First "Good Beer" Experience!

Sam Adams Boston Lager back in college. It was a significant change from PBR I'd been drinking up to that point.

 

I have to say the first beer that really changed the way that I thought about beer was duvel. I remember tasting my first sip of that white frothy foam and couldn't believe how good it tasted. Duvel had the perfect crisp flavor that masked the 9% alcohol so well. It was the catalyst to my beer obsession, particularly in Belgium beers, which transferred over into IPA's.

 

My 1st good beer was my 1st beer my Dad let me try at a very young age. It was a 12oz bottle of Stroh's on a hot summer day after him and I finished mowing the yard. He said it was my reward for helping him out. I loved that one and in my book there is no such thing as a "bad" beer unless it is skunked. Regarding really good "craft beer" Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my 1st craft beer and I have been pursuing good craft beers ever since.

 

zid nailed it...
The first beer I thought was good was my first beer - a Budweiser in a tallboy can given to me and my best friend to share by our dads on a fishing trip when we were about 11 or 12. After that, we were always asking for (or stealing) it from them whenever we were all together...if our mothers were not around. Fast forward about 20 years and I thought Fat Tire was the king of beers.

 

I went from Bud, to Brooklyn's Local 1. After 20 years of drinking nothing but Bud. I was stunned. To say the least. Since then, I must've had 3 Budweisers. Two on tap. And they tasted just as nasty as their bottled counterpart.

 

For me it was a Pako's IPA frm Snake River Brewing in Jackson Wyoming. Just great stinky, piney IPA rock soild everytime. I swear it is better out of a can than on tap.

 

It was hard to find back then. I'd order a case so I'd have some.

 

Anchor Liberty Ale (in '78)
Never had the chance to try the original Ballantine IPA

And yes...Mackeson was my first favorite stout !

 

When I was 17 I drank some very good beer.... Honey Brown. I still hit it up once in a while for nostalgia purposes. and then I put this on.....

 

Weinstephaner original. very literally changed my life

 

Anchor Old Foghorn before it was being bottled. It would show up on draught once in a while..great stuff : )

 

Thank god for the Sunset Grill in Allston. They had it for a long time.

 

That's where the Old Foghorn was on tap occasionally too. Just about the only place you could find "good" beer and the food wasn't bad either. Glad it's still there.

 

My first good beer experience came in college, after spending all my high school years swilling down whatever was cheapest, or Coors Light when someone had some money.

A college buddy introduced me to Sam Adams BL and Octoberfest, Newcastle Brown, and Full Sail Session Lager, and I'd like to be one of the folks who can say "it was all over at that point", but despite being a big jump up from swill, none of those beers really blew me away enough to leave a lasting impression. Admittedly, during that time beer took a distant back seat to girls and partying.

It wasn't til around 9 years after that I got a wild hair and bought a bottle of Weihenstephaner Hefe, THEN it was all over at that point. That was the first light-switch, "WOW" moment.

 

Sam Adams Imperial Stout

...my gateway beer...

 

I have always liked to try different brews when we went to restaurants. Guinness, Sam Adams Boston Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was always the go to brews back in the day. The first time I went to a real beer bar and looked at the tap List and knew nothing on it. Knew a little on brewing and saw Alpha King and ordered it, my buddy said "if he ordered it then I want one too". After we had our first sip we pulled a Wayne's World "Whoa!" moment.

 

I HATED beer until I took a trip to Europe in college. Drinking local beers in Belgium and having liters of beer served to me at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich changed that.

Graduated from college and moved 2 miles from Kuhnhenn. Fogetaboutit.

 

Newcastle was the first beer that I actually liked, back when I was 21. But I didn't really care about beer until Samuel Smith's Imperial Stout; that started me down the road to ruin(ing of my bank account and liver.)

 

My first "good beer" experience was back in 2012 when I "stole" one of my dads cans of Guinness. Admittedly, I was underage and Guinness likely isn't the best way to get into beer different thank Budweiser, Coors, etc. but that day really changed my outlook on beer. I've never looked back since then and I do enjoy Guinness once in awhile (it's much better on tap). I will occasionally pick up some Bud but only when there are no other options (like tonight).