What was your first craft beer?

Sometime in the 80s Grolsch was the first beer that I tried that tasted really different and intriguing, I had only tasted Budweiser and Miller High Life and didn't really care for beer. But a friend of mine gave me a Grolsch and everything changed after that

 

Dragons Milk, from my brother, never liked IPAs until I tried Heady.

 

Weeping Radish, Manteo NC. Can't remember which particular one I had, it was so long ago, but I'm still trying to find a current beer that'll reproduce its flavor. I think it was a hoppy lager or maybe one of their ambers.

 

First American craft was Anchor Steam in the late 70's. Various imports at the time such as Heineken, Becks, Guinness, Steinlager, Dos Equis, Molson, ect.

 

DFH 90 Minute. Bought a 4 pack. Not gonna lie didnt like it at first... but by the third bottle, I was planning on making a trip to the store to pick up another 4 pack before i finished my last bottle.

 

Ever tasted? Odell's IPA on draft at place I worked, almost puked. First couple beers probably Sierra Nevada Pale, Torpedo, or the Pyramid Outburst Imperial. Now odell ipa is one of my favs and I can't get enough of IPA's.

 

Although not craft, I'm thinking that my first beer that was different than the BMC I cut my teeth on was a Killian's Irish Red. That would have been in the late 1980s. The first true craft that I can remember would be Harpoon Winter Warmer which I had in Boston circa 1992.

 

Leinenkugel's Maple Brown. I was working at the local Cub Foods and would read the beer packaging while I was "spotting" for co-workers up in the rafters. I thought, "golly, that sounds tasty!" So I asked my dad to pick me up a sixer when he went grocery shopping. He told me one at a time and absolutely no driving. I grilled up some polish sausage, cracked the beer, took a sip...and then added more maple syrup to it because it wasn't as maple-y as I'd hoped.

 

Red Hook ESB at The Vine in Iowa City back in 1998.

 

Absolutely HATED beer until I was about 19 (errr...21 *wink). My friend gave me a Sam Adams Cherry Wheat and I loved it. Shortly after that a different friend's older brother gave me a Bell's Amber Ale and that's when I realized beer didn't suck and didn't have to be fruity to be tolerable. Flash forward a decade and now I prefer extremely bitter IPAs and rarely venture into fruit beer territory. Still love Bell's Amber though.

 

This question again? Hasn't been 6 months yet!!

 

Sam Adams Boston Lager--1984 or 5. Didn't know craft from shinola, just trying what the bartender said was a new beer. Fast forward to 2011, I had a Great lakes Burning River and fell in love! Been trying new beers and styles ever since!

Bob

 

Anchor Steam. Then Pete's Wicked and Dock Street.

 

If memory serves me correct, it was a Summit Oatmeal Stout. Great then, and still a "go to" to this day. Love it when local bars have it on nitro.

 

When I went to grad school in Iowa in the 90s, I drank my share of Huber Bock. One could pay a lot more and still do a lot worse. Anchor Steam is much better, but if you're on the cheap, Huber's ok.

 

I may have been there at the time.
Did you hurry down to John's Grocery to stock your fridge with craft?

 

I was lucky enough to get one of the founding fathers as my first and by dumb luck...Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, way back on 1995. I can still taste it like it was the first time.
I've been hooked on Sierra ever since...all of their releases. Except for Tumbler that is.

 

The beer that started it all for me was Arrogant Bastard back in college and it still holds a place in my heart. (ahem avatar)

 

Ballantine XXX

 

My first two were Goose island Honker's Ale and Sam Adams Boston lager. Then a couple months later I had Three Floyds Dreadnaught.