First beer to blow your mind.

La Fin Du Monde brought me into the fold of fine beer appreciation

 

Cantillon Gueuze back in 2002... I never knew beer could taste like this. Eye-opening, to say the least, for a college student.

 

Delirium Tremens for me, my gf went to Total Wine after work one day to grab a bottle of wine, and saw the beer. She picked up a bomber because she liked the bottle lol. It was the first time i'd tried and and needless to say I was very impressed.

 

Philly Beer Week 2010. Alpine Nelson just blew me away. I thought I would drink Pliny all week (being from the east coast), but Nelson just ruled!

 

Fin du mond, Gubna

 

Pliny the Younger! It was the first IPA I had that I liked. I didn't like Elder or Pig until i had it. Now i love them. weird.

 

Piraat by Van Steenberghe is the one that got me into beers. Had it at a local bar that had 100 (!) bottles. That was a huge number for me back then.

 

Anchor Steam in 1976 before craft was a term.

 

I gotta name two (because I can't remember which was first): Midnight Sun Arctic Devil and Pelican Mother of all Storms

 

Köstritzer Schwarzbier

 

Blanc de Bruges. It was the first Wit I ever got hold of, and it made me want to explore.

 

all are kinda cliche, but i have three. was in the Navy in the early 90s, drank "beer"... got stationed in Guam and a couple bars just had rows of English beers I'd never seen. Guinness and some beer they stopped carrying like a week after my first bottle (John something... John Bull, John Courage, hell if I can recall) were the first two that made me go "WOW! That Monty Python joke makes so much sense now!"

got back to the States and just boring beer. seeing Killians or Sammy on tap was exciting... the local supermarket started carrying Sammy Adams Double Bock and my roommates and i thought it was the best thing ever.

Fast forward about 15-20 years and even the local grunged out gas station/barber shop/tacqueria/market carries Dales, Odells, Ska, Deschutes, etc... Stuff I used to find amazing is just boring now. Can't remember the last time I've purchased either Guinness off-tap or Sammy.

 

Now you got me scratching my head about the MP reference- was it Eric Idle going on and on about Watney's bleedin' Red Barrel?

You may have been drinking Courage. I do remember around that time they would make a push every now and then, trying to get a toehold- offer steep discounts if retailers would get a large drop delivered. We'd pay less than $20/case, which was really good for a beer of that quality and I couldn't pass it up. Made for a great night of darts, too.

 

Kuhnhenn Bourbon Barrel Barleywine 2009.

I literally had to stop and sit down in order to process what I was experiencing.

After this, my buddy and I vowed to open one bottle every month for as long as we could. 3 years later and we're still on top of our mission (we vary the vintage every so often, but still pop the 2009's on the regular).

Absolutely life-changing.

 

1997 Montreal Canada....

I was a college kid looking to grab a scooter pop and a cheap buzz. My roomate grabbed a wildcat 22 oz of malt liquor I grabbed a 750 ML La Fin Du Monde. While brown bagging the Fin I was blown away by the flavors. I never had any beer like that. I definately caught a buzz as well as the beginings of of a full blown beer obsession.

 

Leinenkugel's Winter Ale about 20 years ago. Then my first Surly Abrasive forced me to rethink everything.

 

Spent 4 days backpacking in the Grand Canyon after college, had an Arrogant Bastard when I got back topside. I had only really drank Yuengling up to that point.

 

More likely Idle's "American beer is like making love in a canoe..." quote... although I think the joke is much older than that (1982's Live at Hollywood Bowl) nor originate with them. Seems like I heard it all my beer-dirnking life, even in the pre-craft era- as I sipped my Ballantine India Pale Ale and just grinned as the guy with the Heineken told it to me...

But I could be wrong.

 

Ah, yes- now it makes sense. I even have the recording (on vinyl!) where it may have originated- Live at City Center (1976) , but admittedly haven't played it for a while; still, that quote should have come to mind.

 

Yes, it was from the Hollywood Bowl performance, and that was the first time I had heard that joke.

Might have been Courage. So faded from 20+ years and the fact I only had it once. Was my first time at the bar, only time they had it, it was hot and humid that day. The bar was outside, so still hot and humid. Really hit the spot and tasted like no other beer. It was the perfect beer for that time and place. Tasted so cool and crisp... I cannot recall the name to save my life, aside from "John", but I can still small details about the taste from the mists of memory.