What beer got you into craft beer?

Moose Drool by Big Sky Brewing piqued my interest in quality beer. During college I took a fly fishing trip to Montana and someone had brought a cooler full of Big Sky beers. All of them were great, but I remember Moose Drool being the first that I tried.

 

I cant cite a specific beer, but when I moved to Atlanta in 2005, I went to The Brick Store for the first time. I remember not knowing shit about beer, and just sliding my finger up and down the gigantic list and stopping randomly and ordering that beer. It was great.

 

Sierra Nevada Torpedo no question

 

Half Acre Daisy Cutter - first "everyday" APA for me. Helped ease me into bigger IPAs and DIPAs
Snake River Pale Ale - first microbrewery I ever visited

 

Goose Island 312 and Anchor Steam

 

Great Lakes Brewing Company Chillwave

 

Heady Topper.
A friend gave me one and said it was the best beer in the world. Then said I would never be able to get one unless I drove up north. I posted a Craig's List add in VT and got my hands on a case. proved him wrong and been in the craft world ever since.

 

It'd either be Tucher Helles Hefe or Leinie's Red.

 

Long trail

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was the first I remember having. A couple weeks after I turned 21, my cousin took me to Russian River and the sampler changed both my beer and real world.

 

Probably DFH 60 Minute or Punkin' Ale.

 

Hopslam many a year ago.

 

Dale's Pale Ale

 

S&n handcrafted pale ale.

 

Sierra Nevada Pale. It is still a more than decent beer after all these years.

 

It was Flying Dog In Heat Wheat, now know as Flying Dog Hefeweizen. It was at Old Chicago when I stumbled upon their "World Beer Tour". It was my first experience with craft beer and it was terrible. I recall thinking how do people drink this dog piss. Fortunately I got past that and kept trying new beers. My liver and wallet will never be the same...

 

My best friend took me to half acre in Chicago. Daisy cutter changed my life!

 

Chimay

 

A 13$ bottle of Cantillion. I had to know what a 13$ bottle of beer would be like...if only I had bought cases back then.

 

It's got to be Sweetwater IPA that pushed me head first into craft. I'd had Sam Adams and the like, but I went to a beer festival that had a ton of great stuff and I stopped at the Sweetwater booth to try their IPA for the first time. I'd been drinking their 420, but also still a bunch of Miller Lites, Coronas, etc. After my first IPA I didn't get anything else. I just stayed at that booth and had as many of the sample IPA's as I could. I was hooked. Soon after was my first Ruination and it's been craft only since then.