Before that, the best beer I'd had was a Boston Lager, my uncle told me it was the best beer out there, I agreed, being only a teenager. But everything changed that night in '97 when I discovered that delicious hoppy Oregon IPA

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That's great. The Oregon IPA was right there with Saranac for me. They both converted me forever. Whatever happened to that brewery? I take it from your post that the owner passed away??

Danbreeze said:

Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale. Loved the combination of floral hops and the caramel notes.

I have been a hophead ever since. :rockin:

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Same here, I think it was in 1996. Never looked back.

It would have been Guinness or Newcastle from the tap.

schnieder and sohn aventinus

My parents took my on a trip through Europe that was WWII themed for my high school graduation gift. Thus, I was also exposed to all sorts of European beers (belgian and german). One day we took a tram up to the top of a mountain in Austria and drank Erdinger. The bartender gave me two lovely glasses to take home. I came back loving hefeweizen!

Thinking way back it was Gordon Biersch's Marzen, I used to love that beer. Haven't had it in a while though, may be time to pick up a 6'er.