The first beer that you loved

Schlitz beer. Hell yeah! Why? I'm glad you asked.

It was 1975. Gerald Ford was president and the BeeGees ruled the airwaves. I lived next door to my paternal grandparents. I loved them very much and I would visit them daily, often right after I got home from kindergarten.

My grandfather, whose parents emigrated from Germany, had grown up on an Oklahoma farm before enlisting in the Marine Corps and serving in the South Pacific during "The Great War."

Grandpa was a bad ass. He'd put away at least a case of Schlitz per day. I'm not talking about malt liquor, but regular Schlitz lager beer in 12 ounce cans. I've never been able to find the stuff on the west coast and I've looked frequently.

My grandmother, a fair-skinned and fiery-haired woman from Idaho would, from her craft room, loudly "remind" her betrothed that it was nearing dinnertime, he was still wearing pajama bottoms, and had yet to consume anything solid all day. He would just growl "Damnit woman, there's ham and eggs in every can!" But I digress.

I would walk in, plant a peck on grandma's cheek, and she'd ask about my day. I'd reward her with a crayola masterpiece, and then eagerly join my grandpa at the kitchen table.

I was young but we had gone through this routine dozens of times. He'd produce a "special" plastic cup. It was MY cup, translucent pink and bedecked with dancing monkeys or some shit. Grandpa would fill that little cup up with a good 5-6 oz of malty goodness, sprinkle a dash of salt on the foamy head, and slide it across the table. To this day I still salt my beer.

If I tasted one now, I'm not sure I wouldn't just spit it out, but deep down in my psyche, that amazing, incredible, wonderful decades old flavor still lingers on my taste buds, defining how beer should taste. Maybe someday I'll experience the innocent wonder of that taste again.

 

This may be the most: in depth, detailed, image provoking beer tale I have ever read.

 

Weihenstephaner Hefe

 

My father kept Lowenbrau and Schlitz in he fridge, way back, never counted them, and I assumed he assumed that they were for the having. It was so. He was a decorated Army officer from the beach assault campaign at Leyte in The Philippines. He told me simply that he had no fear left. We drank beer often out in the back yard, accompanied by Mike the iconic Pointer. I learned a lifetime of wisdom drinking those beers and listening to a great man just happy to be alive. He told me to never fight in a war in southeast Asia. He sent me to Europe when I was 20 and it changed my life forever.
We picked up Mom's dad and mom at the train station at 1 AM. They were coming in from Birmingham. J.B. Holt, upon arriving at our house, looked in the fridge and declared, "Mary Lou, "you're long on milk and short on beer!!" I was a little boy and this man was larger than life. These were the hereditary Germans, from colonial times to the Confederacy. He was a cowboy in California in the early 1900s. He was cramazing! J.B. introduced me to beer when I was a boy. He said that I should learn sooner rather than later. This man regaled me with family lore, stories and images that stoked my imagination for life. I'll never for a second forget any of these memories and the little bit that beer had to do with such great people, my Dad and Grandpa. Thanks.

 

PBR in 16 ounce cans with Coors Banquet beer coming in at a close second.

 

You haven't found Schlitz since 1975? Where've ya been looking?

Sure, sales of the brand (#2 in the US with over 16 million bbl. in '75) went down in the late '70s as the company screwed with the recipe and the brewery eventually crashed, and was purchased by Stroh in the early '80s. Schlitz had a brewery in Southern California (Van Nuys) and Stroh continued to brew the brand there and at its other breweries around the US. Even as it moved into lower marketing segment and sales fell to under 10% of the peak, 1m bbl. of Schlitz was sold by Stroh in their last year 1999.

Sure, Pabst "revived" the brand - for a time they even had two different "Schlitz's" on the market in different regions, the discount brand and the new so-called "Schlitz Gusto/1960s Recipe" version, which somehow contained hop varieties like Mt. Hood, Cascade and Willamette - none of which were even commercially available in the 1960s.

So, if you do find Schlitz, don't expect the same beer. The recipe went through numerous changes in the 1970s and, likely, the 1980-90s under Stroh and is now brewed by MillerCoors for Pabst with those new hop variets. Even Schlitz's own recipe could vary in the 1970s - from a 1976 "Schlitz Quality" ad:

 

Gumballhead!
Still remember the first time trying it. And it's the beer that started it all for me getting into craft beer.

 

Boston Lager was my first eye-opener...though possibly some other import came before. Don't recall. It was 30 years ago

 

Konig Ludwig Hefeweiss on tap at the Peoria, IL Hofbrau. Changed my life.

 

Weihenstephaner Hefe

 

I drank lots of Busch Light and Bud Light in college. It was fine and all, but I didn't really *love* it. I then went to a microbrewery (now closed) and had some sort of "red." Maybe it was an amber, but had red in the name. I bought a growler and took it home. And I learned that you can't hoard a growler. It'll go bad pretty quickly.

Later that year this girl I knew convinced me that Dos Equis Amber was a better beer than regular Dos Equis. And she was right. It was a good beer. Not great, but good.

Then I discovered Michelob Amberbock. THAT was the first beer that I loved. And started me down this beer rabbit hole.

 

Rolling Rock and Magic Hat #9. You can tell from both of those selections that I'm A.) from Philadelphia and B.) under 30.

 

Arrogant Bastard. And still almost always in my fridge

 

Within just one day of being on this site you've managed to be in the running for post of the year. Well done sir

 

This was a long time ago, late 60s, and I can't even remember what brand it was (Father Hate usually drank Schlitz but they may not have offered this) but my dad brought home a sixer of Oktoberfest and gave me one. My eyes just lit up at the coppery color and the taste was a major revelation of how different but good beer could taste. Needless to say I was bummed that it was strictly a seasonal but made an internal reminder to snag those bad boys in the future whenever possible.

 

I "liked" Miller Lite for a while, but Fat Head's Bumbleberry was the first time I had beer and realized that it could actually taste really good.

 

Boulevard tank 7 and victory Helios.

 

Yesterday
Welcome to BA, btw

 

I'm not sure I really loved it but the first beer that got me into the craft scene was Sam Adam's Winter Lager. From there I think my first love was likely Arrogant Bastard - still one of my favorites today.

 

Yuengling Porter. It was available in bomber bottles at my favorite bar in the early 90s and was relatively cheap (which was vital in those days). Before that, everything was indistinguishable fizzy yellow piss.

I have not had this beer in years - maybe decades. I am now committed to finding a bottle and writing a review.