Nostalgic Beers

La Fin Du Monde always reminds me of being young & in love...

Red Hook ESB always takes me back to a simpler, but dopier time.

 

Icehouse. I drank a ton of it in high school. It was always something like $4 a six pack of 16 oz cans and was higher alcohol than the light beers.

 

Yuengling Black & Tan: used to drink it when it was called 1/2 & 1/2, 7 oz draft for $0.35.

 

For various reasons - Stella, Theakstons, Landlord, Brooklyn BCS and Arrogant Bastard

 

Haffenreffer Private Stock... the beer I drank as a kid with the puzzles on the underside of the bottle cap.

 

Mirror Pond. It's what really got me into "microbrew" in college (2001) and every time I smell it I get a hangover coming on.

 

Skipping school with a couple buddies and a case of Meister Brau...good times

 

There are several beers that drum up feelings of nostalgia. In particular, every summer I have to pick up Uinta's summer pack in Utah because of the Skipping Stone lager and Uinta's Sum'r Ale. These beers are not the greatest beers, but I don't live in Utah year round and I am currently in China for work. Just the mere thought of these beers creates a sense of yearning for home. To have the bright high desert sun on my skin and a cold one in hand is simple, yet complex in its own right.

 

Michelob teardrop bottle; because of my grandfather.

 

Pre-1996 Pilsner Urquell. Most of the other beers I drank during my time in Germany I revisit at least every other year when I go back there. And, yes, they are still as excellent as ever...but Urquell used to be (even) better.

 

Red Hook ESB for me as well since I interchanged it with Pete's Wicked back a long time ago in a galaxy.......

Lowenbrau - it was our "fancy" softball beer.....

Old Raspy - it was the one that reinvigorated my passion for craft after a prolonged whiskey aficionado phase.

 

Seven ounce Colt 45 malt liquor. Man we drank an ocean full back in seventies water skiing on off days. Miss my younger days sometimes.

 

I did the same... Did you go with Single Malts? I pretty much put craft beer on hold for about 4 years of Pilsners and Islay Single Malts

 

Budweiser.

Back before I was of age, we had gone to Sea World in Orlando which at the time, was still owned by Anheuser Busch. Because of that reason, beer was free at two beer gardens in the park. They had maybe 8-10 different AB products on tap... So my girlfriend being the trooper she was, supplied me with beer quite a bit that day. It was very hot/humid out and the beer was like liquid crack that day... So delicious. Bud ended up getting a soft spot in my heart, as it really started my love for beer.

A year or two later, once I was legal, we did Discover Cove in Orlando which also supplies "free" AB products while you chill out on the white sand beaches after you snorkel around with the fish... Again, so refreshing... I just have many good memories when I taste a fresh bud... I typically get it in Florida (or Blue Moon) still on our trips... I have no hate for the AB products, personally... I am far from a beer snob though, I can appreciate almost any beer... The "piss water" comments are just idiotic, IMO.

 

Bell's Two Hearted. My first ever IPA. I wish I could feel nostalgic again without having to fly a couple thousand miles to my homeland the Mitten.

 

I initially began hitting bourbon of various qualities particularly hard but moved along to Scotch as a way to "class up" my networking cocktail appearance (I'm really not as douchy as that suggests......) and found that I really enjoyed the taste, as there really is nothing like a nice Scotch. What resulted was a journey through all the lower hanging selections (JW's, Dewars, Glenfiddich, etc.,) until I FINALLY deserved to indulge in something which required a finer tuned palette (IMO) to actually understand Single Malts a bit better. I'd order Macallan or Glenlivet in varying vintages at better bars when I felt like I deserved such an indulgence (as well as dozens of others but my memory is crap...), but was never the type to drop that kind of coin on an entire bottle. Pretty much stuck with Dewars (the Scotch equivalent of Bud Light.....) at the house for a cheap nightcap or hit a finer bourbon since you could dramatically increase the quality in the bourbon you drink for far less than Scotch, again IMO. A bottle of Eagle Rare, which is significantly better than run of the mill Knob Creeks and such is about $40 less than even a nicer bottle of Macallan, and for about the same as the "entry level" Macallan.

I thought I would have really enjoyed the Innis & Gunn beers but most of them come off with a cardboard thing happening. Too bad to. Really wanted to enjoy them more.

 

Nice! I started in a similar place and now have a cabinet of various Lagavulin and Bruichladdich variants I don't touch enough anymore. Cheers!

 

Not Your Father's Root Beer... mmmm, soda.

 

Genesee Cream Ale. Even as a non-sophisticated 18 year old (the legal age at the time) there was something about it I liked (and still do from time to time as a non-sophisticated 55 year old). It just brings back great memories of youth.