What beer Converted you?

It was 1989 and it was Munich. A Jules Echter Hefeweissen.

 

I bought one of these on my 21st birthday:

And now I'm here.

 

Pretty lucky growing up in CO, Odells, Tommyknocker, Breckenridge, New Belgium. I remember drinking Redhook and Pyramid my senior year in high school. Making black and tans with Redhook's Coffee Stout and Pyramid Apricot Ale.

 

DFH 90

 

A friend of mine brought me in a beer store before a party. I bought a 6 pack of Boréale Noire (http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/599/6798) knowing nothing about stouts or even craft beer in general. I was hooked after the first sip!

 

Saranac Lager and Saranac Variety Packs introduced me to the fact that there's more than BMC out there... On a side note - I wish Saranac Lager would come back one day...

 

@16 years old in 1987 I would pinch beer from my girl friends dads fridge in their basement. One day there was a few cases of Catamount along side the usual A-B selection. As soon as I cracked open the first bottle it pretty much ruined all other beers. Of course I still drank them but only out of necessity.

 

Double Mocha Stout from Rogue, was still only 19 when I tried it but it really made me start thinking about what beer could really be. Oh boy, I had no idea what I got myself into. Loving every minute of it.

 

Bass, Harp, Guinness, and various German imports to start...then onto IPAs, Dopplebocks, Tripels, Barleywines with no looking back in 20+ years.

 

Early 90s - Pete's Wicked and Great Lakes Edmund Fitz. I fully converted about ten years later after discovering Stone while in SD.

 

First bit of advice is to let it warm up just a bit- don't drink it straight from the fridge. The other qualities are more subdued when it's too cold and the bitterness can seem out of whack. This goes for pretty much any beer, btw.

Pale Ales and especially IPAs will have a good deal of bitterness- that tends to be seen as a desired quality, actually. But some are naturally more balanced than others. If you want to stay in the same ballpark I'd suggest something a little more towards Pale Ale territory. If you have Troegs available by you, their Perpetual IPA is fantastic and might be more your speed.

 

I actually do have Troegs here as I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I looked at this site a lot before I went and bought an IPA and noticed the Troegs Nugget Nectar was the highest rated mid-Atlantic beer but it's only available in the spring.

My local grocery store does have the Troegs Perpetual IPA so I'll pick some up this weekend. Also I did notice that some of the bitterness did subside as I got closer to the end of my glass of Dogfish Head so that's good to know when I finish off my pack tailgating on Saturday.

Appreciate the advice and I look forward to learning and tasting more.

 

Sam Adams Olde Fezziwig and Pete's Wicked Honey Wheat

 

Bells Oberon as well. In Michigan its gotten almost as popular as megabrews.

 

Oscar Blues Ten Fidy here...never looked back.

 

Let's put it this way, I'm almost 40, and at about 39 living in Michigan all my life, I never even knew what Oberon was. Some guys at work were talking about how good it was, so I inquired. I bought a sixer of it that week, and was hooked! Then it only escalated when I tried Two Hearted...

 

I would have to say Chimay...had my first bottle after I had heard it was a good beer...whoever said it was good was right..then totally overpaid for a Rocheforte 10...and never looked back...

 

Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout for sure!

 

The first beer that turned me onto the wonderful world of beer was my first ale; Bass Ale. I tried one a few months ago for the first time in a long time and it was not nearly as good as I remembered my first experience being. Ah, how I've grown!

 

3F Gumballhead and Boulevard Wheat.