The first beer that you loved

It all started with La Trappe Quadrupel.

 

Falstaff brewed Ballantine. Can't remember the beer, but I'll never forget the label.

 

Firestone Walker Pale Ale...later renamed Pale 31.

 

Rolling Rock

 

Franziskaner Hefeweizen

 

Ice cold IRON CITY BEER!!!! Drank barrels of it back in the day. Used to get 16oz. returnable bottles (anyone else get or remember these?) the glass was about 1/8 th of an inch thick, it came in a cardboard case that was like plywoodish thick and just as strong and weighed about 75lbs. when full!!!

 

When I was a kid (junior high and high school) my parents kept Shiner Bock in the fridge pretty much at all times and I would sneak a bottle or two here and there. I loved it, couldn't get enough of it. I now know they knew I was sneaking the stuff, but I kept myself somewhat under control thinking they wouldn't notice a missing bottle here and there.

That was my first beer I loved. I think from there I moved to Guinness and then Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. I still love Samuel Smith beer, excepting the Organic Chocolate Stout. Samuel Smith was the first time I noticed a brewery and seeking out beers from that brewery.

 

Hoegaarden. The first whiff of that coriander-rich aroma was SO different and SO superior to any other beer I'd ever had at that point in time, and the orange was also a big plus.

 

Molson Golden when I was in high school.

 

It's laughable now with all of the great Christmas beers in Ohio's distro but Blue Moon Winter Abbey Ale was the first beer that I really thought had a lot of flavor in it.

As far as strictly non BMC Rochefort 10. I didn't like IPA's when I first tried one, it took a little getting used to but they're definitely some of my favorites now.

 

Summit Maibock. Nice and malty, great transition beer.

 

Red Hook ESB.

 

PBR. Watching my dad drink it when I was growing up or Old Milwaukee that I got hammered on when I turned 21

 

St Pauli girl dark and Becks Dark in the late 80's. No mention of my age but
understand that good brew was hard to find then.

 

Augustiner Dark Lager. Had it on tap way back in 1991 while living in Germany. In the US? Irish Ale from the now closed Mishawaka Brewery. That would have been 1993. Too bad the quality of their beers suffered in later years.

 

German Lowenbrau.A very long time ago.

 

Black Diamond Brewing Rampage. I was crushed when they stopped distributing to the area. I ended up buying the remaining stock at a store near me when I found out they weren't shipping this way anymore.

 

My dad was a Stroh's guy so that was the first beer I ever had. I wouldn't say that I fell in love with it, but it still has some nostalgia going for it. Throughout my early drinking career, I drank the typical macro swill. Taste was not really a consideration so much as cost and availability. When I had my first Michelob Amber bock, that sparked something, however. It was the first beer I had that "stood out" from the pack, and while I would not consider it great today (and would not buy a BMC product even if I did) Amber bock was the first beer that I designated as a special occasion beer that I would have when taste mattered. I also had a Rolling Rock phase.

Eventually, I began my transition to craft. Like many people, SA Boston Lager was my first craft beer. I did not fall in love with it, but it was a nice change of pace. (There are other SA beers I genuinely love to this day, like the Scotch Ale.)

The beer that fully sold me on craft, though, was Arrogant Bastard and its still one of my favorites to this day.

 

2010 The Abyss... I liked other beers before it but that one flipped the 'love' switch