What was you first Craft Brew?

I'm fairly certain my first craft beer was Magic Hat #9... if there was an earlier one it certainly wasn't worth remembering.

 

Legends Brown Ale. Richmond, VA

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. A good start, methinks.

 

To the best of my recollection, I wanna say one of the first beers was something from Corsendonk, possibly Christmas Ale in 2006. First brewery was Troegs.

 

Had to be around 1989...probably Sam Adams. First brewery was 1992, but I went to several that year and don't recall which was first. 1994 was my first big beer festival (GABF).

 

Actually, I think Hammerhead is a Mcmenamins Brewery beer served at their Lighthouse Brew Pub, among other places. Tasty beer and a nice pub to visit.

 

1st craft beer: Henry Weinhard's Private Reserve around 1977-78, although this may be stretching the definition too far. HW's also produced Blitz-Weinhard at the time, which in no way was a craft brew in terms of taste and distribution, and that may imply HWPR wasn't craft either.

1st craft brew that I would still drink: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

Brewery: Maybe Deschutes

 

Yeah, a few people mention Henry Weinhard brand and, I agree, at the time of its release, no one would have considered it a "craft" beer (granted, the term wouldn't even be coined for another decade). Of course, this thread is full of such beers - IIRC someone claimed St. Pauli Girl was craft?

Blitz-Weinhard was a typical "local/regional" brewery of the time, 500-600k bbl./yr, brewing adjunct light lagers and "light" beer (Alta) and, perhaps their most well-known brand, Olde English 800 Malt Liquor. The latter brand was so big that they licensed it to other breweries, like Ballantine and Ortlieb for the east coast market.

The Henry Weinhard Private Reserve beer was clearly aimed at the "superpremium" market segment of the time - 2 row malt + corn adjunct, longer aged and those "rare", newfangled Cascade hops.

In January '79, Blitz-Weinhard was sold to Pabst - at the time #4 in US with an annual barrelage of 15 million. By '82, B/W was a Heileman brewery - #4, 14m bbl/yr (and then onto Stroh and finally Miller ownership). So, certainly a "macro-owned" beer for most of its life. Still sort of sad to see MillerCoors use the brand name for alcoholic soda pop and seltzer...

 

New Holland's Into the Woods, late last year. $1.99 for a six-pack at my local liquor store, so, I decided to take a shot. Murphy's Irish Stout had already taught me that there might be some beers I don't hate (Bud Light, Coors, etc., had given me that impression), and the rest is history.

 

In the fall of 1996 I was on a "working weekend getaway" in Marblehead, Ohio and stopped into the Marblehead Galley for lunch. In their old location they had a small bar with, if I recall, four taps featuring a couple of the Usual (macro) Suspects, Sierra Nevada pale ale, and what was then still a relatively new local favorite: Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold.

At this point in time - the early days of the craft beer explosion - my palate had advanced beyond Budweiser and Michelob only slightly, having settled on Corona and Heineken - the most exotic options available in the holes-in-the-wall where I plied my musical wares and where the bar tab was part of my compensation for services rendered. The craft scene, again being relatively new, had mostly evaded my radar. But on this bright and clear Indian Summer afternoon in Marblehead I took the recommendation of the server - seconded by a charming old Local at the tiny bar - and had my first Dort.

Those who have seen Peter Jackson's "Lord Of The Rings" films will recall Smeagol's expression on his first sight of the Ring on Deagol's hand. Though I would certainly stop well short of murder to obtain even the last sip of the finest brew ever crafted, my life was changed and I have been a Great Lakes fan, and an enthusiastic craft beer fan in general, ever since.

Seventeen years into the 21st Century I am still a Cincinnati resident, and our local craft beer scene has provided me with a sense of Civic Pride and Local Identity that no sports team could ever inspire. I still occasionally take a few days of escape to the Marblehead area and other regional locales and make a point to check out breweries large and small, delighting in one of the few remaining vestiges of western culture that is town/region-specific. And my list of go-to craft beers has expanded immeasurably. But the Great Lakes Dortmunder will always be a sentimental favorite, as it was my entry point into a beautiful new universe of Beer Goodness.

In fact, I think I'll have one right now...

Peace and Cheers to all from Porkopolis!
Dortboy

 

Correct me if I'm wrong...but I don't consider Mickey's Big Mouth, or Heineken (yuk) As craft brews.

I therefore believe my 1st craft to be Beamish Irish Stout, in the late '80s or early '90s.

1st brewery was Dominion in 2016

 

Yeah, Mickey's (from Heileman) and Heineken were from multi-million barrel breweries but Beamish was also "macro-owned" - since the 1960s by international giant, Carling, and in the period you mentioned, by Australian giant Elders IXL, then one of the 10 largest brewing groups in the world.

Not sure Corona would have been considered by most even at the time as a "slight advance" over Michelob --- well, except at the cash register...

 

I worked at a bar in Plattsburgh, New York in 2010 and would get a shift drink at the end of each night. It was always a Bud Light or Budweiser until one night I tried a pint of Switchback Ale on draught. That unique beer is so flavorful and different that it changed my perspective on what beer could be. I would credit that and Magic Hat #9 with getting the ball rolling for me in college.

 

SN Pale Ale
Long Trail

 

Dogfish head 90min in like 2007
Jack's Abby in 2013 (I feel like thats a large gap)

 

When i was in my first couple years in college, I always felt bad ass when I could get my hands on a SNPA. I lived in Boston those years too and always liked drinking my dad's Sam Adams.

I really started delving into the craft beer scene when I started to drink Zombie Dust and Gumballhead on the regular. Been down hill since.

 

CBC IPA(2012)- I started local bc I wasn't really sure where to start out, I had plenty of large company imports (Guinness, Heineken, etc..) I was looking for something more than just your average bud light. The big exports weren't in the picture for me, so I was told by numerous people hey try this. And the citrusy awesomeness has been a staple since.

My first brewery experience was Four String (2014)- The bottles at the local convienence store no longer sufficed for wanting to try new things so I brought up yelp and looked for the closest brewery. When I went there at that time it was a tiny taproom(compared to now that is) and they had variations of the same beer I had in the can but in a cask, which I had no idea what that was at the time. I believe it was Brass Knuckle with blue cool aid packets mixed with it. Lol sounded weird but I do remember it really wasn't bad at all

 

My first craft beer was a Sam Adams chocolate coffee stout. And I wasn't that fond of it, but I knew there was more to this stuff. For some reason, the next words out of my mouth were "I bet I can make something better than this" and now I have a love for craft beer and homebrewing

 

Drank Sam Adams Boston Lager and other SA beers prior but the first beer that made me drop AAL completely was Founders Centennial IPA around 2011. Been 90% craft beer since.