Top 5 Beers +One

Schlenkerla urbock
Bcbs
Nugget nectar
Weihenstephaner original
Enjoy by unfiltered

There wasn't one definitive beer that got me into craft. I went from bud and keystone onto straub and blue moon. I'd say sam adams octoberfest is probably the most pivotal switch beer. After in tried it I began always trying something new.

 

Founders CBS
BCBCS
Black Tuesday Reserve
Prairie bomb! (Fred's Blend)
Heady topper

The beer that got me into craft:
Brooklyner Schneider-weisse on tap

 

Heady Topper - on tap and can
Abrasive
Bourbon County Coffee
Eclipse 20 yr Elijah Craig.
Kbs

 

Bcbs
Pliny
Kern river citra
Waldo's
Born yesterday

Got crafty with blue moon, then a Sierra Nevada hoptimum pushed me over the line

 

1.Stone Sublimely Self Righteous
2. Hailstorm Cumulus
3. Perennial Abraxas
4. Firestone Walker Parabola
5. Mikerphone Lunches, Brunches, and Interviews

And the beer that got me into craft beer was Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome.

 

1. Duvel
2. Jever
3. Gulden Draak 9000
4. La Fin du Monde
5. Barrel-aged Monster's Park variants

The list is pretty funny considering much of what I drink by volume are various IPA and Imperial Stout variants.

I grew up in Germany so everything I drank then would be called "craft beer" here. I had all sorts of imported pilsners, craft pale ales and IPAs here over many years and never considered myself a beer geek. Funnily enough what eventually sent me down the rabbit hole was a suitcase-imported Gouden Carolus Classic at a friend's house.

 

Prairie Pirate Bomb!
Sixpoint Hi-Res
Cigar City White Oak Aged Jai Alai
Rodenbach Alexander
Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA

+

Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA for getting me into craft beer

 

In no particular order:

SN Narwhal
Founders KBS
Bell's Expedition
Alesmith Speedway
Brooklyn BCS

Gateway beer . . . I don't really recall. I am a bit recent to this beer thing . . . out of the blue my 2015 New Year's Resolution was: drink 100 different beers. In the previous ten years I might not have had 100 total. If asked my favorites at the end of 2014 I might have answered Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and Stella Artois . . . somewhere early in 2015 that changed. Two I remember making an impression early on were: Goose Island The Muddy and Great Lakes Eliot Ness.

 

In No Particular Order:

BCBS
Founders KBS
Odd Side Ales Hazels Nuts
Four Fathers Bourbon Barrel Aged Wheelhouse (coffee stout)
Old Dominion Morning Glory espresso stout (this one is a cheap readily available Dover DE beer, but to me it's REALLY good).

One that got me into craft beer for real? Backwoods Bastard, just over a year ago now.

 

In no particular order (I like WAY more than 5 beers)....

Hardywood Bourbon Barrel Gingerbread Stout
Founders Breakfast Stout
Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
Founders Backwoods Bastard
BCBS

I have a thing for stouts, especially barrel aged. Sculpin deserves a honorable mention, it started me on IPAs, which I have kind of grown out of. I usually stick to stouts in the fall/ winter and IPAs in the summer.

+1 would be Sam Adams Oktoberfest for starting me down the craft beer rabbit hole.

 

The beer that got me into craft beer was Samuel Adams. It still remains one of my favorites. My top 5 favorites:
Founders Breakfast Stout
Saison DuPont
St Bernardus ABT 12
Duvel
Chimay (any of them)

 

+1 for ole' Sam Adams. It still holds a special place in my heart.

 

No way I can narrow it down to just 5...but my gateway into American Craft beer was Pete's Wicked Ale

 

I don't really have a top 5 either. If I did it would be regularly changing. But these 5 probably made the biggest impact (in terms specifically of "craft" beer - i.e. to me that doesn't include UK/Belgian/German/etc beers that predate, or are not influenced by, the US craft scene)

In no order

1. HF What Is Enlightenment
2. HF Abner
3. GI BCBCS
4. Mexican Cake
5. KBS

The gateway craft beer was Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout - made my head explode when I first tried it. Had no expectations, and just couldn't believe a beer could taste like that. Also particularly impressive as it didn't actually contain chocolate etc.

 

The first 2 of my top 5 are locked in as of now. The others change constantly.

3-5. Southern Tier Pumking (that's right, a pumpkin beer)
3-5. Alaskan Smoked Porter
3-5. Stillwater/Westbrook Gose Gone Wild
2. Pliny the Elder
1. Central Waters 17

The one that really got me started was Four Peaks The Raj IPA. Always hated IPAs until I had that one and from then on IPAs have been my go to beer.

 

Really excited to crack open a Brooklyn BCS tonight after reading these quotes!
My top 5 in no particular order
1)Samuel Adams Boston Lager
2)Boulevard Tank 7
3)Boulevard Imperial Stout X:Aztec
4)Central Waters Bourbon-Barrel Scotch Ale
5)Grey Sail Captain's Daughter
My +1 was actually Samuel Adams Boston Ale, it was an eye opener for me, and I still enjoy it today.

 

1) Hoppin Frog D.O.R.I.S. The Destroyer Double Imperial Stout (the perfect stout)
2) Three Floyds Marshmallow Handjee (just over the top indulgence, maybe too much so)
3) Bruery Terreux / Jester King Imperial Cabinet (wildly unique)
4) Cantillon Vigneronne (sublimely balanced)
5) Trillium Double Dry Hopped Congress Street (after hating the base style for years, this made me fall in love with it, and I still hold this one in the highest regard)

If I recall correctly, "the doppelbock" at a restaurant in Detroit called Traffic Jam and Snug is what got me into firmly into craft. If not that, then Hoppin Frog's Karminator on Oktoberfest sealed the deal.

 

Interesting fav. five there- let me guess, you moved to CO? like everyone else and their mother? haha dont' see many east coast folks liking royal oil- but damn is it amazing

 

Ok been a while since I made a list like this, currently:

1.Dark Lord
2.Parabola
3. Achel Extra
4. Fantome Saison
5. Avery Rumpkin

6. maybe honey brown (easy to drink enough and more flavor than all the other crap around college) or full sail- dont' remember exactly which beer.

 

Evil Twinn LIL B got me hooked.

Favorites
DFH 120
Molitov cocktail
King Sue
Bourbon County Coffee
Backwoods Bastard