Do you remember your first?

My first actual craft beer was a Sam Adams Boston Lager. I was expecting it to taste like bread. I was wrong and drain poured it.

 

My first beer was a Guinness. We were out after work one night, and everyone was ordering beer. I let the peer pressure get to me and wanted to order a beer as well rather than Smirnoff or whatever the hell I was into at the time. Being at least aware of the consensus that Macro beer was basically swill, I racked my brain for some sort of alternative.

Since I am Irish I figured I'd like Guinness, right? After ordering a coworker next to me says, "you're a stronger man than I, I cannot handle drinking Guinness."

I was both proud and scared hearing this. And, while it sounds dumb now, at the time Guinness was really thick and seemingly heavy, and I remember it taking over an hour to choke down the huge glass.

Flash forward a few months and the beer that truly got me into craft was the Samuel Adams seasonal stuff.

 

My first was definitely a macro of some kind although I don't remember which one. I'm sure I drank some craft before 21, but again don't really remember. What I do remember is my roommate buying me a Champagne Velvet Amber at midnight on my 21st birthday. It was fantastic.

 

I grew up in Newfoundland, Canada, where there are only a few craft brewers there now and when I was first drinking they were really under the radar. There are were no imported craft beers and no IPA's (at all, even now). My dad drank pretty solid German Pilsners, so I'd say my first beer was something along the Holstein or DAB. I always loved beer, but my love of beer comes not from learning that I can buy good beer; it comes from discovering that truly magical beer exists which I could never buy at home.

My first real beer awaking was when I took a trip to France and bought a six pack of Leffe. It was the first time I had a beer with those esters or anything like an Abby beer. It was unbelievable. Whenever travailing from then on I looked to Abby beers and soon I discovered trappists beers and all of their joys.

One day at a brew pub in while travailing in Montreal (Réservoir) I saw a beer that said "India" in the title. There is an old beer called "India Beer" brewed by Molson (they bought the brand from an old brewery and homogenized it into a generic and overly sweet adjunct-lager) in Newfoundland which is a local legend for cheep party nights, so I thought I'd try this "India Pale Ale." My world shattered. I really tasted aroma hops for the first time. IPA's became my favorite beer style within a sip. At the time I had no idea about the West Coast, the hype of over-hopping into Hop Juice or any of that, I just realized that hops were wonderful and exotic and new. I wanted to see their limits. This was 2008. I was 23.

I got back to Newfoundland and had to learn about home brewing to get a hoppy beer. I brewed many, many IPA's searching for true hoppy-ness, with, I'll admit, a modicum of success.

I'm living in Ontario now and the craft scene here is really starting to do some interesting things and shake up the harmful liquor laws that hold craft brewers away from their market, but, again, most of the beers discussed on BA are still just out of my reach. The story of my life in beer.

Oh well, at least I have a Pliny in the fridge from my hop-tour of Southern California a week ago (still in search of the limits of hops), so maybe I'll have that now and try to remember that time when I first tasted hops. Or maybe it would be better to remember that as the last time I had a Pliny...

 

It was stout, and it's delicious! the double is twice as good.

 

Honey Brown, Oregon Raspberry Wheat, and Pete's Wicked Strawberry blond were the first craft style beers I tried. They tasted a lot better than Beast Ice.

 

RJ Rockers Son of a Peach ... still one of my go to beers during the summer.

 

I had my first "beer" around age 13. Not sure what it was. My parents used to host cook outs for their friends, and there would be a cooler full of beer in the yard, plus more in the fridge. At some point, me and my buddy realized that all the grown-ups were outside, nobody was guarding the fridge or counting how many beers were in there, and we might as well try one. We each stuffed a can in our shorts, walked out to the woods and had a brew. I didn't like it much, but I pretended like I did. It was probably a Lucky Lager or something like that--my parents bought the cheap stuff for those get togethers.

I was living in Chico when Sierra started, and tried their beers almost as soon as they became available back in the '80s. I'd like to say I was instantly converted, but the truth is that while I liked most of the SN beers (I definitely wasn't ready for Bigfoot!), I kept drinking BMC crap for another couple years, mainly because it was cheaper and more acceptable to my friends. I gradually replaced the Bud wit imported pilsners and SNPA as my income improved over the next 3-4 years.

 

First beer was budweiser. First craft was an Alpha King someone brought to a party my frosh year at IU, have not looked back.

 

My first real craft beer was Bell's Winter White. It opened my eyes up to better beer. Sadly, my pallet has moved on from that brew since.

 

my first beer ever was a coors light... still scarred from that... first craft would be a KBS...

 

Rogues Chocolate Stout and Samel Smiths Winter Warmer.

 

Beer would be Coors Light, followed by lots of rum and coke.
Craft Beer was DFH 90min IPA.

 

Yes, in 1985 tried Sam Adams. Never looked back to BMC.

Was drinking Haffenreffer Private Stock prior.....

 

I'm not sure I even remember. Probably Blue Moon. Duck Rabbit Milk Stout was the first real intro I had to actual craft. Two Hearted got me really into it though, that was like the real intro.

Of course there's the first beer period... Natty Light from a keg.

 

Mic Light, because that is what my father drank. Had my first Sam Adams in Indian Harbor Beach Florida in January of 1994, chad everything. First Barleywine in 1999 called Isle Pine, completely opened my eyes to the possibilities of what beer can be.

 

First beer was Corona Extra. First craft brew was Anchor Steam. First beer ordered from the bar was Kasteel Rouge. Corona Extra still makes me cringe...it's amazing I love beer as much as I do now considering that first experience.

 

I was around 8 or 9 years old. My grandfather use to give his Fox Terrier Ballentine XXX ... I use to steal and down the dog's bowl ... only thing different these days ... it's not in a dog's bowl!

"And in the end, the beer you take is equal to the beer others make" ... Walrus Gumboots

 

I had had 'good' beer before but was really not into the craft beer scene. Then one day I was at my local grocery store that had a very small build your own six pack section. I tried a few, Sam Adams IS being one that I remember liking a lot because it was so different than regular beers, but I still wasn't crazy into it. A couple weeks later I went to the liquor store and stumbled upon Hopslam, almost by pure accident, as I had never even heard of it. In fact, I don't even know why I picked it, I knew I liked hoppy beers and it was on display I guess. I opened one, and BAM! I have been a craft beer lover, boardering on obsession, ever since. Fast forward a few years later and Hopslam remains my all time favorite beer.

 

Widmer Snow Plow... oh how I miss that beer.