What beer set you free?

It would either be Fat Tire or Newcastle.

Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout

It was the locally brewed "Sprecher Amber" for me....these days, I'm drinking SNPA and SN ESB. Plus home brews.

Ryan_PA said:

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.

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It was Flying Fish for me too! I went home after college and started drinking Flying Fish ESB and Pale Ale and there was no going back.

For me it wasnt so much a beer as a bar, there was a bar in OKC called Tapwerks (the original one on western for the OK people) where i learned what good beer was. Once i started going to this bar i found over 100 beers either on tap or in the bottle that really made me thing "hmmm there is better beer out there" then it was all up hill from there.

SD

Hoegaarden.

ohiobrewtus said:

Hoegaarden.

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more like ho bag...

bllllaaaahhhh:cross:

First it was the Guniess.

Then a few of the seasonal brews From Schell's Especially the Firebrick. To think I lived 11 miles away from the brewery and drank Bud Light. Then I moved to the opposite side of the planet and discovered how fantastic the local brew was... and I can't get it here

Lost Coast's- Great White Beer

There is a place in North Woodstock NH called "The Woodstock Inn".
My parents use to bring us there after a day of skiing. It is Ski town NH to me.
Quiet, small, very nice place to visit.

I must have been 16 years old when my Dad after all the years he finally let me try a great and wonderful brew called "Loon Golden Ale". I was hooked. I said to him how can people drink Bud Light when beers like this are made??!!

He told me to calm down and wait till I was 21 to try the rest of the brews made at the Woodstock Inn. Well I am now almost 27 years old, The Woodstock Inn bottles the beer now and everytime im in NH I usually buy 5-6 cases to bring home. I love the beer that much!!!

Thats how I got brought into good beer, from a great brewpub in NH.
If you are ever in NH try out the Woodstock Inn.

My first decent beer was at a HOPs restraunt. The one near my house had a pale ale and it was awesome.

I wasn't a beer drinker of any kind before I tried a Black Butte Porter.

Heh, I think mine was Heineken (no laughs please) to get me out of the really crappy stuff. It was a short lived gateway until I realized that the world was far more interesting.

Flying Dog Road Dog Porter got me started in college. I would drink 1-2 of those then as funds allowed then switch to the $2 32oz Icehouses for functionality.
http://www.flyingdogales.com/beer-road-dog.asp

Victory HopDevil, then the other offerings from them and other local places

I can't really qualify this. I stopped drinking beer after college, switching to mixed drinks while I was in the Navy. After that, I got into wines for about 15 years. Drank beer occasionally, but not enough to remember. When I got bored with wines, there were dozens of craft beers available. Then I started homebrewing.

Being I live right on the Tecate border, I mostly started drinking tecate, dos equis, and Sol. I really didn't like any of them much in terms of flavor, but it was the norm; but then I started drinking other beers such as Bohemia, Negra Modelo, and Noche Buena. What really did it for me was the fact that there is so little variety in terms of beer in Mexico, that I was just completely disappointed (I wasn’t legal to get beer in the U.S.). The best I could get my hands on were Noche Buena (only during the Christmas season), Bohemia and negra modelo. I really liked negra modelo (Vienna style lager) but I wanted more variety and so I decided to brew. From there, I have been in complete shock as to how much variety there is to beer. Everyone around here thinks I'm the only person that homebrews in Tecate since no one has ever heard of such a thing before. The only other person I know that used to brew was a friends Grandpa. He is an immigrant from Germany (big time beer drinker), but he has left his brewing days behind him.

Two:

Black Butte Porter
Mirror Pond Pale Ale

Deschutes Brewery.

Newcastle in the bottle

The Propeller line-up, and Duvel.

The world of craft beers opened up when I first tried a Hammerhead,which is McMenamen's pale ale .I think this about the same recipe as Mirror Pond. Then I graduated to Terminator Stout.

+1 for Old Rasputin, I long for the day its available anywhere near here. Can't complain too much though- Dogfish Head, Victory, Flying Fish, Otter Creek and a few others all have good varieties available to supplement my home brew intake. Our local distributors all have a love affair with Sam Adams which is ok beer, just don't feel as strongly about it as they apparently do...

For me it was a Pete's Wicked winter sampler in 1995. Not to say that I haven't had gallons of BMC from then on, but good beer was redefined and sought out much more often. In the last 4 or 5 years I can't stand much BMC. And since I've started brewing and begin to know what makes each beer each beer, I'd rather have a water than a Bud at a bar.

My vote is for Pete's Wicked Maple Porter and Ottercreek's Stovepipe Porter.

Wasn't ever a hop head either until shortly before I started brewing and wanted control once the beer I wanted was formulated in my head.

The Bayern Amber from Bayern Brewing Company in Missoula, MT.

Back when I was there, Bayern was housed in the Iron Horse Brew Pub, but I think the two businesses have since parted ways. The restaurant where I cooked was also housed in the same building. After work we would go get soused on great German beer.

Funny story: One day the Head Brewer came over to the kitchen and asked me if he could have 15lbs of sugar. I said yes, and pointed him over to the sugar bin. He went and measured out 15# of sugar and left. A few minutes later he came back and said it wasn't sugar at all, it was salt! Somebody had accidentally poured salt into the sugar bin. Good thing he tasted it first before adding it to the kettle. He taught me a saying that day that I have never forgotten: "Trust is good, but control is better."

Mine was Spaten Optimador and then I drank a ton of Guiness until I had a Stone IPA and it was all over after that. Belgians , Barleywines, Imperial anything.:rockin: I am a certified EAC now, and Guiness tastes bland and watery now unless I let it warm up alot.

For me it was a brew pub rather than a beer brand that got started. I guess it was Smokey Mountain Brewery in Gatlinburg TN that got me interested in better beers. My wife and I go there every year for our anniversary and I would always get a sampler platter of brews plus a mug of my favorite, along with a darn good dinner!

A "James Polk Porter" from Court Ave Micro-Brewery in Des Moines.

without a doubt it has to be SPATEN OPTIMATOR I was 23 years old and my step dad turned me on to it I LOVE IT!!!!!! and still cant get enough
RECIPES PLEASE!!!!!
JJ

High Roller Red Ale at the Monte Carlo Brewery in Vegas. We drank a few giraffes of the stuff and that is when I started to appreciate the flavors in a beer.

A mix pack of Sam Adams stuff for me