The beer that got you into beer

[gwapogorilla]

For me, it was more the lack of good beer in the local gas station or Wally world. That I decided to make my own.

+1 on this. Plus the cost associated with a decent beer is just freaking nuts!

 

[corwin3083]

One of my best friends was dating a woman whose father was heavily into Rochefort. One day he told me "you have to try this beer that Al introduced me to, it's not like anything else you've had..."

That's also how I learned that the proper reason to drink is "because it's delicious," and not "because it gets you drunk."

 

[Grim_Ale]

Yeah it's funny how for some, like myself, beer was an acquired test, and for others people they just like beer from the first sip.

I remember drinking Schlitz Malt Liquor and chasing it with Mello Yello and having to funnel Natty Light just because I did it to get messed up not for flavor.

It was my dad's taste in beer that got me curious cause I didn't know there were different styles of beer.

 

[saintzymurgy]

Kalamazoo Stout by Bell's

 

[Spookgolds]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my gateway beer...

 

[dpatrickv]

Sam Adams Oktoberfest. I was at Old Chicago right after my 21st for the Oktoberfest mini tour. I rarely drank pre-21 and wouldn't ever touch beer when I did. Theres still a special place in my heart for that beer.

 

[seckert]

For me it was the opening of a Microbrewery on my way home from work. I had always thought of making my own beer, but until i started stopping over at the brewery and meeting people who made their own i always had it on the backburner. so it wasnt a specific beer, but a microbrewery that got me into drinking good beer and making my own since the good stuff at the store is so expensive!

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Great question, OP! I have to break it down into 2 questions, though:

What got me started drinking craft beer: For me it was Red Hook Ale (the original one brewed in Ballard, full of banana esthers) Bass Ale, and Harp Lager. That was when I learned that yellow fizz was not the only game in town.

What got me thinking about home brewing: Chimay Red. I shared a bottle with my dad when I was 21, and started talking about homebrewing, then 9 years later, he got tired of my talking and gave me a HB kit from Alephenelia. 18 years later I'm still brewing, although my volume has gone up and down over the years. Currently brewing around 100-150 gallons of beer a year, plus cider, mead, skeeter pee and wine.

 

[huntb]

Bell's Oberon before is became so commercialized. That and Founder's Dirty Bastard

 

[dobe12]

Harpoon Brewery and more specifically Harpoon IPA got me into craft beer. I took a trip to Boston with my wife and a few friends. Looking for things to do, we toured both Sam Adams and Harpoon. Got pretty banged up at Harpoon, but that's another story... while taste testing I had a Harpoon IPA and fell in love with IPA's which opened up the world of craft beer and enjoying beer for the taste and not just getting drunk.

As for home brewing, I really got into craft beer and have always been into cooking so I thought... why not give brewing a try. 4 years later I can say I am 100% hooked. I can't imagine ever stop brewing... or cooking for that matter. Both are a huge stress relief for me. There's nothing more relaxing to me then pouring a beer and standing at the cutting board preparing dinner.... well except maybe a few things my wife does for me :rockin:

 

[RmikeVT]

I remember getting a hold of one of my Dad's Sam Adams back when I was a teenager and drinking it, thinking wow, this doesn't taste like Red Dog.

 

[brettg20]

Sierra Nevada did it for me. My dad would always drink it when I was younger, maybe 20 yrs ago, and would always give me a sip...ahhh the cascade freshness.

 

[Bobb25]

Several years ago my oldest daughter bought me some"Dortmunder Gold" from the Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio. Then we visited the brewery, did the tours, etc.. Year before last SWMBO and I did a 6500 mile tour of the northern half of this great country and visited 22 microbreweries in the process.
It is a wonderful and delicious life.

 

[Fenduh]

I was doing work for a client and he offered me a homebrew that his brother had made...I think it was a stout, not sure but it was delicious. Anyhoo...I was ordering my equipment off of Amazon within 2 days.

 

[RhodySeth]

Magic Hat #9. I don't drink it too often anymore and I know it gets flack but it was a revelation coming from the college wastelands of Coors and Natty Light.

 

[STFulton1]

Allagash White for me.

 

[UglyDude]

I "grew up" in the 1970's drinking Bud. In Highschool we would go for the occassional Lowenbrau or Heini. there was a great beer from Portland, Or called Henry Weinhard's... thats when we drank the good stuff... but years later when I visited San Fran, i went into a pub that had tons of different beers on a chalkboard (because they changed so frequently)... I was blown away by a red ale and I can't for the life of me remember the name. So for a year or so I drank red ales everywhere, that was in the early 1990's. Then I started to get braver.
Then, about 15 years ago I saw a LHBS and was blown away. Since I like to cook, i decided to give it a try, bit it took me anouthe 10 years... now I am hooked

 

[djfriesen]

Deschutes Black Butte Porter.

 

[FoCobrewguy]

Odells IPA, went to college at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Grew up in San Diego drinking Coors and corona through HS. Dad drank New Belgium fat tire but was never a huge fan. Had my first IPA from Odells and became an instant hop head. From there it expanded to all styles of beer but IPA is still my go to style and Odells is still the best IMO but love all things hoppy maybe its cousin is what made me enjoy it so much bit that's a whole nother story.

kf

 

[unionrdr]

Well,after growing up on tastes of dad's beers,or out-n-out jacking them,the taste of blatz,black label,poc,etc back then made me get into homebrewing to re-creat that "real beer flavor"of the recipes used back in the 50's & early 60's. Still have yet to achieve this,although my hopped & confused hybrid lager is getting closer.
Now,having said that & listening to you guys to try IPA's,etc a couple years ago,I realize y'all did this to me! I now am always searching for the best IPA, or at least to me in terms of balance & hop load. From Kona to new belgium to the brew kettle...oh nooooo...please God help me!......(Insert tritone here)!

 

[UglyDude]

maybe its cousin is what made me enjoy it so much bit that's a whole nother story.

kf

Word, I spent quite a few years in SD during the 80's also drinkin Coors

 

[jgm038]

Sam Adams winter lager..One of my first beers besides Miller, Corona, Bud and Coors..

 

[how1]

Henninger, Bitburger and any other beer I drank while stationed in Germany.

 

[JPrather]

As hard as it may be to believe, the first beer I ever had was a Gordon Biersch Marzen, on tap, with my dad, on my 21st birthday.

I remember going "man, this is good" initially, and then about halfway through the glass it seemed to thick and filling I didn't think I could finish it.

 

[TerranceKwong]

I snuck some of my dad's Duvel when I was 13 and that was it really

 

[MagooBrew]

I snuck some of my dad's Duvel when I was 13 and that was it really

That must have been nice. All my father ever drank was Stag or Old Milwaulkee.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[NCBeerMedic]

Guinness, then Left Hand Milk Stout.

 

[MindenMan]

Growing up it was always BMC products or the like, generally speaking. I started drinking the "good imported" Lowenbrau. Had to acquire a taste for the dark imports, Heineken, St Pauly Girl, to Henry Weinhards, to Chimay. But the clincher was my LHBS. He always had something on tap for sampling, free, and will you spare a donation?. The first beer that really cemented it was Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout.
My wife, knowing I could cook very well, (ex chef) decided to get me a HB Kit for Christmas 2 years ago, and as they say, "The race was on..." I won my first contest last month in Best of Category, Stouts and Porters. Talk about stoked! It will be quite a while before I enter another contest, because all I wanted to know was if my method and procedures were correct and consistent. The day I brewed that beer, they were.

 

[Valtyr]

I started out with Coors light and PBR. Then one of my buddies introduced me to Stone's Arrogant Bastard. I didn't like it at first, but soon found myself wanting more of it. It just kinda went on from there.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

It's not quite an answer to the question of the thread, but I'm going to over-share anyway... Chimay Red was the first "non-BMC" beer I introduced my dad to. When I ordered it, I said "Let's split a beer", to which he gave me a look like "Are you f'ing nuts?". Then we got the 750ml bottle, he had it, and his world was changed. Until then, the most exposure he had to non-american-style-pilsner-lagers was warm British ales with lemon juice floated on top. Then, a few years later, he introduced me to a Belgian Golden, St. Sebastiaan's, and eventually bought me my first homebrew kit. I the last time I had a BMC style beer was in 2005 in Puerto Rico, at my ex-wife's grandmother's birthday: it was a Coors Light, and when I took a sip, I asked her to taste it, because I thought they had mixed it up and put in club soda. My ex, a CL fan, gave me the stink eye and said it tasted fine. I honestly thought it was a mistake.

My NEW wife, however, LIKES beer!