Do you remember what got you into craft beer?

As a kid, my dad started collecting beer cans. (it was a very 70's thing to do) I'm convinced that opened some little door in my mind, that made me want to search out beer. Of course, by the start of the 80's, the old regional breweries had all but disappeared. When I hit legal age, the choices were pretty dismal. There were a few bottle shops that stocked a lot of imports, and I was exposed to a few German and British beers, but American beer still was just the standard lagers. (Killians was exotic) Then the tide turned. Micro-breweriers started popping up, and it was good. Now, there are more breweries in the US, than any time since prohibition. In general, the quality is better than the early micros, too. It's a good time to be alive. (for us beer drinkers, anyway)

 

A relative bought me a Christmas variety 12 pack for Christmas. I drank the whole thing in one night. Troegs Mad Elf blew my mind. Now I am a craft beer douche and I brew my own beer as well. Next up...bourbon barrel porter.

 

Delirium Tremons, I had a few others (Blue Moon, Leine, etc.) but nothing rocked my world like DT.

 

Sam adams took me into craft brews..as im sure they did for most ppl in the northeast..seeing their beers in 7-11s got me to want to try more of their styles which led me to beer distributors and the rest is history...fast forward 5 years later and their boston lager is still one of my 5 favorite beers

 

Started with Cloverleaf's MBA program

Which, was a nice start but didn't really get my jimmies excited. Then KBS released this year and the hunt really got me excited, pile on my promotion to beer manager at my store and it became my most recent obsession.

 

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I would have to say first was Guinness, then it was Bell's Oberon but at the time it was named Solstice and Founder's Breakfast Stout, it was all down hill from there lol!

 

A bar in college had a large assortment of beers and if you drank them all you got a plaque. I was attempting to drink all of the beers and just fell in love with craft beer. I remember people warning me of how hard Dogfish Head 90 was to drink. My roommate "accidentally" left his in the bathroom because he didnt like it.

 

I agree, I think it's as much the hunt for the whales as it is the great product...

 

A friend of mine wanted to build a coffee table and line the top of it with different bottle caps, so we started trying any weird beer just to get the cap, and well the rest is history and my liver will never forgive me.

 

I've been bartending for years, and last year I started working at a bar that gets some pretty solid stuff on draught (Lindley Park, Hopslam, Sexual Chocolate, just to name a few)... after that it was all down hill.

 

for me it was pretty simple. I was a freshman at Colorado State U in Fort Collins in the early 90's. You couldn't help but get into craft beer there and then.

 

Gotta agree with you, bro. We'd occasionally get some imported lagers such as Lowenbrau, Estrella Galicia, and Fosters, but the game changing beer for me was Samuel Adams Boston Lager. To this day, it's still one of my favorite beers.