What beer would you describe as the beer that 'awakened' you...?

[tcklord]

I would have to say probably Leinies Big Butt Doppelbock made me get away from just drinking Miller lite and the like. Then New Glarus' Spotted Cow really got me trying different beers. Then I joined Old Chicago's World Beer Tour and have tried hundreds of beers. Lots of them bad but a few of them good. Bells Two Hearted was the turning point that I really started liking hoppy beers.

 

[knotquiteawake]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and NewCastle... I didn't even really drink beer before those, never started with Bud or Miller... It took me a couple years after drinking those regularly that got me interested in brewing my own when a friend said he brewed stuff like that for "cheap"

 

[tmoney1224]

I was a 30 stone girl through college and shortly there after. Then one day one a whim of being bored and needing something to do we got a mix pack of Sam Adams. Started trying each of them and nothing really hit, then I tried the Black Lager. I was sure when I saw it I was going to hate it. I was amazed that I could like something so dark. So we moved on to other styles and I found my true love of IPAs. Thanks Mr. Koch.

 

[DRoyLenz]

My own beer was the turning point for me. Before I brewed beer, I thought I knew something about beer. I was wrong. Once I started brewing, I began learning. I read (and still read) everything I can find about beer. I seek out the beers I've read about and beers I've never even heard about. Among my friends, I'm a beer snob and THE guy to ask about beer. Among beer snobs, I consider myself an amateur. No time like the present to broaden my palate...what's in the fridge?

I can relate to this. Hanging out with my friends makes me feel like a beer genius, and I take pride in to having turned many of them in to more educated beer-enthusiasts. Then I come on to this site, and you all humble me with your knowledge and experience.

There is something to say as well regarding how your tastes change after brewing your first batch. After I had actually smelled my first bag of fresh hops and the steeped specialty grains, and then tasting the malted extract, I immediately began appreciating a whole new kind of beer (I had never really liked 'bitter' beers, but now I can almost consider myself a hophead).

 

[homebrewer_99]

Feb 1975: Frankfurt, Germany...my first Hefe Weizen...

 

[hal2814]

There's no BMC "dark side" as far as I'm concerned but what first got me interested in beer in general was working at a pizza joint with a ton of different beers on tap and in the bottle. After work, we'd sit around and drink whatever we wanted from domestics like Coors Light and Miller Lite to imports like Bass, Warsteiner, and Guinness to smaller breweries like Marthasville (an Atlanta microbrew that may not be around anymore), Pete's Wicked, and Red Hook. And we had a great beer distributor that really loved beer and would talk to us about what we had in stock. There's never been a great divide in my life where I suddenly realized there were more beers out there than what's at the convenience store, but only because I was fortunate to spend my formative drinking years around so much variety.

 

[ColonelForbin]

delirium tremens. i was 18 years old. never looked back.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I was a 30 stone girl through college and shortly there after.

Translated into "English" English, you were once a 420 pound girl? Did you ever lose that weight?

 

[Shooter]

Bert Grant's Imperial Stout, served at Rico's Tavern in Pullman Washington. If memory serves, it was 1986.

Ha, Rico's is the site of my beer epiphany as well!!!

I'd never been much of a beer drinker. I was only ever familiar with the cans of fizzy yellow liquid my dad would drink from time to time and I just never got it.

One night, while I was early in my grad school stint at WSU, we went out to Rico's Tavern, it was the thing to do apparently. Not being much of a beer drinker, or a drinker in general to that point, I decided to go with the crowd and ordered a Hale's Dublin Stout, almost certainly the first stout in my entire life. I took a tentative sip unsure if this black liquid would agree with me. I took one sip...and I was ruined!

It's interesting to be able to look back and see the exact moment where it all began!

 

[Galapagos9]

I have to say, the first drink that turned me on to beer was... wine! I had a glass of decent wine with a steak a few years back and I was amazed of the flavors that hit my tongue. For the first time, I actually took a conscious effort to taste all the different flavors.

Since then I'd have to say that it was an Allagash Dubbel that got me going on beer. I simply took the same time with tasting the beer as I did with wine. Ever since, I kicked my wine habit and have stuck with any craft brew I can get my hands on!

 

[dutch-brew]

Almost 20 years ago, about 17 or 18, a friend and i wanted to try somethiing different then the usual heineken or grolsch that we were getting tired of..
The two that did it were Leffe and La Chouffe.. Especially the Chouffe in the (1 gal) growlers.. yummmmmm

 

[Tonedef131]

I never really drank beer, I had a couple here and there but they were diet beer and I was never very interested. Then I had Samual Adams Boston Lager and realized that I like beer, to this day I have only had BMC a handful of times.

As time went on I had a couple of other "reawakenings", notably Rodenbach Grand Cru and when I discovered the beers of New Glarus.

 

[spotter]

Leinenkugel's around 92. Hardly an amazing beer by my standards today, but it was the first amber commonly available in bars around here and way ahead of the Bud and Milwaukee's Best phases. After that things got fuzzy (college and all), but early standouts were Red Hook Double Black Stout (man I'd love to try that again), Chimay, seeking out an Anchor Steam which I didn't care for (need to try one of those again).

 

[Token]

Translated into "English" English, you were once a 420 pound girl? Did you ever lose that weight?

heh, heh. I was wondering that too.

My awakening came many years ago when a book club offered a little beer brewing kit; can of John Bull, yeast, plastic bottles, the works! I actually liked it! Ya, I was hooked.

 

[Edcculus]

I'd say it was homebrewing that got me drinking all kinds of craft beer, and being a beer geek in general.

 

[humann_brewing]

I'd say it was homebrewing that got me drinking all kinds of craft beer, and being a beer geek in general.

Me too, I mean I drank good beer before brewing but since I have had both feet in the water brewing like crazy I have really learned to appreciate what beer is and what the breweries have to go through to make such a great product.

 

[DRoyLenz]

I don't drink beer...

 

[Ketchepillar]

Age 19, my roommate's dad bought him a 750mL of St Bernardus Abt 12. My dad had previously mentioned something to me about Belgium, Monks, and wild yeasts, so I was intrigued to try it, although I must admit it was a bit much for me at the time haha.

 

[Bru]

I'd like to take this oppurtunity to sincerely thank South African Breweries for getting me started in homebrewing.
Yes, your flavourless fizzy p!ss water that you have forced on the SA public under the guise of a gold medal you won in 1907 at a cattle show became unbearable and I was tired of drinking wine.
And BTW - your Hansa "Marzen" Gold isn't a marzen - its a lager - but you knew that didn't you.
Viva SABMiller Viva !

 

[Tonedef131]

your Hansa "Marzen" Gold isn't a marzen - its a lager - but you knew that didn't you.

Wait, what?

 

[Bru]

It goes like this : SAB used to brew Amstel under license from Heinikin. Then Heinikin took the license away and now supplies Amstel themselves. To replace the lost brand SAB launched Hansa Marzen Gold which is really a lager and not anything like a Marzen.
Trouble is SAB has crushed all competition here so very few people know what a marzen is.

 

[DRoyLenz]

It goes like this : SAB used to brew Amstel under license from Heinikin. Then Heinikin took the license away and now supplies Amstel themselves. To replace the lost brand SAB launched Hansa Marzen Gold which is really a lager and not anything like a Marzen.
Trouble is SAB has crushed all competition here so very few people know what a marzen is.

I'm not familiar with this Hansa Marzen Gold, that must be something they serve primarily in Africa (or at least outside the US). Just about everything SABMiller makes that claims a "style" is really not. Miller Lite is not a pilsner, let alone "The True Pilsner."

I'd love to try a South African beer, if for no other reason than because that's definitely one of the few regions I have not ventured to taste.

 

[Bru]

Depends how you define "South African beer" - beer from South African Breweries (SABMiller) is BMC stuff and terrible. But we have a few micro breweries that make some nice beer of various styles.
A certain beer critic tried a "Hansa Pilsener" and described it like this :
"This beer doesn't have much flavour, which, for a beer from SAB is somewhat of a moral victory"

 

[Tonedef131]

To replace the lost brand SAB launched Hansa Marzen Gold which is really a lager and not anything like a Marzen.

All Marzens are lagers though.

 

[Bru]

True, thanks for pointing that out - I meant lager in the broader sense
Marzen is sweet and malty - nothing like the fizzy yellow stuff in a Hansa Marzen can.

 

[Dubcut]

Sam Adams probably started the train of thought leading to craft brewing for me, but it wasn't until I had a delirium tremens where I was like, whoa.

 

[bonzombiekitty]

Victory makes incredible beers. The brewery tour is highly recommended. They have about 30 different beers on tap at the brewpub.

If you're in the general vicinity of Victory, I'd also suggest Yards and Philadelphia Brewing Company. They don't have 30 beers on tap but they usually have all their standards plus a seasonal to try.

PBC has a cool tasting room that's nice to just chill out in and you can sometimes get some cool random beers on tap (room mate went there once and they had some Pynk on tap, which was brewed a few years ago when they were Yards*).

Toby at Yards is a really nice guy, he used to work for Flying Fish (try their Exit series) and he gave a tour there that my girlfriend and I were on. A year later, gf and I went to Yards' new place to see what it looked like and he was there and recognized us. I was shocked he remembered us from over a year previously. The Yards brewery is brand new and the tasting room is still under construction. Should be done in a couple weeks and it'll be cool. They've set up a temporary tasting area until construction is done.

*background for those who aren't aware: It just used to be Yards until the owners had a falling out and PBC split from Yards. Yards got the name and recipes, PBC got the brewery and equipment. They're both less than a 20 minute walk from my house

 

[MrVagabond]

I grew up in Russia and the beer there is nothing special. That probably has to do with the cheap cost of vodka. Why drink beer when you can get drunk off vodka? So, through my teenage years I was a mix drink guy. After I moved back to the States, I went out with a buddy of mine to the bars and he made me try a glass of Fat Tire. That was an immediate "wow" moment when I realized that beer could be something savored and could have depth of flavor. It was all downhill from there!

 

[mhermetz]

My Contiki Trip through all of Europe this time last year.

Every small pub we hit, when not on tours, I would ask for the Local crafted beer..not because i wanted good beer...but because I was on Vacation and didn't want the "Same ol'Stuff". I was pleasently delighted with all of them....many of which I cannot remember the name of.

 

[lazybean]

i had done a few extract brews with my dad growing up, nothing serious, just a kit ever few years, never really got into it. Then about 4 years ago had an Ale Smith "the Anvil" and fell in love. Dug out the old brewing gear did a batch every other month for a bit, Now building my first AG setup.