Greg Noonan's Smoked Porter from the Vermont Pub & Brewery in Burlington, VT. He inspired more than a few of us to leap into authentic artisanal brewing.
Sam Adams Boston Lager Hooters 1988 or 89 in Ft Myers ,FL . They had some paper table ads for Sam Adams so i ordered one . noticed sediment in the bottom of the bottle at that time i wasn’t sure what it was . I remember loving the ale and never looked back.
First tastes beyond BMC were German, English and Belgian beer. First craft was most likely Great Lakes Dortmunder.
My first craft beer was Sam Adams back in 1994. I was invited to my boss' house for a Christmas party and he gave me that bottle. It blew me away.
Yeah, and if I am remembering correctly, it seemed to be Arcadia's answer to HopSlam which had been recently introduced. And it was a great answer -- I think I liked Hop Rocket better.
For some reason, Old Rasputin. It was reaily available in my local convinience store, and I thought it was the bomb, because I found it sweet, not bitter unlike Guinness(crazy right) and it would wreck me in no time. I knew nothing about beer so obviously I would have it ice cold and from a can, and it never occured to me that it's supposed to taste like dark chocolate and stone fruits.
Growing up in Westetn New York in the 1960s, I recall Genesee Spring Bock popping up in my hometown, and I’m believing this seasonal brew is probably the first regional ‘craft’ beer I had experienced.
I have one can of Genny Bock in the fridge from a 12 pack purchase a few months ago. This beer is a best bang for the buck beer. Cheers!
I've told this story before in a similar past thread, but to recap: "My dad worked in the auto industry when I was a kid, primarily for Mazda. Because of this, we used to get Autoweek magazine...well, every week. Which 12-year old me would promptly devour cover to cover every Wednesday. Satch Carlson was a writer for the mag at the time, and I recall once reading an opinion piece of his called something like "by your cars we shall know you". One of the parts of that piece was talking about RX-7 owners, and to this day I still recall his description as "Willing to drive ridiculously long distances to sit on hillsides and watch other RX-7s drive ridiculously fast. Beer of choice: Anchor Steam when available, long neck Pearl when not" (albeit possibly paraphrased through the lens of time). Now this must have been 1988 or so, and to my preadolescent mind there simply was nothing cooler than watching rotary-powered sports cars go insanely fast. I knew nothing about beer, but I knew I HAD to drink whatever Anchor Steam was. By the time my formative beer years rolled around, I started with the one beer I knew: Anchor Steam. My entire beer drinking life basically started with that beer, and now here at 42 (edit: now 47) Anchor is still a favorite. If anyone out there in BA-land knows the ex-Autoweek writer Satch Carlson - tell him thanks, and cheers!"
Must have been early 90's in Kalamazoo MI. I subbed on a friends softball team, and after the game, we went to a bar and they got pitchers of this cloudy, orange colored beer called Solsun. I thought it was the most vile crap I'd ever tasted, and ordered a bottle of Michelob Dry, my go to at the time. My taste has evolved since then, although I still think Solsun Which Became Oberon is overrated. And I'd love to try Mich Dry again.
