I had a small bowl of Kiribati at a local Asian buffet the day. Chopped cabbage, Arugula, herbs, spices (hot) in an oily sauce. Wish it had been a BYOB. At the time, I thought Kiribati was a private label, grocery store brand of yogurt meant to compete head-to-head with the (supposed) Anchor owner's brand.
I can’t be positive which craft was my first but in the early 1990s I worked in a pub and I remember drinking a lot of Catamount Porter, Newcastle Brown Ale, Bass Pale Ale, Sam Adams Boston Lager, and Pete’s Wicked Ale all on draft. If one of them was not it, it might have been something at the Eagle Brook Saloon in Norwood, Massachusetts. I recall them having an extensive beer menu (for the time) and always trying something different when I was there.
On another site I visit daily, they have a 'sarcasm' font. Well using the font kind of ruins the joke. So, we say the font is for cowards. Emoji's are also for cowards. Just put your humor, sarcasm, puns, and hawt taeks out there, and let them land where they will.
My first, "Hey, there's more to beer than just bland fizzy yellow stuff that'll get you drunk" moment was Magic Hat #9, circa 2002.
Just don’t look up xylospongium—quite a while after I had my first craft beer I left Sumeria for Rome and that particular practice never really felt quite right.
Late 80's-A friend of mine and I were in Boston to drive back a repo car for the bank he worked for back in Ohio- We got lost on Boston's twisty roads and first time encounter with a large roundabout in the middle of town-We pulled over in frustration at a bar to get directions and have a brew to settle our nerves -The bartender offered up a couple of cold Harpoon Ales- We were taken aback by the flavor and character of this local brew(We were diehard Bud Light drinkers)-We stayed for lunch and another brew or two, delighted by our "find"--Sadly I didn't fully embrace craft beer until I tried my first Oberon, offered up by my brother at a cookout some years later-When my tastebuds were baptized by that golden nectar my palate was forever changed, ready to embrace the full spectrum of "Craft" beer-Hallelujah!
probably started with a Red Hook ESB in 1988 or 1989 if we're talking craft craft vs imports. As to the former, drank my first sixpack of Guinness in 1971 as a first-year at U. Va., drank some German lagers, Becks, St Pauli Girl, that kind of thing, but over the years my import consumption funneled down, by the late '80s, to Fuller's ESB and the occasional Bass Ale and there was one bar we went to regularly where what they had on offer was Boddington's, so drank a lot of that. My entree into craft was thus definitely via England, and so American takes on English styles were naturally my default. And Red Hook was on tap at three of my 4 or 5 regular after work and sports bars, all gone or profoundly changed now: Rick's Cafe (now Choppers and very different), Legends of Cherry Creek (now Milwaukee Street Tavern, and very different), The Cherry Cricket (still there, only slightly different), Old Chicago (gone), Hooters Colorado Boulevard (gone), and Jackson's Hole Saloon (gone). (the latter two did not serve Red Hook) I list because there are some Colorado old timers on this forum. I didn't really get into SNPA until I started home brewing in 2003, actually, which is probably backwards but it was the way it worked for me. During most of the '90s my beers were the aforementioned Red Hook ESB, BridgePort IPA, and then the locals came on line, Avery IPA and Odell IPA. Either Red Hook was a much better beer in 1989 than it was when I had my last one ten or so years ago, or my palate shifted in a major way, or both, but that last one was almost undrinkable. Almost I say, because I did finish the 6 pack.
My first craft beer experience was in 1985, Schild Brau Amber was the beer, by Millstream Brewing Company in the Amana Colonies, Iowa. It was their very first year of operation.
I did not come across that one, I definitely would have grabbed it for nostalgia purposes. I'm pretty sure that box had my first IPA because I remember how bitter it tasted. It probably wouldn't even taste hoppy to me now.
Lowenbrau. Guinness was something I had with family so I knew that real beer existed, but Lowenbrau was the first “beery” beer I had where I realized that even the non-stouts could be not cheap crap.
And if it has to be American craft, then the original Fat Tire. I adored that beer, especially on tap
The first craft beer I remember enjoying was Leinenkugels Red whilst in college in the early 1990s. Summit Pale Ale was my introduction to hoppy beers. I thought it was kind of bitter, yet I was intrigued.
My first craft beer was Great Lakes Commodore Perry. With 70 IBU, it was a shock. Having only tasted macro lagers and Guinness stout previously, I found it way too bitter. I took a few sips and poured the rest out. Now, years later, I regularly enjoy high IBU IPAs. I even find myself craving the flavor of hops sometimes. It just took time for my palate to adapt.
I don't remember for sure but if I had to guess it would be Pete's Wicked Ale, SNPA or JW Dundee's Honey Brown (I think that's what it was called back then). And guessing the first brewery I went to was O'Hooley's in Athens (which later became Jackie O's).
