What beer Converted you?

Looks like you picked a couple of good ones, too. Welcome to the club, and there's plenty more where those came from.

 

My 1st Hop Devil.

 

There wasn't any one bottle that did it for me. It was more of an evolution. When I lived in England I started to drink decent beer in pubs. One night I had several pints of something from Ayinger's at a pub that was delicious. So delicious I got well and truly drunk which was/is pretty unusual. Little by little after that I started to discover the better beers and never looked back. Now it's all craft all the time and I drink more beer than ever. Life is good.

 

I'd had some "decent" beers in my time but around the age 20/21 I tasted Trois Pistoles for the first time. 9 years later, I can confidently say that was the game changer.

 

And it's been a staple in the fridge ever since!

 

Did a study abroad in Austria/Germany where I was exposed to Hofbrau, Steigl, Paulaner, etc....

 

Chimay Blue was my first non BMC beer.

First true American 'craft' beer was DFH Aprihop, then I tried an Arrogant Bastard and never looked back.

 

It was a 2-step conversion, from Manhattans to IPAs. First, I happened to try a Racer 5, and it was a true Eureka moment. This lead me to seek out the best IPA I could find- Pliny the Elder. That sealed the deal. Now I sprinkle hops on my cereal...

 

I don't remember it being just one beer, but more of a perfect storm of several beers and "events" that turned me:

I'm a pretty big baseball fan and There was an end cap display at Binny's for "Big League Brew" with these really cool bottle caps - each cap had an old school player's portrait on it. I figured what the heck and gave it a shot. I remember thinking it was pretty good at the time.

Around that same time my boss (who doesn't drink beer) was getting a beer of the month delivery every month that someone else gave him as a gift. He let me have them. I just remember Golden Pheasant and Victory Hop Devil being in there.

Two Brothers started showing up on the shelves at Costco, or maybe I just started noticing it because of the above, and I started trying that out: Heavy Handed, Domaine DuPage, Bitter End, etc.

The straw that really broke the back was my friend in the bar business - I would stop by his bar when it was dead and hang out and we would hang out and he would recommend new stuff like Goose Island Matilda. But what really did it was Brooklyn Local 1 and Goose Island Bourbon County Stout. I was hooked.

All this happened around second half of 2008 and the only reason I know that (I'm terrible at gauging and remembering time), is because I've got 2 bottles of 2008 BCBS still in my cellar. After he introduced me I went to Binny's and saw it just sitting on the shelf and thought "Oh yeah - I'm definitely buying this." Then I read that it gets better with age, so I drank a couple and kept a couple. Not sure why I didn't go buy more.

 

I suppose there were several milestones in the changing of my tastes. Michelob Amber Bock was one of the first. Another was John Courage Amber - I thought I had found the perfect beer, at the time.

I began to sample many beers, this past year, and I mostly favor stouts. Some of my current favorites are Smithwick's, Short's Bellaire Brown Ale, Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout, Hideout Smuggler's Hazelnut Stout (a local favorite for me), Sam Adam's Cream Stout and Bell's Kalamazoo Stout.

 

2 Hearted

 

Goose Island Matilda. It was a "Wow" moment for me. Had no idea beer could taste good before that

 

La fin du monde.

 

Shiner Black Lager, still like their slogan"Don't be afraid of the Dark"

 

Stone IPA, Stone Pale Ale, and DFH 60. That was 4 years and 500+ beers ago. Cheers!!

 

First craft beer was a Ballast Point Sculpin IPA, followed by some Laguintas IPA and Imperial Stout. That night changed my life.

 

Dieu du Ciel Aphrodisiaque did it for me. I couldn't drink another bad beer after that.

 

Good ole Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

 

Old Rasputin....because I thought it looked like Guinness.

 

My Odyssey into craft brews started with Samuel Adams. When i tried that beer, I realized that there was more to beer than BMC. I love drinking different craft offerings. I am glad that people are willing to take the chance to brew something different.