What was your Gatewaybeer to craft beer?

[Psylocide]

New Belgium 1554... not a huge fan of NB anymore, but that was the beer that really did it for me. I suppose Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my first "craft beer," but didn't stick with me like 1554 did.

 

[BKenstein]

Most of my late teens and 20's drinkin Guinness and Sam Adams Boston Lager. But, I remember going to the Gingerman and having my first Schneider Weisse. The waitress poured 3/4 of the bottle, then stopped, swirled that last bit in the bottle to warm up all the "yum-yums" at the bottom. And I thought "I have to learn how to make this beer."

 

[marckw]

It's definitely subjective in how we each think about craft beer. Earlier I wrote that mine was Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale in the mid-nineties. This was the first hop bomb I would try that seemed way different from the market (craft) and opened my eyes to some pretty ambitious brewers

Oddly, I'd been drinking Sam Adam's Boston Lager, Pete's Wicked Ale and Anchor Steam (and Porter) since the late 80s. I never thought about them as craft brews since they were available in most markets.

Granted, there have been imports available for a long time however, after reading all of the posts, I'd say Fritz Maytag, Pete Slosberg and Jim Koch were some of the pioneers of what I think of as craft brewing--Homebrewers that turned pro--and the ones that set the standard for me on what beer could be.

 

[dobes]

Oddly my gateway beer was Tyskie. It's not a craft beer but it was the first beer I had besides a BMC. And I thought wow this is pretty good and from there I went nuts. I try pretty much anything I see even if it's not my favorite style.

 

[jeff13]

Sam Adams light 10 years ago when I was about 15

 

[theCP015]

My family drinks bud light and Michelob ultra. I choked some of those down when I was younger, but when I went to visit family for Christmas when I was 19 my aunt gave me a Sierra Nevada pale ale. Loved it.

On my 21st birthday I bought Leinenkugel's cream stout, St Pauli girl dark, and a handle of Smirnoff.

 

[Vodomagoo]

I was drinking Sam Adams from 18ish on, first real craft was magic hat 9 then when we got fat tire in nyc it was fat tire and the occasional arrogant bastard. Even though sierra Nevada pale was always available I never really drank it

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I found Full Sail brewery in Hood River, Oregon. It was game over from there on out.

 

[OleGoatBrewing]

Anchor Steam - Mid 90's in San Fran. I thought it was the best beer I ever had on tap!!!

I currently brew a Scottish Export 80 which has been called a "gateway beer". Its a session brew with rich malty flavors and low AVB (4.2). All my Coors Light buddies are easily converted with my home-brew of similar calories and drinkability.

 

[SteveHeff]

Hirnibraeu. Swiss lager.

 

[thaymond]

Guinness Stout and Hacker Pschorr. Those were the first two non bmc beers that got me interested in other styles. The first ipa I tried was DFH 60...after that, the first "big" beer was SN Bigfoot barley wine. There was no turning back.

 

[tg123]

Budweiser is what turned me to craft beers. Drank it, wanted to throw up, never again.

I'd say Blue Moon was what got me started.
Guinness was one, but I was downing it in the form of carbombs in college so I don't think that counts. It was the only beer I could chug back then.
Coworker got me into homebrewing.
Pliny is what got me to start liking IPAs. It was like surprise party in my nostrils the first time I took a whiff.

 

[Kblandfo]

Muskoka Brewery - Mad Tom IPA

 

[Gentlemans_Ale]

Dogfishhead 60 minute

 

[chawn]

A friend encouraged me to try Chimay Grande Reserve at a bar and the taste was amazing. I never looked back.

 

[wildactbrewer]

I was completely a Bud drinker. When I ordered beer that is...in college I drank whatever swill was in the keg! I guess the progression to craft brews started with Mich Amber Bock. That is what broke the barrier. Sam Adams boston lager became my go to after discovering that and on a trip out to Arizona I had a Fat Tire...WOW! When I realized I was a craft brew fanatic was at a local pizza joint in Lexington called Pazzo's. I ordered and fully enjoyed an Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout. I still enjoy Bud on occasion

 

[W0GWT]

I spent my late teens in Germany and enjoyed the beers, but slipped back into Heineken territory in college. My roommate back then was from Montreal and came back with a case of La Fin du Monde in spring of 2008. I haven't dipped below that since (outside of sports-watching, of course).

LSS, La Fin du Monde.

 

[ubnserved]

JW Dundee's Honey Brown was the first beer that got me trying different things back in the early 90's. Every week during our company meetings my business partner or I would grab a 6 pack of something we hadn't tried. During this time a place called The Upstream opened in Omaha and I tried a few of their beers. Their Scotch Ale kicked a$$. In the late 90's about the time we were selling the company a friend was having a BBQ and one of his employees brought a bunch of beer he had made. Up to this point I didn't know that it was possible to brew your own. After tasting his concoction I didn't think it was a good idea either. About 8 years later the wife gets me everything I need to brew, bottle and keg (except a kettle) for christmas. My first thought was what the hell am I going to do with this crap. I of course read the books she got for me and followed the instructions to a t for the kit she got me and I was hooked. I made that Scotch ale on the 5th of January back in 07 and have not stopped since. Except for this summer until last week when I finally got to brew again. Unfortunately I am back to brewing extract/partial mash brews for now but at least it is a fresh brew. Going to try to start another one tomorrow my kegs have been empty too long.

 

[Drummerbrew1985]

We have a brewery in Sussex England called darkstar
Their APA is super yummy. Csn only get it on cask. After I had it I went on a craft discovery journey.
It will never end. 😊


Primary - Mosaic pale ale
Conditioning - Wife's birthday brown porter (12 day experiment)
Drinking - APA

 

[drainbamage]

I was completely a Bud drinker. When I ordered beer that is...in college I drank whatever swill was in the keg! I guess the progression to craft brews started with Mich Amber Bock. That is what broke the barrier. Sam Adams boston lager became my go to after discovering that and on a trip out to Arizona I had a Fat Tire...WOW! When I realized I was a craft brew fanatic was at a local pizza joint in Lexington called Pazzo's. I ordered and fully enjoyed an Old Rasputin Imperial Russian Stout. I still enjoy Bud on occasion

I also have Pazzo's to thank/blame for my craft beer obsession. I had tried a lot of the "big" craft beers like Boston Lager and SNPA, but that was where I really started branching out into different stuff. There were so many brands and styles I'd never heard of, and I had to try them all. Of course, with that big of a list you never really catch up.

 

[Kevin79]

My first memory of having a craft beer was Victory's "Hop Devil". Absolutely hated it. I was in college at this point and at the time we didn't drink much else other than Natty. Miller Lite was a luxury beer for me in those days. I couldn't believe anyone could drink something so hoppy. I remember thinking to myself "dear God, this is so bitter it burns!"

Some time later, a craft focused bar opened near where I lived. I remember getting hooked on Atwater Brewery's "Voodoo Vator" and Great Lakes "Edmund Fitzgerald" which to this day are among my favorite brews. I'm a malty beer lover by heart, but will never pass down a good, clean IPA in the summer. (I'm a big fan of Stone IPA). I continued trying new beers, visited a few breweries, the obsession grew, and now I'be been brewing religiously for over 2 years. To this day I have yet to have another Hop Devil though.... Haha.

 

[twohoundbrewery]

Leinenkugel honey wiess -> blue moon -> red hook ipa -> everything else

 

[BeerFst]

Started really getting into Magic Hat number 9 and Ithaca Apricot Wheat towards end of college. One summer I went home and asked my dad, who was/is very into IPAs and Pales, to get something like 9 or AW. I had had IPAs before but thought they were terrible. He said if I wanted something else I could buy it, or just drink what he bought.

That summer I learned the magic of IPAs

The following year I found a really great beverage store in Ithaca (Finger Lakes Bev on State) and made it my mission to try as many different IPAs and Pales as possible. Since this was before the days of Untappd, I would cut off one of the 6 pack sides and tack it to my wall. That collection was my wallpaper for 4 years and as many apartments. SWMBO no longer allows that, but we did collage them in poster frames and they came out pretty sweet.

 

[Bobb25]

In the early 1980's I visited San Francisco and have great memories of Anchor Steam and warm sour dough bread. Flash forward to around 2005 and when my oldest daughter had her first job, she treated me to a brewery tour and tasting at Great Lakes, in Cleveland, Ohio. I became a Dortmunder Gold, and later Christmas Ale fan. After retirement, in 2012 the wife and I took a 10 week tour of the northern half of our great country and visited 21 micro breweries in 17 states.
At the urging of oldest daughter, I a have become a home brewer, and am attempting to recreate the memories.

 

[BrewSavage]

It was a Dragon Stout at the Brickskellar in Washington, DC, sometime in the 80's that did it.

That place had a huge beer menu organized by country. Some countries had many beers, some countries had only 1 or 2. The goal was to knock off a bunch of different countries so of course you stick with the places that had 1 or two. Invariably these were always a lager. But then we got Jamaica and found the Dragon Stout.

 

[beng]

Mine probably started with the "seasonal" releases from blue moon. After that, it progressed to shiner hefe, and from there I would try local beers from wherever I went, then started home brewing.

 

[humblehops500]

Back in '75 to -'77 we drank a lot of Henry Weinhard and Blitz Bavarian Dark along with Anchor Steam in high school. I brewed my first batch when I was 16 (thanks to Wine and the People on University Ave, Berkeley). When I lived in Humboldt Co a few years later, I drank Sierra Nevada and more Anchor steam, and brewed with the Humbrewers Guild (shout out to Hap, Bob, Zeke and others). 30 years later, on the yeast coast, I'm drinking mostly Sam Adams and will rehab the HB with a vengeance soon. Stay tuned.

 

[watermelon83]

Lol. I'm old, and I was 1 in 75.

 

[1977Brewer]

Shiner Bock was the first beer I truly loved to drink. Stone IPA was the one that really challenged what I thought beer should taste like.

 

[TxBigHops]

Shiner Bock was the first beer I truly loved to drink. Stone IPA was the one that really challenged what I thought beer should taste like.

Wow, in two sentences you just said exactly what I said in 5 paragraphs in the OP.