I assume that most of us didnt start out drinking craft beer. If not, then whats your story? Was there a moment or turning point that you remember when you decided that fizzy yellow beer or whatever you were drinking at the time just wasnt going to cut it anymore?
One night in my late teens I was out drinking with some friends. We were drinking something cheap and disgusting; I think it was peach brandy, and some Budweiser beers. I got totally wasted and tossed my cookies. For several years after that night I could not stand to drink beer of any kind. When I entered college I was mostly drinking Canadian whiskey mixed with Squirt or Sour mixer. This went on for a couple years, after which I got tired of always taking a bottle to keggers and other parties. I finally discovered that I could stand to drink most kegged beer EXCEPT Budweiser, and that I could drink Miller High Life in the bottle. In fact, to this day, nearly 40 years after that night as a teen, I still cannot stand to drink regular Budweiser.
At that time I didnt care for Miller Lite, but when Bud Light came out in the early 80s, that became my beer of choice. By this time I had graduated college and moved to Texas where they had this odd, dark colored beer called Shiner Bock. I discovered that I liked it a whole lot better than any of the fizzy yellow beers, and I would drink it whenever it was available. So I would consider Shiner Bock to be my Gateway beer.
From there, I would try other dark beers like Dos Equis dark and Negro Modelo which I also liked. A blues bar I frequented had several non BMC beers on tap and I started drinking Full Sail Amber. From there I moved on to some really hearty beers like porters and brown ales. But I believe the day that I thought I had died and gone to heaven was around 2001 when I stopped into a hamburger joint in San Antonio with a huge bottle selection and decided to try a Salvatore doppelbock! Yum! That beer is a meal in itself, and to this day is probably still one of my top 5!
The most recent evolution in my beer taste occurred after my oldest son moved to California to attend college. I had been trying every different kind of beer that I could find for probably the last 10 years or so. I was familiar with IPAs and had tried a Dogfishhead one time and hated it. Around 2006 I flew out to Cali to visit my son, and he took me to a local microbrewery. He insisted that I try their IPA, and I insisted that I didnt like them. But I would try it. Wow! It didnt taste anything like Dogfishead. That was the day I discovered citrusy West Coast style IPAs, and beer drinking has never been the same since. He also introduced me to Stone IPA that visit, so if I could have a second Gateway beer, it would probably be Stone. Now I would say that about 3 out of every 4 beers that I drink is an IPA, APA, pale ale, or other hoppy beer.
All hail the mighty HOP!
