What was your gateway craft beer?

5 Rabbit's Cacao. I didn't want to drink it (because I didn't think I liked stouts or anything other than Miller Lite), but my friend just said, "shut up and try it". It was amazing, and I was hooked.

 

Pete’s wicked strawberry blonde and Pyramids apricot ale.

Beer can be fruity and still be beer.

Mind blown

 

Guess I'm going to show my age here; but Catamount was my first taste of craft beer. Catamount started in the late 80's a mile from my house in White River Junction Vermont. I actually have two of those 1989-90 beers, still full in my man cave. However what sold me on craft beer was Cadilac Mountain Stout. Being in Vermont I have the choice of some of best craft beers in the World.

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in 1983 at Spike's Place in San Luis Obispo CA. Later, I got a job as a bartender at Spike's where we served 45 beers from "around the world". In the early 80's that was a pretty massive beer list!

 

My gateway beer was Bass Ale. I was always a Miller guy, then one cold Thanksgiving day, tailgating at my son's high school football game, I tried a Bass Ale. I have never looked back.

 

Tommyknocker Butthead stout from Idaho Springs, Colorado. I have drank Guinness, Beamish, Mackeson XXX and dark beers fresh from the brauerei in Germany, including Andechs. I love stouts. Tommyknocker was peddled here in Phoenix for a while. The Budweiser crowd couldn't handle it. I may have to go back to Colorado to get some more.

 

So I have 2 distinct gateway beers (which is a kickass term) they were New Glarus Moon Man and PBR. Now I know you are thinking "PBR isn't craft get this schmuck out of here" but please hear me out. I was first introduced to beer when I started playing rugby in college (surprise surprise) before then I only really drank mixed drinks and thought that beer tasted like shit. Then at my first post match party I got hammered on the cheapest pisswater rugby dues could buy (I believe it was Keystone) and I decided "hey this beer stuff isn't too bad." From then on I did drink beer but was hesitant trying things other then the keg at 123 rugby house lane. It wasn't until 4 games later where a friend brought a case of PBR along with the keg and proceeded to hand me one saying "its like old timey keystone." I took a drink and was kind of shocked, yes of course it had a very beery taste but unlike keystone or bud light it didn't taste half water half beery. It tasted like someone said "you know that shitty beer taste that you get when you drink keystone that doesn't stick around too long because no one would dare drink a beer like this warm? lets make a beer that tastes like that!" Thats what blew me away was someone could make a beer that tasted different than a "regular beer" and to hell with it being good or not it just tasted different. Along with the PBR that day I did later that evening try a Moon Man from another friend I made that night and I wound up really enjoying that beer. Still to this day I always recommend moon man to anyone who is dipping their toes in the craft world. I also use the fact that PBR should taste the exact same everywhere you go to test tap lines in the bar before I go spending 10 bucks on a fancy beer where the bar doesn't even keep clean lines.

TLDR: Learned I loved different beer when I found PBR and Moon Man on the same night

 

In college in the 70s, I mostly drank Coors. Back then it was a regional beer and had a cut-like following. (The movie Smoky and The Bandit was based on getting a load of Coors down to Florida!)

But it was probably back in the mid-80s when i started buying Moosehead Lager fairly regularly, followed at some point by Sam Adams Boston Lager. Baby steps at the time, but now I love some nice DIPAs .... Dogfish 90 Minute, Stone IPA, etc.

 

Sometime during the mid-90s, I came home from college for winter break and was introduced to Harpoon Winter Warmer. Christmas in a bottle. I had no idea beer was capable of carrying such flavor. This led to a literal avalanche of craft beer experiments Red Hook ESB, Old Thumper, Magic Hat #9 (still holds a special place in my heart), and the beer that, to this day, is my favorite everyday bottled beer: Smuttynose Shoals Pale Ale.

I was lucky to find my beer palate during my college years, but that also meant I had no money and could barely afford to indulge in my new hobby. Genesee Cream Ale stood in as a cheap imitation during those lean times.

 

Anchor Steam in 1988 at McCormick & Kuleto's, Ghirardelli Square, San Francisco. It's still my go to beer anytime I'm eating clam chowder.

 

Back in college... Killians Irish Red and Summit EPA

 

Catamount Gold, Amber, and Porter. Long Trail Bicentennial ale.

 

It was probably 1983 84ish and the beer was Sprecher Hefeweizen here in Milwaukee. From there it was import Hefe’s and Pete’s Wicked Ale, Sierra Nevada PA, Killians Red (which was craft to me back then), etc.

 

The year was 1986. I remember it like it was yesterday. The beer was St. Stan’s Amber Alt, out of Modesto, California. At the time,
It tasted like no other beer that I had ever had. No, this was definitely not my fsther’s Shlitz beer. I have never looked back since. I have literally tasted thousands of craft beers since that first one. Although they may have their place, Budweiser and Coors will never be found inside of my refrigerator.

Prior to St. Stan’s Amber Alt, the closest thing to a craft beer that I ever tasted was Anchor Steam Beer out of San Francisco, California. The year was probably 1978. I enjoy it still today, both because it still tastes good and because it holds sentimental value for me

 

The entire range of Chimays for me...red, white, and blue caps

 

Boulder Beer, it was in the '70s and I had brought a couple of 6-packs home from a trip to Boulder. Somehow, a couple of bottles got pushed to the back of the fridge and stayed there for a few months before I located them again. With a bit of extra ageing, they were super. I was hooked. Other good ones were from Ron McNeil's brewery in Brattleboro and Tank 7 from Boulevard. Sometimes, the beer just happens to match the moment when you taste it.

 

Yeungleng porter, may not be what everyone else calls a gateway, but for me it was the start

 

Zombie Dust!

 

Yuengling, Lord Chesterfield Ale, The Brickhouse, State College PA, 1987.

I'm not sure if craft beer was a term yet, but that beer helped me realize that there were breweries out there producing beers outside of the norm for that period. (ignoring imports)

 

Two Brother's Cane & Ebel. This was not my first craft beer, but one that got me hooked. Can you believe they added sugar to a beer!? Crazy, I love it!