The first beer that you loved

That was during the Miller era, so it had some percentage of corn in it. I thought of it as a better version of Michelob then, but how I'd love to go back in time and try it again.

 

GLBC Dortmunder Gold was the first beer that pushed me into craft. still love that beer.

DFH Indian Brown Ale has a soft spot as my first loved brown ale.

 

It was Bass Ale while I was in college.

 

Hunahpu

 

Stone IPA and Founders Breakfast Stout, though I might've had Old Rasputin before FBS

 

Anchor steam and racer 5 for me

 

MacAndrews Scotch Ale, last seen imported around 1998. Never had anything like it ever since.

 

Bass and Sierra Nevada twelve packs on special at Rite-Aid.

 

It was a classic love triangle - just the 3 of us:

First, from Newark, and I didn't even mind the move to New England
but, after the shift to Ft. Wayne, we drifted apart in the 80s and by
then new loves had come along...

Now, not even recognizable.

 

MGD and Grolsch. I cannot even drink MGD now, Grolsch is tolerable but cannot remember the last time I drank it and that is truly saying something. But my alcoholism began on either of those beers.

 

New Belgium Abbey. this was the old Abbey that tasted strongly of banana bread. I had tried a few craft brews before, but this beer was sort of a revelation. I thought "Wow! This beers tastes so much like banana bread and yet it only has malt, water, yeast, and hops!" That was my start down the road to craft beer nerddom.

 

JW Dundee's Honey Brown in college. Prior to that all beer was too bitter. My have times changed.

 

Went to the Flying Saucer in Charlotte in NC, never had a craft brew before in my life. Picked the copper ale from Olde Mecklenburg Brewery down the road and I was absolutely blown away by it. It was the beer that inspired me to get into trying craft beers and gave me the spark to want to homebrew. Have gone back to the same place over the years and it never fails to be the best beer I drink that night.

 

Chimay Red, bought a case when I certainly could not afford one.

 

I started drinking beer and tried all the same crap most college kids wean themselves on: Bud, Coors, etc. . .. If we were scraping for dollars, we could always get a 12 pack of Natural Light for under 5 bucks. Just tasteless stuff really, but we didn't care. Then when I moved to Colorado in the early 90's I started to appreciate the craft beers that were showing up around mountain towns. I was working at a fancy Italian restaurant in Snowmass which offered us a shift drink at the end of every night. My "go-to" beer was always Buffalo Gold by Boulder Beer. I came to love Buff Gold - it always signified the end of a hard nights work and it tasted damn good.

 

I split my time evenly between Beck's and Beck's Dark. 50/50.
Reminds me of ordering beer when I was in Prague. Every place had a choice between what they called light or dark. When I was there, I was too ignorant to dig deeper than that, but I loved the choice, and in some ways I look back on the simplicity fondly.

 

Ballantine Ale. Used to be able to find it on the shelves of the Marsh grocery stores in Muncie, Indiana, during the Carter administration. I was an underaged undergraduate then. But it had the recommendation of Hunter S. Thompson, and at the first sip I knew it was something a step above the typical American lager.

 

Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro

 

Guiness stout was my go to "fancy" college beer. Thought MGD was a great weekday beer too back then. By senior year of college, Saranac Adirondack lager was my favorite. Damn, the 90s were cheesy!