What beer Converted you?

I started trying different beers on a beer tour at a bar in college. People warned me of DFH 90 on tap was the hardest and I had it once and then started to really want it.

 

Edmund Fitzgerald, and SNPA

 

Bar hopping on my 21st birthday, a buddy bought a pitcher of Pete's Wicked Ale. Until that point, beer was just what ever the frat house was putting up on the bar in plastic cups. I did have some dark years later in my 20's when my best friend worked for AB, but we always started with a Guinness/Bass Black and Tan before the Buds came out of the cooler. Now that I am nearly 40 and don't drink a 12-pack in a sitting (only on Friday's do I ever have even more than one), I find that I would much rather sip on a stout than anything else.

 

At a place called Stubbie's Shirt Pub in Gainesville, FL. Their beer menu is by country and I think the first one I tried was a Hobgoblin. They would give you a sheet that you could mark off the beers you tried so that you could always make sure you had something different each time.

 

Delirium Tremens.

 

Technically.... it was Dundee Original Honey Brown that pointed me in the right direction.

Don't laugh.

 

Not positive but I think Samuel Adams Bosston Lager. I am sure that the first beer that ever made me say, "Wow, I LIKE this!" was COAST HopArt IPA.

 

Corsendonk Abbey Brown Ale at corked and caged 750 ml bottle circa 2001 I was 19 or 20 years old.

 

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

 

Chimay rocked my world; I was a Delirium Nocturnum drinker, not so much anymore

 

Delirium Nocturnum. That changed everything for me.

 

For me, it was the Samuel Adams portfolio - specifically the Winter Lager. Every year since 2008 I looked forward to it being released, even though it is super easy to acquire. Since then, it has been a beer whirlwind and I am now over 300+ different beers tried and that number is growing by the day...

 

Skip the backstory and go to the beer? It's in bold below.

Samuel Adams showed me that there is more to beer than Bud. I was only a social crap-beer drinker in my late teens and early 20's. By my mid-twenties and through my 30's, I saw no reason to suffer through the drinking of swill for a mild buzz - I just drank straight liquor (single malt Scotch being my main squeeze; by my late 30's, I grew an strong appreciation for anejo tequila and gin). I don't remember what motivated me to turn to beer, but I recall trying to find the local beer distributors in my area about 2-3 years ago... I think I thought it would be less expensive than (single malt) Scotch (*hearty laughter follows*).
I fixated on Sam Adams' Imperial line (then, an Imperial Stout, Imperial White, and Double Bock) - seeking them out like the holy grail of something-new-to-drink. Once "aware," my next stops were the almighty Unibroue and Ommegang - two top-notch brewers. Since then, I've been obsessed.
But as an immature beer drinker in my teens and early twenties, I still sought to stand apart, so if the option were there, I'd order a Guinness - or anything other than the Bud or Coors everyone else was having. Even as an "ignorant" beer drinker, I was expected to select the "weird" dark beer. I liked the dark roastiness and heartiness of stouts and darker beers over the dilute urine tastes of Bud and its kind. What's sad is that there is no beer I drank then that I would ever choose to drink again.

So, biopic aside (I don't care if you cared - I liked writing it ), it was Sam Adams Imperial Stout that first confirmed for me that there was more to beer than Bud and Guinness. *awards are given to Sam Adams*

 

Always the same answer Sam Adams Boston Lager

 

Went to world of beer and tried sea dog blueberry. The I ventured out and started trying other things they had there... But the one that true.y transformed me was sea dog.

 

Leffe Blond/Radieuse in Paris began my love many years ago for Belgian styles
DFH Indian Brown, Dead Guy and Ruination in college blew my mind many years ago for domestic craft

 

After graduating college in 1986, I did the backup through Europe. Going through England, Holland, and German (Munich Beer Halls), I got my first take of non-lager and pilsners. When I first tried the English ESB, I was hooked!

Actually, in college y junior year, we did get a a keg of Spaten Optimator. Wow! I still remember it!

However, as far as American beers, it was Pete's Wicked Ale and Sierra Nevada in the late 80s that got me hooked...

 

New here (first post) but I've been trying to get into beer a bit more as of late. Like many guys here I've seen I never liked beer (28 years old now) but I've been trying different things looking for something I liked. I tried the basics, different Sam Adams flavors and such, but this past weekend, after a good bit of research on here, I picked up a four pack of Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA and am enjoying it much more so than the others I had tried thus far.

My only criticism (and it's a small one) was that I thought it was slightly bitter for my taste on the front end. Any recommendations for a next step that might be slightly less so?

Thanks all!

 

Russian River Consecration

This was only in April of this year. I had been a beer fan for a couple years at that point, but didn't really know anything about what is out there other than the local guys (Great Divide and Odell's where my main drinkers). But after my girlfriend told me to order Consecration while we were at dinner, everything changed for me!

 

a combination of Mendocino County Red Hawk, Pyramid Apricot, and anything Gordon Biersch.