What beer Converted you?

I got a Goose Island IPA handed to me, pried it open on a picnic table, and it was a game-changing moment at that first taste.

 

I'm another MI native that first got hooked on Bells Oberon. I have to say that at that time I was still fairly ignorant of beer other than knowing that there was a significant difference between Bells and BMC. At that point I still knew nothing of German or Belgian beers.

It wasn't until I moved to Portland that I started really getting serious. I started going to beer fests and learned about Hair of the Dog. I also started frequenting a local bar where I had an Aventinus doppelbock and a Rochefort 10 as my gateways to German and Belgian beers.

Now I'm basically a weekend alcoholic.

 

Dog Fish Head converted me to craft beer
KBS converted me to BA beers

 

Although I remember a few beers back in the day that I truly enjoyed, the ones that really converted me were SN Pale, Porter, and Stout, and Lagunitas IPA that were available at the gas station outside of work.

 

It went a little like this...

In college Bud Light to Yuengling to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to Dogfish Head 60 Minute.

So it was Bud Light that converted me because it tasted so horrible I had to upgrade to Yuengling.

 

Chimay...so good.

 

Pete's Wicked Maple Porter and Guinness back in the mid 90's.

 

I always felt like beer was supposed to be better then Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue, Kokanee, and Budweiser (Which I hated from first taste), so I started experimenting by buying different imports and craft at the BC liquor stores. Most of the imports were better then the local swill. I liked McEwen, Boddingtons, Tetley, Okanagan Spring Pale Ale, and others but the big moment came when I built up the courage to spend the money on the strange bottle of beer from Quebec. La Fin du Monde!!!

 

Isn't the correct spelling Old Peculier?

 

Yes it is. Damned prescriptive texting.

 

Ahhh,this thread again. Dos XX Amber 40 yrs ago!

 

These autocorrects...

 

Allagash White. Ordered it randomly in a Cambridge bar right after I got my first job. Life hasn't been the same since.

 

Summit Extra Pale Ale. You never forget your first love.

 

Never was much of a BMC drinker. Always thought I was drinking the good stuff (Heineken, Becks, Stella, labatts, Molson), then a few years ago, a friend took me to a keg tapping of Affligem Noel, I never knw how complex beer could be before I tasted it. Been on a great beer journey ever since, trying everything possible (craft & import)

 

Sam Adams Cherry Wheat visiting family in Mass. I was surprised that beer could have such flavors. Granted the last time I tried it I was reminded how much my palate had evolved, but if it weren't for Sam Adams being so ubiquitous and especially popular amongst locals I doubt I'd have ever gotten too interested in craft.

 

My 1st Sam Adams way back in the early 80's.......It was great!!

 

Progression was ... Little King's Cream Ale ---> Corona ---> Red Dog ---> Molson Golden ---> Bass Ale ---> that first trip to Germany ---> game over (opened an entirely new world of great beer and haven't turned back since).