How Has Your Taste Changed Over The Years?

I used to hate IPAs, I drank a lot of Amber, Brown and Fruit Ales (Abita Purple Haze was a favorite), now IPAs and DIPAs are my favorites..,always loved Hefeweizens and still do

 

My appreciation of Stouts and Porters and equaled/eclipsed my love of IPAs.

 

Started with BMC (disliked a lot and almost stopped drinking beer), then moved to imports and Sam Adams, then to mixed sixers of anything I could afford at the end of college at John's Grocery (mostly stouts and porters, IPAs were too bitter), now basically everything that isn't an AAL.

 

As many others my first beer experience was with brands like Budweiser etc...(hangs head in shame). Then I tried Sam Adams and I couldn't believe the difference. Even though it was still quite some time before I got into craft beers (just now staring to learn) I knew that there was a world of difference.

 

I'm going to preface my response by saying that I'm not sure the younger beer-drinkers of today can fully appreciate what us old-timers had to endure. They never had to sit around and discuss whether Schlitz was better than Falstaff or Budweiser. I started out home-brewing back in the '70's because that was the only way to have a really flavorful beer. I had been exposed to German lagers during my military service in Europe and that was the first beer style that I brewed. When Anchor started making some good beers, I found myself trying and enjoying some new styles. But I can remember the first time I tried a Liberty Ale with my son and he commented that it was like the time I tricked him into chewing on a hop cone. I really disliked the fruity, floral hops and never thought I would ever develop a taste for beers made from them, especially ales which I thought were a second-class brew to lagers because of the earthy, yeasty flavor profiles. Fast forward 35 years and now you can't put too much hops in a beer for me. I had a Liberty Ale recently for old times sake (Anchor will forever hold a soft spot in my heart!) and it didn't taste at all hoppy. The next evolution in my taste preference involved Belgian ales. When I first tried one back in the 80's (a Chimay, I believe), I hated it and steered clear for many years. But as I began to broaden my beer horizons, I approached them again with an open mind and can remember vividly the transcendent experience of my first Saison Dupont. How far removed from a nice, clean, subtly-hopped German Pils is THAT? Taste certainly changes but opportunity plays a big role. Can you imagine the '60's where people might be saying "I started out liking PBR but my taste has evolved to the point that I now much prefer Old Milwaukee"? I think we early home-brewers deserve a lot of credit for where the beer scene is today, evidenced by the number of craft breweries that were founded by home brewers. Now can someone give an old-timer a hand down from this case of Stone I was using for a soap box...???

 

Moosehead was the first one then a lot of Michelob. Bought a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat, didn't care for it. Found Pete's Wicked Helles, fell in love with German style brews. Went to Sam Adams Lager and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, drank a lot of those two.

I read an article about the first craft beer bar that opened up in my state. First brew at that bar was Alpha King. I thought I heard angels playing harps in the background after the first sip and then turned into a a hop monster. Normal progression after that, porters, stouts, Belgiums and then sours.

My tastes changes all the time. Lucky to have a couple of good beer bars/taverns near me with great rotating tap lists.

 

Not sure how much of an "old timer" I am but I'd only had a few pale beers (Budweiser and such) before I went away to college in the early 80s. I'd been reading about Ireland and a few days after starting college I had my first Guinness... as I say on my profile bio statement, it was a transformative experience. After that, Guinness was my first choice for years, and in general I preferred any dark beer to the normal keg party stuff that was easily available. In 1989 I was in Washington and a guy from California told me I should try something from Chico called Sierra Nevada Pale Ale... a second milestone in my beer drinking (on that trip I'd also had quite a few of the local favorite Rainier for the first time). Once the 90s hit my income and the availability of good beers in the places I lived both increased, and it seems that since then there's always been something good available. But I still tended to go for porters and stouts (e.g. for a while Wild Goose Oatmeal Stout was my favorite beer... RIP) while also enjoying good lagers on occasion. The style that I have taken longest to enjoy has been ultra-hoppy IPAs. I still don't like them if they are not balanced, if they seem to be loading on the hops at the expense of everything else. I have enjoyed some fairly hoppy IPAs in recent years... but that would be the style it has taken me longest to appreciate.

 

Change? Me? Nah, never . . . wait, what did you say you were offering?

 

I have learn to appreciate IPA's.My love for
Heineken has stayed the same.