What beer Converted you?

Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA was my gateway.

 

arogant bastard

 

While on vacation I gave this a try and was surprised at the complexity. Have been on an awesome journey ever since.

 

I drank Fat Tire and others, then one day I bought Double Crooked Tree and it changed my outlook on beer forever.

 

I tried light lagers in later college but didn't much care for it. It wasn't until about 7-8 years later that friends got me to try some craft beer and I was shocked. Hell's Belle was what got me. Ever since then I've been going for beers I've not tried to see what else is out there. It's sort of like Pokemon.

 

It started with Guinness, led to Boddingtons, and the desire to taste heavier and hoppier beers. Think DFH 90min & Punkin really pushed me into tasting different beers.

 

Not one beer but a trip to the August Schell Brewery in New Ulm, MN in 2002.

 

Great Lakes Moondog Ale on-tap in 2005.. it wasn't my first craft beer, but it's the beer I had my eureeka moment with.

 

Probably New Albion Stout which I stumbled upon in the late 70s. I did always have a hankering for more flavourful beers so imports were a staple back then along with Ballantine XXX and Rainier Ale.

 

I drank blue moon in college, but it was either old Raspy or Rochefort 10

 

Fat Tire. Had some before I even turned 21 and I realized there was a huge world of beer out there and since I turned 21, I haven't looked back.

 

Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald. was offered it in the science building at school in fall of 2009. Still my favorite beer to this day.

My big geek out realization was buying the Latitude 48 Deconstructed Pack. Id been toying around with some craft and imports, then I bought that thing and wow. I went nuts on reviews and now Im here.

 

To be perfectly honest, what converted me to craft was all the BMC products. I knew there had to be better.

Technically, SABL was my first taste of "other" beer. I immediately knew I was on to something.

 

Sweetwater IPA, The only reason I tried it was because it was from my home state.

 

New Glarus Beers. They continue to impress.

 

I did things right. I'd been reading BeerAdvocate for a month or so before turning 21, knowing there was so much out there for me. Knowing craft beer was something that personally appealed to me due to the wide and relatively inexpensive availability of world-craft drinks, I eased myself into things right. I read a bunch of reviews, and found Magic Hat Wacko as a sticking point - a beer that'd taste similar to what I already drink, but with just a bit of a bizarre twist.

From there, I went onto a few different things - Rogue's Dead Guy, the summer Magic Hat sampler pack where I discovered a love for IPAs for Blind Faith, Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin, and literally as many mixed six-packs as I could possibly make. It really wasn't until I hit 400 or so beers that I slowed down on trying new ones and instead started buying beers I knew I loved in quantity. Really, I was stuck right away though, from that very first Wacko. The best part is that over two years later, beer is still surprising me.

 

When Unibroue started to make La fin du Monde, Blanche de Chambly, i knew that beer was going the right way back in 93 or 94, it did'nt stop me to drink anythink cheap, crappy, tasteless but it always brought me back to Unibroue ...

 

It wasn't a single beer, but a vacation to Victoria, BC. My wife & I did several pub crawls and each place did their own brewing on-premise and they were spectacular! I've never looked back since and can't wait to go back some day.

 

Pannepot, then almost every other Struise beer that followed it!