Do you remember what got you into craft beer?

North Coast Red Seal Ale. When I was working the bar in college in the mid-90's. One sip and I was hooked on hops, though certainly not a hop bomb by today's standards.

 

Jesus

 

A strong desire to read about how much people could bench.

 

During college my buddy found this massive bottle shop in town and asked if I wanted to tag along when he went to go check it out. The rest is history...

 

Three Sheets with Zane Lamprey in Belgium got me excited to try Belgian beers and it progressed from there.

 

Sierra Nevada Kellerweis. It wasn't the first craft beer I'd had, but it was the first one I can remember having and thinking "this tastes so much different than 'beer' and I want more."

 

Unibroue Maudite

 

My father was a custom home developer and had bought a building that contained a pet shop at the time in 2007. When the housing market crashed, he said "well shit I might as well put this building I own to good use" and opened a liquor store. I used to work there after school and wanted something better to do besides push buttons on a cash register so I started dealing with all the distributors in the beer end of the business and thats how I arrived where I am today.

 

A trip to San Diego and about 12 breweries in 24 hours did it for me!!!!!!!!!!!

 

yep. pretty much this for me. tried something good and decided to explore

 

Blue Moon and Leinenkugels. And Alaskan Amber

 

I was that bud light/Coors drinker for YEARS until the day one of my good friends handed me a Hopslam. First sip of that and I wanted to drain pour it. He said "relax man. Sip this beer and savor it. Let the flavors run on your palate." I preceded to sip my first craft beer and watched how the flavors changed as the beer changed temperatures. This was a big difference from bud lights "cold urine to warm urine" taste I had experienced every time before this. Not to mention, I was drunk about 45 minutes later!

I gave my buddy a DL this year because I still feel like I owe him!

 

Not liking beer to begin with and A wine search on google that let me to beeradvocate.com and the rest is history.

 

I was 17 working with people,in their 20s. We'd go party on the weekends and they always had several Anderson Valley Beers around. I took a liking to the Oatmeal Stout and things took off from there. I also loved the original Pete's Wicked Ale back in the late 1980s before they changed the recipe.

I wonder how wealthy I'd be had those guys just been drinking Bud Light...

 

I lived in Germany for a little while in high school. I wasn't too interested in beer, but I had enough to know I'd never drink BMC again. I completely avoided alcohol throughout my 20s. Fast forward to my early 30s and, after a bad breakup, I decided to drink away my sorrows. I went to the store and, due to my experiences in Germany, steered clear of BMC, but didn't know what to get. The SNPA label looked inviting, and I thought I had heard good things about them, so I bought a sixer. Took one sip and totally forgot about that silly girl who broke my heart. Even before the alcohol hit, the aroma and flavors got me stoked. Kinda hard to imagine now, but at that time the hops were so intense to me in that beer. I've been a convert ever since.

 

My buddy in college gave me a swig of his Rogue Brutal Bitter bomber and the rest was history.

 

I took a trip to UK when I was 18 to visit some relatives after my high school graduation (without my parents)... it was there that I was first exposed to alcohol (since I was of the legal drinking age), so I had quite a few Guinness and was exposed to real ales. Nothing except craft over here compared.

 

Went to a Fullers pub with a friend. A long night of various cask ales later and I was hooked.

 

was at the mgm grand Detroit had atwater brewery dirty blonde from there the journey started