Wbat did you drink before you saw the light?

[McCall St. Brewer]

What did you drink before you discovered that there was beer out there that wasn't like Budweiser?

I suspect that most of you are like me in that when you started drinking beer you drank a product from a major U.S. brewery. Back in high school (yes, we drank in high school. It was legal at 18 then, so you could have your older friends buy it, or you soon found out that there were a number of fine drinking establishments that weren't too picky about checking ID's) the most popular brand was Heileman's Old Style. (If you wanted to impress your friends, you sprang a few cents more for Special Export, also made then by Heileman). I think the second most popular was Bud. (I grew up 100 miles north of Milwaukee and looking back I'm surprised at the lack of a lock on market share the Milwaukee breweries had on a town so near to them).

During my college years I didn't have much brand loyalty at all. I think I mostly just drank whatever was free at parties. I hung out for a few years in a bar where the only thing on tap was Schlitz, so I drank a lot of that. Later the bar switched to Stroh's, so I did, too.

After college I was still poor and tended to buy Blatz as it was very inexpensive. Later, the Devil (my wife at the time) insisted on drinking exclusively Miller products, so I was pretty much stuck with them for a few years.

 

[timdsmith72]

In high school, we use to drink a Butt Load of keystone light. We could get it for like 8 bucks a case. That stuff is hideous, but we were poor. lol.

 

[Dude]

I have vivid memories of sipping my Dad's beers at the table when he and the family were playing sheepshead. Usually then it was Old Style or High Life. High school it was Miller Lite exclusively. After I came in the AF it was usually a Miller product or a local microbrew. I had Newcastle every chance I got too.

 

[Walker]

first beer ever: red, white & blue (used to steal them from my buddy's dad who kept them in the fridge in his garage.)

summer partying at the river: keystone. even at the time, I didn't like this stuff. "Specially lined can" my @$$! I choked down just enough to get loud and repetitive, and then would stop.

But what I really drank loads and loads of in my early college partying days was cases and cases and cases of busch light (optionally natural light if the store was out of busch). I have consumed more busch light than any other beer to date, and probably more than any other beer I will ever drink.

My love of beer will prevent me from ever drinking another can of that sewage, but the volume I consumed from 1993 to 1996 is staggering and will never be outdone by another brand (or homebrew). This is largely due to the fact that I would consume anywhere from 12 to 24 cans of BL in a night of partying (I weighed in at a whopping 215 at the time, and I'm about 5'10".)

Good lagers pulled we away from american trash, and good ales brought me to where I am today.

-walker

 

[RichBrewer]

We used to go out to the oil wells north of the Denver area when I was in high school and party in the dark out there. I tried my first beer there which was a Coors. I chose Coors for no other reason than it was a Colorado beer. I didn't drink any other brand until I joined the Air Force. We were all poor airmen and we would drink whatever was cheep. I remember going to clubs that had "drink and drown" nights and they served BMC by the pitcher. I have no clue how many of those I drank but it had to be a bunch. We didn't care what brand we drank we just wanted to get wasted.
It wasn't until my mid 30s that I discovered that beer could actually taste like something. Of course now I'm in my 40s and I'm not looking to get wasted all the time. Just a couple good beers and I'm good to go.

 

[DeRoux's Broux]

well, when i was in jr high and getting into high school, we loved Metallica. we'd see pics of them in metal rags holding Heineken's. so, that's what we broke our teeth on. we'd cruise the drag w/ a sixer of heineken and jamm'n to Metallica, Anthrax, Slayer, etc. if we couldn't get the Heine, we'd go for the Bud-Heavy. we just wanted to be like James Hetfield and be different. chick's dug it!!!! :~)

 

[Brewsmith]

I think I lucked out on this one. I've had very little BMC. My very first beer was the Jerimiah Red from BJ's restraunt and brewery. Not long after when I was in college, my roommate and I had pizza and beer mondays, where each monday was a different 12 pack from the beer aisle. We tried almost everything they carried at the store (except for BMC). I also found out that some beers just don't pair well with pizza.

 

[Capa]

Being broke and in college meant I drank A LOT of Nati Light. When I had a couple extra pennies I sprang for Bud light. Although if I was at a party and it was free I didn't care what it was as long as it was cold. Thankfully those days are over

 

[StudentBrewer]

I too drank primarily Busch light while an undergraduate. I'm still not sure whether I spent more on tuition or busch light.

 

[Truble]

We drank a lot of whatever we could get our hands on in high school, mostly busch lite or miller lite, and a lot of sambuca. In college, it was golden anniversary, or whatever mega-brew was on sale, mostly busch lite. This was until junior year when a bunch of us moved off campus and started buying kegs, then it was whatever was on sale, so that we could make profits with the parties.
Also studied a lot of "herbology" in college too. Since then 5have gone through High Life phases, a long Bud Light phase, but I have always liked darks, IPAs, and stouts.
Since I started brewing, I tend to drink more stouts and porters, and the mega-brews seem to taste more and more like water. I still go in on some bud light sessions with my brother over at his barn. I normally bring a couple homebrews to have first, then once the burner is primed, you can feed it anything

 

[cgravier]

the other day i was looking at a slayer cd and on the back is a pick of them with a six pack of white nip cans of "stella Artois' which i thought was interesting...im guessing the metallica/heinecken connection must be from lars who is from the netherlands i think.

 

[drengel]

shiner, lone star, pbr, corona, dos equis green, heineken, becks. in high school i drank a lot of mexican lager and heineken/becks bombers. and lots of vodka/gin. i was lucky in that i at least got to experience good beer from about the time i began drinking because my dad had good taste in beer so there was always something decent in the mini-frig. i still love shiner longnecks, and against my better judgement i tend to drink lots of lone star when i'm in TX.

 

[Mindflux]

I saw the light before I drank. Growing up in Colorado made that easy.

 

[alemonkey]

In college MGD was 8 bucks a case. My roomates and I would walk to the liquor store across the street and buy as much as we could carry.

Interestingly enough, we've all seen the light. I homebrew, one's a professional microbrewer, and the rest drink his microbrew and my homebrew when we get together.

I had another roomate who worked for a Coors distributor. He would bring home "expired" beer. One night he brought home Killian's Red, and no one could stand it except for me. Now I recognize that it's a pretty mediocre beer, but Killian's is what got me into better beer.

 

[sudsmonkey]

My roomate and I would get a case of Schaeffer ( The Weekender- $8) and a six-pack of bud. We considered the Budweiser to be good beer, and used the theory that after three Buds, we wouldn't be able to taste the Schaeffer. Also drank Glacier Bay. The bottles had a twist-off bottle opener cast into the bottom. That was just one more good reason to open the next one.

 

[user 574]

70's - whatever the old man had - $3 cases of Meister Brau typically
80's - Miller High Life, Miller Light, Michelob, Old Style, PBR, Mickeys Big mouth. Heinekin
90's - MGD and Sprecher (Micro brew in Milwaukee; boss owned 40% of the place; had it on tap at work. :rockin:
00's - Miller High Life (yea still!), Newcastle, Micro brews around town; and then I started making my own!

 

[God Emporer BillyBrew]

Natty Light more than anything else in college. $8 a case. Several cases, several friends and a funnel!

 

[dheide]

We considered the Budweiser to be good beer

We were the same! It's sad when Bud is the "good" beer that you can splurge on when you have some extra money. I still enjoy a good Budweiser, but I cringe when I look back on those days of drinking all the "ice" beers. We always went for the "ice" beers cause we figured it would mess us up quicker. It sure did the job!

 

[SwAMi75]

As a kid, my dad would give me sips from his Coors cans. In HS, it was pretty much all Miller products, sometimes Coors. I've never liked any Bud stuff.

As a young GI, I got to try some stuff at a brewpub they opened on Guam. After my first hefe weizen, I was hooked. I realized that there was much better beer out there to be had. My budget after that didn't really allow for any hardcore sampling of the good ****.

So, I had a good idea of what good beer was when I started brewing.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I grew up on all the American favorites already mentioned. Then I joined the Army and later went to Germany where I traveled most of Europe and eventually Korea.

Since them I've mostly given up on American brews.