First beer to blow your mind.

First time I tasted Rodenbach Grand Cru. Had it on tap and new I had just turned the corner on just being a casual beer drinker.

 

Maudite.

 

PtE & Bourbon County Brand Stount 2008 vintage

 

Stone Ruination

 

SN Bigfoot

 

First good beer was SNPA. First "wow!" experience was Stone IRS. That was a long time ago, and I've had a great deal of better beers since. But Stone IRS will always have a special place in my heart.

 

I remember going to Montreal in 96 and 97 for the Grand Prix. At that time, they had their International Beer Festival during the same weekend. That whole weekend's worth of beer blew my mind...so many franco/belgique styles were just unbelieveable. Maudite, La Fin du Monde, the rest of the Unibrue line, all the McChoufe flavors, so many super fresh beers that Ive had since in bottles and on tap and they dont taste anything like my memory of them. Those are the ones I remember most but there were so many others too. So good

 

Pannepot 2008? I think. I received it as a gift from my, at the time, only craft beer drinking friend (OSUBeerStudent) for my 21st birthday. Sadly I drank it straight from the bottle, ignorance of course, and was astounded that beer could be so complex.

 

Ballantine XXX Ale. Back in the late 60s.

 

Gumball head

 

Fresh Avery Maharaja. Was in college and just getting into the craft scene. My face was officially melted.

 

Legacy Euphoria on-tap

 

Victory at Sea. First big beer I had like that that balanced so many flavors, was highly drinkable, and held its percentage so perfectly. One of the first beers of its kind I had at the beginning of my craft beer drinking career too.

 

Boulevard Tank 7. That is what made me adventurous into the world of good beer.

A year or so later I started searching IPA's for the perfect one. My brother ended up getting it for me for x-mas; Lips of Faith (New Belgium) Fresh Hop IPA. I have tried most of the major ones, a few of the minor ones, and this still to me is in a class of its own. It has the hoppy-ness of hop stoopid mixed with the refined-ness of something with the caliber of firestone double jack.

I still have yet to try the Dogfish Heads or Plineys. They are at the top of my list, but cannot find them anywhere around here.

 

Weighting in at 7.85 Lagunitas Sucks steps into the ring. Check my recent addition to your ranks to confirm. I'd had great before, but something about the time and place I tasted this over the winter got me hooked. Loved to read through others experiences..added quite a few WANTS to my own list based on your recommendations

Great question from the OP

 

Old Foghorn 17 years ago. I had never had anything like it before.​

 

Same for me.

 

my very first KBS

 

The first craft beer i had was DFH Punkin ale. I buddy of mine poured me one of these a year ago and havent looked back since. Was a completely different world than my usually Bud Light.

 

Chimay Red....next one was Stone Ruination. Cheers.