What was your Gatewaybeer to craft beer?

[ScotlandHomeBrewer1]

Brewdog opened the first brewery in scotland that makes craft beer that actually tastes like craft beer. Never knew what beer was supposed to taste like before then.

 

[grainbill]

Back in '78, did a 5 mth stint in Europe. Had real Guinness and a bunch of German, Italian, Belgium beers. So I would consider those craft brews in respect....
When I got back I couldn't stand Rainier, Coors, etc. anymore. Grants and other micros had started to open up by then so we started sucking those up, and haven't stopped since...

 

[histo320]

In college, I was a straight Busch Light Drinker. Right after college I moved to Asheville, NC and my wife and I went to Asheville Brewing Co. Not being a fan of 'Craft Beer' I asked the bar tender what domestics they had, he replied "We brew our beer right behind that wall....I don't know how much more domestic you can get." I had a Shiva IPA and I was hooked into craft beer from that moment on.

The beers that got me started:
Yeungling, Highland Gaelic Ale, Sweetwater 420, Sweetwater IPA, Highland Cold Mountain, Bells Two Hearted, Bells Oberon, Dogfish Head 60 Minute, Stone Ruination, Schafly Pale, Lagunitas IPA, and a variety of brews from Asheville breweries.

 

[how1]

"Milwaukee"s Best". When I was stationed on Guam they had Milwaukee's Best on sale for $2.00 a case. I bought 10 cases! After I drank 10 cases of that stuff I told myself I'll never drink crappy beer again!!!

 

[PLOVE]

Dad drank miller lite, so I never even tried beer until my 20's (I know. . .). Then I tried Sammy A's and Bass ale and found that beer tasted pretty good actually. Moved on to abbey style belgians and the rest was history. . .

Now - I'm almost embarrassed to admit that Sam Adams was my gateway beer. . .

 

[QuinnR]

Bridgeport IPA...

 

[golson3]

Hardly a craft brew, but my love of Grain Belt Premium turned me on to Schell's Deer Brand (a pre-prohibition lager) which in turn pointed me towards the rest of Schell's and Summit's selection. Next thing I know I'm helping an Army buddy make an oatmeal stout.

 

[SEMichXJ]

I was an avid Miller Lite drinker until I tried 3 Floyd's Robert the Bruce. To this day, I can't get enough Scotch Ale!

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Hard call but I would say Guinness on tap at Heathrow or Pecan Street (cheaper than Sam Adams and almost the same flavor). Otherwise, I would have a been a German Pilsner Fan and probably never brewed my own BUT my appreciation for beer other than the American Light Lager came from living I Germany my senior Year in high school where the local beers were Warsteiner (before they left my valley and became huge) or Valtiens.

Now, a good, basic Pilsner is third on my least interesting list after the BMC and the Mexican variation of the light lager.

 

[Culinarytracker]

I was at a party and someone gave me a Dos Equis Amber. This was the first time I realized that not all beer tasted the same. That beer still has a special place in my heart because of that. After that Bass became my go to for a long time.

The main switch to really good beer came when I was in college. A friend ran into my dorm room after going to a beer tasting put on by the school and was so excited we could barely understand him. He had a half bottle of Unibrou 10 in his hand and demanded that we taste it. The world was never the same after that day.

 

[Ridire]

I think I've already posted here, but not sure.

I think, if my memory serves me correctly, that my progression went like this.

High Life - Killians - Guinness - Bells Oberon (then called Sol Sun) - Bells Two Hearted (which I did not even realize was an IPA, or what IPA meant). After that, I was pretty much game for anything.

 

[saintzymurgy]

Bells Kzoo Stout 5 years ago.

 

[fuelish]

Quick and easy answer would be DAB, and Hacker Pschorr Dunkel Weiss and Hacker Pschorr Dark ... when I was 18, the legal drinking age in NJ was 18 nas well, and there was (still is, actually) a German style brauhaus at the NJ shore (just off Long Beach Island, The Dutchman's Brauhaus) My older brother took me there and turned me on to better beer than Bud/Miller....great times, back in the later '70's....nice place, you could arrive by car or pull a boat up to the dock
Dang, I miss Long Beach Island NJ .... mountains/lakes/rivers of east TN are nice, but great times were had in Surf City NJ growing up - I love the ocean .... and good beer

 

[802_Brews]

For craft beer it had to be Catamount Brewery here in Vermont. Now the facility is the home of Harpoon, but at the time Catamount was one of the first microbrews in New England (1986-1998 RIP). Had a keg of Catamount Amber at my wedding reception in 1990 and still have a 12 pack full of empty bottles in the basement. Just couldn't bring myself to delabel them or throw them away. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20001001/20428.html

Prior to that a good beer was one of the big European brews like St Pauli, Spaten, Sam Smith, etc., but they don't count do they?

 

[802_Brews]

For craft beer it had to be Catamount Brewery here in Vermont. Now the facility is the home of Harpoon, but at the time Catamount was one of the first microbrews in New England (1986-1998 RIP). Had a keg of Catamount Amber at my wedding reception in 1990 and still have a 12 pack full of empty bottles in the basement. Just couldn't bring myself to delabel them or throw them away. http://www.inc.com/magazine/20001001/20428.html

Prior to that a good beer was one of the big European brews like St Pauli, Spaten, Sam Smith, etc., but they don't count do they?

 

[Onkel_Udo]

Prior to that a good beer was one of the big European brews like St Pauli, Spaten, Sam Smith, etc., but they don't count do they?

Certainly not St Pauli as I want to say they were a "made for America" version of Beck's.

 

[Rudy1964]

Bells's Solsun, now named Oberon

 

[blackbeer]

lowenbrau dark followed by shiner bock and then yeungling porter.

 

[LI_Matt]

My intro to anything other than commercial was Blue Point Brewing Company. My brother worked at a restaurant where Mark was the brewmaster about 20 years ago, so when word spread that he had his own brewery in Patchogue I became a regular at the tasting room.

 

[ram5ey]

Magic hat #9

 

[Glasscloud]

When I first turned 21 and would go to the gas station after work since I had the money and didn't want to drink swill I would usually get those big bottles of blue moon. I was already slightly into whiskey so I thought why not do the same for beer and see what's out there. I can't remember what the very first craft micro brews I had, probably some very bitter IPAs that I wasn't into at the time. The first beer I remember really loving was when I got a 4 pack of DFH Palo Santo Marron. That was my first dark beer and fell in love with that thick but smooth tarty bittersweet chocolate taste. Also didn't know beer got that high in abv so I think that's the reason I bought it at first. Back then two would be enough for me. Now I can drink a 750ml of 15% and still want some more later.

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Two beers:

In 1996, at a spring training baseball game in Peoria, Arizona, the line for Bud/Bud Light was 20+ deep. So the hockey buddy I was with saw a Full Sail tent and recommended we go there. No one in line, we stepped up and he ordered us two Full Sail Amber Ales. I'll never forget what he said, "This is way different from that crap Bud Light. It's heavy, but you're going to like it. It has flavor." GAMECHANGER!!! Drank three more large drafts that day and came home very tipsy.

Fast forward, as there were no places that I knew of to get craft beer in the Phoenix area in 1996-97....

Next, in early 1998, we stopped in to Four Peaks Brewery in Tempe, AZ. I was shocked to find a place that didn't serve hard liquor or BMC, they only served the beers they brewed. I was clueless on what to order, until I saw a waitress walk by with a jet black, white capped pint.

"Excuse me," I asked her. "What the hell is that?"

"Oatmeal Stout," she said.

Yes, please. Simply awesome. My intro to dark goodness.

Cheers!!!

 

[pharmer1]

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was without a doubt my gateway beer. Still enjoy it.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

I had a revelation this weekend that although I claimed my gateway beer was Sam Adams/Pecan Street it actually was Shiner Bock. Not sure if my palate has changed or the formula did but back in 1991 when we could not buy it in Oklahoma with was the best beer we could (almost) never get our hands on.

 

[TinyHands]

Hideout Smuggler's Hazelnut Stout. I'd been drinking craft beer for years (cut my drinking teeth on it, really), but that was the first beer where I thought, "I wonder how that works."

1.5 years and hundreds of dollars later....

 

[afro_lou]

After drinking Mickey's in high school, ugh, I wasn't really into beer that much, mostly hard stuff. Then I found Fat Tire, which somehow led to Arrogant Bastard, and from there it's all history.

 

[mikeasu]

Tie between Pete's Wicked Summer Brew and McFarlane's Wheat - haven't had either in years.

 

[GCPHomebrew]

I didn't drink in high school more than a few times. In college two of my friends owned a beer store that only sold Belgian and English style ales. I was hooked for years. I don't have a taste for them anymore. I brew session ipa. Gotta have hops. My need for hops came from my first time brewing and smelling a bag of hops. All I new was I needed to make something that tastes like that!!!

 

[Chiefer]

In high school My grandmother used to bring Catamount beer every time she visited.
That started it all.

 

[renrutle]

For years I did not drink beer for several reasons; not the least of which was the smell of rotting beer I experienced delivering Chinese food to frat houses in college.
Fast forward many years and I started with the standard BMC selection settling on PBR and Zigenbock since a pitcher was $3.00.

Being the adventurous type and not one to pass up something different (you never know if you will like it) I took to sampling all of the beers at the local watering hole. Many were, as the youngsters say, "meh." Then I had a Dixie Blackened Voodoo. It actually tasted like something. Rahr Black Pug was also interesting. Next, I think, I had a Karbach Hopadillo and I was hooked. Within 2 years I started brewing at home, joined the local home brew club, and passed the BJCP tasting exam.

Oh yeah, I also became a lifetime member of HBT, got a like from Yooper :rockin: and a berry-punch from Billy-Klubb

Go Beer!