I started working overseas in 1999. In December of 99, my wife came to Europe for our first overseas vacation. On the recommendation of a work colleague, we stayed at a small Bavarian pension in Pitzling Germany, (west of Munich). My colleague & the pension owners were good friends, so we were well taken care of on our first trip across the pond. One afternoon we walked into the town of Landsberg am Lech & enjoyed the day. It was well into the evening when we walked back to the small village of Pitzling, only to find every establishment was closed. We were very hungry, so we looked for any place might have food. We stumbled into what we found out to be a very small discreet bar near our hotel. Upon entering it was very clear from the looks of the 3-4 patrons & the bartender that we weren't from the area. Our foreign appearance did not detour the bartender from inviting us to sit at the bar & order. We asked about food, but unfortunately the small kitchen was closed. He did say he would make us some snacks of German meat, cheese & bread, (one of my all-time best meals!) The highlight of the night was the beer he served. At the time I wasn't much into the craft beer scene, let alone European beers. He poured large bottles of what I discovered years later were hefeweizen. The taste of banana & spice absolutely blew me away. I never knew any beer could taste like that! Both my wife & I couldn't get enough of the fantastic beverage. I don't recall the brand, but I'm sure it was one for the big German hefe's like Paulaner or Erdinger. Either way, it was an outstanding beer to end a great winter day/night in Bavaria & a wonderful memory. Cheers to the bartender & his fine service! Nice idea for a post, thanks/cheers
A cask Tolly Best Bitter at the Green Man Pub in Grantchester just outside of Cambridge England. From my diary at the time the date was June 3 1986. I just looked it up - and of course the place is still going strong. I was on tour w/college friends staying with some local UK relatives. I had drank nothing but light American and European Lagers for the prior 5 years of college/HS (hundreds of 2 for 1 Becks/St Pauli Girls and Rolling Rock ponies at various bars in Amherst, MA) - and had no idea what an ale could taste like. I described the beer in my notes as "very warm and very strong". At 3.8% -- I assume my assessment of "strong" meant flavorful. The rest is history for me - my love for British/UK cask ale and brewing culture hasn't wained a day since and I've come to realize that cellar temp isn't "very warm"....it's proper in order to let the flavors shine. Great idea for a thread -- and it let me tap into some wonderful nostalgia reading my old tour diary. To quote Don Draper: Nostalgia - it's delicate but potent - in Greek it literally means "the pain from an old wound" - It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone - taking you back to a place that you know you are loved.
They regularly brewed Hurricane Kitty at the Brickhouse. In the early days, the upstairs room was decorated with interesting breweriana, including Miss Rheingold items, that eventually was moved out (hopefully to Keegans). Also I remember the earliest beers not being very good (my taste). My Blue Point friend told me that he helped upgrade their products.
Don't recall seeing the breweriana you mention, but if you never have been to Keegan Ales you might not know it is in a building that was an iron foundry eons ago, and he left some of the equipment from those days hanging from the ceiling, which I always enjoyed to notice when it was a favorite atter work hangout when I worked in Esopus. .
I don't remember what year, but it was the first time I had Firestone Walker Sucaba at Track 84 in Warwick RI... EDIT: After looking at my reviews it was April 21, 2013. A great day it was!
I’m sure that the best beer I’ve ever had I would have no recollection of… However, best beer I have stored in my memory is this Widmer Bros Drop Top Amber Ale accompanied by Novelli’s Crab Chowder out in Florence, OR. This was a planned stop on a road trip from San Francisco to Astoria. This was a highlight from a much needed trip with my girlfriend A very honorable mention is the Pitbull Oat Stout from Hondo’s Brew Pub in Astoria. Girlfriend needed a rest day so I planned a day of brewery hopping. This was my first stop and when I walked in at 10am the bartender (RJ I think) greeted me with something along the lines of “You want something to drink already? I guess I’ll get myself a coffee too”. Spent some time hanging out and moved on to a great day of beer (this doubles as a Hondo’s appreciation post)
I was about 15 years old and visiting the Rock of Gibraltar with my family from Spain. After walking around in the Mediterranean heat for half of the day, I was extremely parched. I ducked into a bar and asked the bartender for the biggest coldest beer they had. He poured me a Heineken from one of the blue & white porcelain towers into a huge frosted mug. Splendid! By far the best tasting Heinie I ever had. I don't even like Heineken, but that beer was AWESOME! So refreshing. Gotta love the lack of drinking age enforcement in Spain back in the day. I don't know if times have changed or not, but I used to get served when I was 10. Cruzcampo beer, Moscatel wine and Anis del Mono anisette were my jam. I have not been back in decades. Great times though.
Many years ago I enjoyed a Rogue Younger's Special Bitter on cask at The Horse Brass Pub in Portland OR with Publican Don Younger, RIP sir, while we smoked cigarettes and talked beer as my NY friends looked on avoiding our cloud.
First Music Festival (Gathering of the Vibes 1999) introduced me to Sierra Navada Pale Ale. I was almost 21 teeeheee...literally a month after this. And I had no idea a beer could be soo crisp, clean and absurdly bitter/hoppy. Changed my palate and view of beer and what beer could be forever. In that intense social setting I will never forget how it blew my mind.
After many years talking about visiting Alpine Beer Co a friend and I finally did it. This was the original Alpine before it was bought and ruined by Green Flash. After a 4 hour drive in which 2 hours was traffic we made it. A friend and I sat on the patio at sunset drinking Keene Idea that was just tapped.
June 1969. Large stein of Budvar. Vienna Austria. Just graduated from high school at AIS. Most wonderful beer, for me, of all time.
De Cam unblended lambic served from the barrel by Karel Goddeau himself. Some of the best i've ever had, for sure.
Great idea for a thread. I've enjoyed what others have written. I'm sure my "best beer ever" is long forgotten, but these still stick with me.... 2018- I was fortunate enough to be accepted into a PhD program that began back in the Fall of 2013. I arrived early to the program orientation in Spring of 2013 and had some time to kill. I walked around a nearby Whole Foods and marveled at the beer selection (Whole Foods in RI aren't allowed to sell beer but they are in Connecticut, where my PhD program was). I see a four pack of Old Raspy and I devise a plan to use the four pack as a motivator for me to finish the program in four years. I had heard horror stories about PhD students taking forever to finish their programs and I was like, "Not me, I'm doing this shit in four and this four pack is going to hold me to it. I'll drink one at the conclusion of every year I'm in the program!" It didn't work out but I almost pulled it off. I cracked a Raspy at the end of years 1, 2, and 3. But then I needed two full years to collect data and ultimately write and defend my dissertation. I cracked beer four in Spring of 2018 and it tasted like glory. Glory was also the pint of Brooklyn Lager I had the night I actually defended my dissertation. I was still wearing my suit and tie and was at the Scurvy Dog, which, if you've ever been, you know is not exactly the place where one wears a suit and tie. 2012- My first wife went into labor on a Thursday night. My son was delivered via c-section at 2 PM on Saturday. It was a long-haul for her. We spent the Saturday night in the hospital. The next day, some friends came to visit, one of which smuggled in a sixer of Sam Adams Noble Pils. We poured them into red solo cups that he also brought along. I'm sure the nurses knew what we were doing, but we didn't want to be total dicks about it so we tried to hide it. My ex-wife did the heavy lifting during that time and I take exactly zero credit, but, the emotions of the weekend were exhausting all the same. That beer hit the spot like fucking crazy. 2005/2006- It was either the summer before or after my final year of my master's program. I worked landscaping and construction during school breaks. It was hot as nuts out and I was busting my hump all day doing fuck knows what. I grabbed an 18-pack of Rolling Rock on my ride home from work. The apartment I shared with a buddy was hot as hell and we didn't have AC anywhere but in our bedroom windows (and they'd been off all day). We rented the second floor of a three-family. Said second floor had what the landlord described as a "decorative porch." It was a porch on the front of the house, but there was no door to get to it. It was this little balcony of sorts. I didn't understand it then and I don't understand it now. But, what I did understand was that there was window that opened up to it. So I climbed out the window with the entire 18 pack, reached back in through the window and pulled out a chair, plopped my ass down and starting drinking the 18-pack of Rocks. I was probably four beers in when, wouldn't you fucking believe it, but my landlord, whom we never fucking saw, comes walking down the sidewalk. He looks up, sees my bandana-wearing sweaty ass sitting on his forbidden porch getting slammed. He calmly reminded me that it was, after all, a decorative porch and I was not to be out there. I told him "ok," waited for him to leave, and went back out. Those Rolling Rocks simultaneously tasted like ass and like awesome.
Anytime I drink a Hamm's. Because it's delicious and I know many people on BA don't like it. That makes me like it even more.
My father and I worked outside all day in the summer heat putting a transmission in my sister's car. It busted our balls every inch of the way. When we were done we walked three blocks to a tavern that's been in existence since the mid 1700's. Man a beer went down really fast and delicious sitting there in the air conditioning. I was probably 20 or so (drinking age was 18 back then). That was the only time ever I drank with my father.
My 2nd entry. TG Psuedo Sue in the OG 22oz bomber in 2011? Or so . This APA and all beers were self- distributed back then, They were in such high demand that they would announce when the sprinters left Decorah everyone knew which stores would get it.The bombers were $5.99 and available in WI, IW, IL. That original batches for 3 or so years were perfection of the Citra hop. I truly think i will never taste anything like it again. Then the fallout happened , then contract brewed in Lakeland,FL . Then back to being brewed in Dercorah it got better but it was never back to those first three years of that small little brewery from Iowa.
This thread is awesome, and as I've read through everyone's stories I've concluded I don't have a "favorite beer" but rather "most important beer(s)". St. Pauli Girl fishing for carp with my buddies on the Susquehanna River in my early 20s Brooklyn Lager at a wedding rehearsal dinner in which I was the best man, again in my early 20s. The first hoppy beer I've ever had. Centennial blew me away then. Great Divide IPA at my godson's birthday party circa 2009 Yards Level Up IPA at the 2022 National League Divisonal Championship clinching game Phillies vs Padres where Bryce Harper hit the go ahead homer. There with my best friend, my older brother. Many more, but those are the highlights
A birth-related story. I was in the basement bottling homebrew on a Sunday evening of April 1984. My wife's labor started, and called the Dr. He said to wait til midnight to save a day's charges. While I was finishing up bottling, my wife told me we had to go to the hospital NOW. We got to the hospital for the birth (barely), but the Dr. didn't arrive in time for it. Birthday Beer. Memorable for the event, but not an outstanding homebrew.
