How long have you been drinking craft beer?

I use the term "craft beer" to describe small up & coming breweries. I'm 56 yrs old.
In 1985 I was living in Boston attending Berklee College of Music and I had my 1st Samuel Adams there. It wasn't that easy to find back then even in Beantown. But as we all know it caught on quickly. I believe at the time the brewery was in Jamaica Plain. While residing there I got a job at Fenway Park. I served countless pours of Sammy, re-stocked drink in all private booths and would sit in the keg cooler and change barrel after barrel when the Red Sox were up!
Cheers advocates!!

 

Samuel Adams was contract-brewed at Pittsburgh Brewing Co. (Iron City) during it's first decade or so. Their small pilot brewery in the old Haffeneffer brewery in Jamaica Plain did not open until 1988, but most of their production was still coming out of Pittsburgh and, later, other contract breweries, starting with Heileman's Blitz-Weinhard in OR in 1988.

 

So that's why it was so damn hard to find at first! Ha! Thanks friend! Cheers!

 

Age: 30 (maybe seems young)
Got into craft beer 3 years ago when I started working for the gas pipeline.
Smart, astute, and learn quickly though. Do a lot of blind taste testing to train my palate. I think that I have a sophisticated palate and knowledge of craft beer....At least more than the age lets on. Lots of reviews on here. Yet, humbled each blind taste testing I do. Always a lot left to learn and I always assume that you all know more than me.

 

Well, if you listen to Jim Koch these days, you had to go up to his kitchen and buy it out of his brief case, where he kept six bottles.

SABL was being brewed in 250-300 bbl. batches and all of it was being shipped to the Boston area originally. Compared to a brewery like Sierra Nevada which was making 500 barrels a year in the beginning a few years earlier, that was a lot of Samuel Adams Boston Lager. (Although, IIRC, Koch initially concentrated on the on-premise market - probably made sense since his suggested retail price was higher than imported Heineken at the time).

 

Yep. In like 88-89 it went into high gear and there was a promotional tidal wave behind it as well. The beer/Jim/brewery deserve all the trophies!
I went to the Commonwealth Brewery a few times there. Big shinny brew vats at the bar. A gorgeous bar but it was always jammed and $$$. I recall getting a 6pk of Commonwealth xmas ale in '87-'88 that was like mammas apple pie with ice cream. I never saw it again. But really Duvel & Chimay were my faves then and have remained on my top shelf since the 1900s: The Good Old Days.

 

1986 had my first Sprecher Special Amber. Blew my mind.

 

I can definitely sympathize. I started drinking “craft” beer about ten years ago but the last couple years I have fallen down the rabbit hole. It can be daunting looking at the beer aisle and trying to figure out what to buy. I have learned that more expensive certainly does not mean better. I would rather try 2-3 other beers than spring $24 or more on a 4 pack that I don’t know if I’ll like. I’ve also found that if I really like a few beers from the same brewery I’m probably going to like just about all their beers. I usually just take a gamble and try to get as many different styles and breweries as possible. I’m just happy I have so many options.

 

Did you take the scavanger-hunt-tour through the old warehouses in south Milwaukee to find the old brewery? Talk about an adventure -- with a major payoff!

 

Agreed. Options are good.

 

Darn, missed the poll. Im at 16 years, I lived in Portsmouth NH for a year back in 2005 and got hooked at the Portsmouth Brewery. That downstairs room with shuffle board was a blast!

 

Big cask fan here - the local establishments that installed beer engines to try an promote cask beer each sold their engine(s) a few years after opening as they quickly found out they couldn't turn over a firkin in time.

Visiting a famous cask ale brewery on the NW coast of the US, they had at least three people come up to the counter saying the beer was warm (assuming it was an error on the establishment's part) while I was there. A few local breweries have tapped firkins for special events, which usually go fairly well, but even then they don't always clean out the firkin the night of the event. The only place around me that consistently serves cask is 4hrs away (Side Project). Even then, they only have one or two options available at a time.

Perhaps its the warmth of the beer and the softer carbonation throws people off from cask. Both of those things sort of fly in the face of 'typical' American beer, i.e. 'an ice cold Bud.'

Personally, I'd love to see more cask ales available in the wild, but they're not always something I'd spring for too. In the meantime, I'll settle for some slow pour lagers. Happy those are becoming more of a thing in my area.

 

I'm 39. Been into "good beer" for 20 years, which is when I moved from Scotland to England for university, and found cask. If you want to make the argument that McEwans 70 & 80 fit the bill, then I could tenuously make that 30 years since I used to have the odd sip as a kid from the taps at my parents' pub. I tried American craft for the first time during a work trip to NYC in 2007. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout. Blew me away

 

Yeah the original brewery location was awesome. Took me awhile to find it - I recall it being close to the Allen Bradley 4-faced clock tower. After the "tour" they'd open a garage door that they'd sell merch from. Miss those early days of craft - the wild west for sure.

 

I'm surprised that poll says 50+ % are over 20 years. I knew there were some old drinkers on this site, but expected more on newer to craft too.

I'm right around 20. Started buying different beer every week and while there was certainly a lot less choices in the local beer store, there were few craft choices along with the big breweries I also bought from

 

Yeah, I remember using the tower as a landmark (well before GPS). I couldn't find a direct route to the brewery because a stopped train blocked the lane. Had to park at one warehouse and hop between train cars -- there it is!

Of the tour I remember, "Here's the mash tun, here's the boil kettle, here's the fermentation tanks -- have a beer."

Good ol' days.

 

I'm an American Anglophile. A summer journey in 1971 sent me to London first. I loved the city, but I adored the outlying areas and the people. Those rich malty/hoppy ales, so fresh and everywhere just blew my 20 year old mind. I spent 3 months in Europe altogether, but England, Wales, and Scotland are still fresh in my memory. We illegally swam in Loch Ness and climbed Ben Nevis, the highest point in Great Britain. This all lead to a long career in the beverage industry. I still have friends from that summer overseas. Greetings to all!!

 

I was dabbling with Pete’s Wicked in my 20s.

 

I'm in my mid-40s and never really drank BMC.
so, officially about 25 years now. However, I became aware there was something other than BMC about 5 years earlier than that when a friend of the family who owned a store brough over this crazy beer called Dixie Blackened Voodoo. It was incredibly dark, and tasted like nothing else at the time (I did have a sip here and there of various sorts.) Plus it had a really cool label.
Even when I went on a cruise with my family at age 19 or thereabouts (the drinking age on those ships is 18, once you get out of US territorial waters) I was disappointed there was only BMC, plus Heinekin or some such, available.