Do you remember what got you into craft beer?

American Adjunct Lagers got me into craft beer.

 

Xingu black beer; then DFH Midas Touch...

 

My friend had me try the Brooklyn brewery line up and I didn't look back.

 

Guinness, believe it or not. I grew up around many high quality german lagers and wheats.... but frankly, neither really turn me on.

ah, but a stout. Even a mass produced one, was pretty good. Made me seek out the very good ones....

 

My last year in college I would periodically get a six pack of decent beer...anchor steam begat blue moon which begat hoegaarden. But it opened my eyes to other options beyond the cheapest 30 pack of cans on the shelf..call them my gateway beers. Now, whenever I go out of town the first thing I look for is the local brewery or the best beer bar. It's been a fun ride the last 15 years.

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale back in 2007. Before that, I was all wine...

 

It was kind of a slow progression for me. When I was growing up, my uncle always brought either SNPA or Guinness to family gatherings. I'd tried a sip or two here and there when I was a kid, but I didn't really like the taste. As I got older, my dad started getting stuff like JW Dundee's Honey Brown, and my mom, a die-hard non-beer drinker, started buying Victory beers for others to drink at get togethers.

By the time I got to college, I could only afford a decent 6er once a month or so, so we drank awful shit beer most of the time, but it made the "craft" beers that I got (Honey Brown, Guinness, Newcastle, SN, SA, etc.) all the more enjoyable when I could actually buy them. After I graduated, I got into homebrewing, and it opened up a whole new world for me. I wanted to learn about each style, try commercial examples, and then brew my own. Learning about beer in all its facets has enriched my life significantly.

 

It has been an evolution with a rather loosely defined origin. Thinking about it in general terms rather than "what was your first craft beer" specifically? Honestly...realizing I didn't need or want to spend days swilling cheap beer just to drink "beer", getting drunk, and thinking that was having a good time. Understanding that having much less volume of really good beer with true friends was a better experience. Plus being gainfully employed so I could afford better beer - just there wasn't much to choose from in my area in the late 80's. Kind of loosely coinciding with Boston Beer showing up on the scene - readily available and affordable. Might be slightly heretical, but Sam's is still a "go to" for me.

The history, plus the science and art of brewing keeps it fresh. If it was just about drinking beer, I would have picked one or two favorites by now and called it a day. There is always something to learn, and always something new to try.

 

Smithwicks actually. It was the first beer I had that I actually really enjoyed the taste of. It made me want to try more.

 

I'm currently enrolled in that program as well- 27 credits in. They were not responsible for my dive into craft, but I love their selection and their food. I miss going to this place. Something tells me there will be a trip soon.

 

Try having in it Ireland! Wow.

 

I plan to one of these days.

 

Summer cookout. Everyone had to bring either a dish to pass or a six pack of a NY state craft beer. Had a Blue Point Hoptical Illusion and I've been hooked ever since.

 

tried samuel smiths oatmeal stout - bought it from the beverage center down the road as a joke while on the usual Keystone run for the party (21 at the time). I thought oatmeal stout sounded like the grossest thing I could possibly buy. Turns out I was right (at the time Keystone to that was a bit of an extreme leap) but then I bought Mississippi Mud again because it was different and in a cool "jug." Then it was off to Saranac Black Forest and Magic Hat... years later here I am loving oatmeal stouts barleywines and imperial IPA's...if I tried an imperial IPA back then I probably would have never got into craft beer because back then I hated beer with any kind of flavor!

 

FLAVOR.

 

Mr. Beer!!! My kids got me one from Bed Bath & Beyond for Father's Day ages ago and that's how I started brewing my own craft beer. I started drinking craft beer when I was recruiting in Crystal Lake, Illinois and a local sports bar called Spikes, which is closed now, had a Centurion Club where you drank 100 different beers. I was hooked.

 

Sam Adams initially, but Rauchbier Spezial really got me going--I needed to find more beverages that tasted like that.

 

seeing this thread 3x a week

 

SNPA

 

Was at a cookout and we ran out of Budlight. A beer run was ade but they brought back warm beers so I was saying I wanted a cold beer soon and my friend handed me a Goose Island IPA. I was 5 beers deep into them before I knew what had happen. Started seeking out more craft and more craft beers soon after that.