Do you remember what got you into craft beer?

Newcastle

 

Was on vacation last July and they had "mix a six" at the local grocery store. Don't have that where I live. Just started grabbing random beers that I had never heard of. From that point on I was hooked. I have found a couple craft beer stores in my area and almost never buy the same beer twice. Use this site for recommendations. By the way, my beer consumption has gone way up and so has the money I spend. LOL

 

I drank Coors Light exclusively for years. Got tired of it and started drinking Guinness. Wanted more and started looking around. Went into the local beer store and asked for other "draught beers" (I thought that was the style). After being corrected, and probably laughted at, I found some others and it was over after that.

 

For me it was having friends and family who enjoy craft beer. Sam Adams Honey Porter got me interested, but Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and GL Edmund Fitzgerald were the beers that got me hooked and I haven't looked back.

 

I guess it was Blue Moon that made me first realize there were other types of beers in the world besides BMC. After that I tried Sweetwater 420 and Sweetwater IPA since it is brewed in Atlanta and I live in GA. And then there is the brew that really sparked my interest in craft beer, and that was DFH 90 Minute. I will always love 90 Minute, not because it got me in to craft beer, but because it is amazing...

 

On a whim tried an Anchor Steam in the '70's. Liked it. Then went on to Pete's Wicked, Devil Mountain, Dockstreet, Long Trail, Saranac, Sam Adams, etc. etc.. Glad I was whimsical!

 

Mine is sort of a two-part story. I work in advertising. Years ago, one of my clients was Pete's Wicked Ale. I'd never heard of such a thing and was intrigued that there were beers out there NOT named Bud or Michelob. I had to do work on the account, so I had to do "product research"...that is, consume the beer.

Fast forward to about 3 years ago. A bar opened a block from my house whose focus was to constantly rotate their 15+ taps with nothing but beers I had never heard of. As the weeks went on and I continued to stop in, trying samples of some, half pints of others, my eyes were opened to this wide array of brewers, styles, and favors. I've been hooked ever since.

 

It was my parents friends. They always brought new beers that no one really drank so it sat in our garge fridge. Being young and adventurous I tried these beers no one would try. It also didn't help my mother was a manger of a bar so i tried to understand her work and the beer lingo she used. I fell in love with the different tastes an experiances i have had with craft beer. Alot of their friends also brewed their own beer most have stopped but i still pick their brains on what was good an bad for their brews.

 

1987 - I was given a bottle Samuel Smith's Nut Brown Ale - it was an epiphany.

 

An article about craft beer in motor trend. Lieberman drove a Cadillac cts v to the midwest looking for some beer. Lol

 

Never really enjoyed the macros, even as a "young" beer consumer. I was always buying something different such as imports, granted I didn't know too much about beer then. SNPA and SA Boston Lager were gateways, but SA Cream Stout really made me want to search for different styles. So I always give credit to that beer as me transformation moment. Oh my, that was 20 yrs ago.

 

It's part of the reason I love beer so much. I not only remember what the beer tasted like but I also remember where and when I had the beer most of the time.

There's a bar where I live that has around 60 taps. I was there one night and I had been dabbling in non craft craft(Blue Moon, Guinness, etc.) beers for a month or so and decided I wanted to dive in.

Ommegang Abbey Ale was the first truly craft beer I ever had. Hooked from that point on.

 

In high school if I actually had a choice it was always SN pale ale. Went into a macro slump in my mid twenties but now it's full steam ahead

 

Drinking Miller Light. I asked myself, "There's got to be something better?"

 

Went to college near Firestone Walker. My first sip of Union Jack is all it took and I've never looked back

 

Sculpin. Ordered it with no idea what it was.

 

Pikes Peak Brewing (Colorado Springs back in the early 90s). Their Red Granite Ale, along with the Old Chicago chain and a roommate who had been stationed in England got me hooked on good beer.

 

Grew up drinking Bells Solsun and Sammy Smith Taddy Porter or Oatmeal Stout, stopped drinking good beer and moved to hard alcohol for 15 years. Had half of a KBS at Christmas this year and I have been going crazy ever since.

 

I'd have to say it was these girls,

I drank a ton of crap beer and they never showed up, so after a while, I just gave up and looked for beer that tasted good. Although, I wonder what would have happened to AB if they spent their money on ingredients instead of advertising.

 

this was years ago....i was in the city and i just felt like having a guinness, they were out but the bartender recommended something similar. sixpoint otis stout....i was completely hooked after that. did some research about them, visited the brewery took in the free tour + samples. after that i became completely obsessed with trying new stuff, i was hooked on sixpoint for a while too they still put out fantastic beers...the mad scientist series is the best