How long have you been drinking craft beer?

My memory may be off, but during my last two years at The University of Akron, ‘88-‘89ish, I remember having Pete’s and Sam Adams. Those were a rare buy though. At that time we mostly drank Wiedemann stubbies ($1.89 a sixer), Olympia, Schaefer, etc... Sometime around 1990 I went to Great Lakes for dinner and had an Eliot Ness and was hooked.

 

Started drinking craft beer in 1988 or 89. My first was Harpoon Ale.

 

My first craft beer was a Dixie Blackened Voodoo that I had at a Cajun restaurant in Rolla, Mo around 1988, so about 33 years ago. I believe that was craft, since there are craft breweries now that have a much higher output than Dixie did, but I had no concept of what craft was at the time.

 

Well, I was asking for examples of innovation. Looks like we have different definitions -- adding extra ingredients to something seems more experimental than innovative to me -- and yeah, there have been 2 sides to this debate and it looks like we're on each side.

Not convinced yet.

 

About 7-8 years now. I bought beers like 60 minute ipa because the fire department guys I was on crew with liked it and Carton Boat because the labels read “pale”.

Coincidentally Rolling Rock was my beer of choice at 21 and it also reads “extra pale” so I thought they were the same and fell down the rabbit hole. All started with IPAs and things like Belgian ipa namely Stone Belgique plus beers like Sweet Baby Jesus and JP Caspers White Stout broadened my tastes for styles.

 

I first drank Anchor Steam in 1976. Became a “craft” drinker in the early/mid 80’s when craft became easier to find in NJ. New Amsterdam Amber Lager was my go to beer for a time.

 

Us geezers self-select to view this forum, so the "majority" probably doesn't explain much. The younger crowd seems to be a controlling factor in craft brewing: there are more (relatively) young drinkers and they drink more. I just looked at the Widmer Bros.(est. 1984) website for current beers. They seem to offer just Hefe and maybe DropTop that represent their original focus, German style beers (I still remember their great MayBock from the old days). The other products seem to be mostly modern IPAs.

 

I put 6-10 years. I started with Guinness, Sam Adam’s maybe 25 years ago then a bit of Bell’s and Founder’s a few years after that. I didn’t really start taking it ‘seriously’ until 2014.

 

It was around 1984 when, in WA state, Redbook Brewery (Seattle) and Grant's Ales (Yakima) woke many people to actual great tasting beers. A local dive bar became my Friday lunch spot to have one with soup and salad.

Great memories.

 

We are not even representative of beer drinkers are age.

 

What else would they be?

Well, most industry sources put Dixie's Blackened Voodoo as being released in 1991 (and was soon banned in Texas by TABC because of cult/witchcraft label ) but no one would have considered Dixie Brewing Co. "craft/micro" before that - in the mid-1980s they were considered a "Second Tier (500k-100k)" brewery with a 100k barrelage, just behind Yuengling with 128k bbl., although Dixie was on a dramatic continuing slide downward so that by the end of that decade they were brewing a fifth of what they did at the start by some accounts.

 

Began in late 1974 in England. Started working in central London and all the chaps in the office were CAMRA members, so I just tagged along. Took weekend trips around the country as well. Fuller's, Wadsworth, Brakespeare, Ridleys. Great times.

Early 1983 I moved to the Philadelphia, got married, started a new life. The next decade was a period of adjustment. Tried many macros, not impressed. Tried a lot of imports, some good, some I now realize were age casualties. Some good pubs in the old part of the city were great. Didnt have a "beer guide", so drank what others drank.

Early 1992 moved to Pottsville, so naturally switched to Yuengling, and a local distributor carried many British imports. Over time, started to try some of those other "odd named" beers, Pete's Wicked, several Sam Adam's. This eventually led to Founders, Victory etc.

Only regret is not finding this fine site when they got started in 1996. And Pennsylvania's case only purchases, thankfully now changed.

 

Did you gravitate to a specific brand (e.g., Lord Chesterfield Ale, Porter, Black & Tan..)?

I can't remember when Jim Anderson started his bi-monthly newspaper Beer Philadelphia (probably the early 90's?) but I found it to be a very useful guide for me. My recollection is I learned about Dawson Street Pub and their three beer engines (always had at least one Yards cask ale going and sometimes all three with Yards beers) from reading Beer Philadelphia. Jim Anderson referred to Philadelphia as the "Fertile Crescent of beer" from those days of yore.

Cheers!

 

I'm jealous of your British experience. I visited London for a few days in 1978 armed with the Camra guide, my wife, and my mother. We mostly did tourist things,so didn't spend time looking for cask ale. We did make a special lunch stop at the Alexandra (Young's house) to try the cask, but they were out!

 

Loved Youngs Winter Warmer. A favorite Youngs pub was the wonderfully named "Dirty Dick's", or as the more toffee-nosed Brits called it, (after the Americanized meaning became known), "Filthy Richard's".

 

Turned 21 in '08 but didn't really get into craft until '09 into '10 when some solid shops started to open here in TN and carry a variety of beers...I can remember my first La Folie & Trippel, Delirium, Orval, Dogfish Head 90 etc...and being utterly shocked!

 

Since about 2011. First craft brew I tried was Dirty Bastard and I found it quite disgusting though it did pique my curiosity about what else was out there beyond the typical BMC swill.

The rest is history.

 

I started in the early 1990s while serving in the military. After gulping down numerous Coronas, I thought that their has to be something better. I believe Brooklyn Lager and Anchor Steam were my first craft beers.