What was your "revelation" beer?

KBS

 

:-) Right? I remember thinking at the time: "Oh, so this is 'fancy' beer"...jeez...

 

First real one was Santa Cruz Brewing Co. Lighthouse Amber, December '88 (Front Street Pub). Alas they are no more, and I'm not sure they ever bottled. So, still availables would be Anchor Steam and SNPA.

 

During the Christmas season of 2001, I was in my local grocer to pick up some Miller High Life. I saw a six-pack of Red Hook Winterhook and was intrigued at the idea of a beer brewed for the winter season. I bought it and was astonished at how good it was. Soon after I discovered BeerAdvocate and home brewing. I still have a lot of affection for Winterhook, who knows if I would have otherwise discovered craft beer?

-Pegasus

 

Widmer Brothers - Deadlift

 

A friend introduced me to Weihenstephaner Hefe and Lagunitas IPA,and I said "wow I could get used to this". Next I tried Hop Stoopid and it was the first IPA/IIPA that I actually loved.

Furious was the game changer...

 

My experience went something like this...

 

For me it was Abita Amber for a long time as that was about the only craft around where I live but I still drank alot of macro. Then I tried Stone's Arrogant Bastard and Old Rasputin and I was a gone pecan down the craft road.

 

Grolsch back in the 80s was the first beer that I tried that challenged what I thought beer was supposed to taste like, up until then I'd only had the usual cheap macro lagers like Bud, Miller & Michelob...so that was a real eye opener.

 

Prairie Bomb. I had many good beers beforehand, but this is the first that blew me away. Every time I try a new craft beer, especially a stout, I hope for that feeling again

 

2010 The Abyss

 

Bud light golden wheat, at the time all I had been drinking was cheap beers, icehouse being a favorite. This beer opened me up to their being more to beer. Then I found boulevard wheat and the rest is history.

 

Guinness was my first intro to good beer, but I didnt drink very often. Then about five years later I tried Dogfish Head Chicory stout and liked it enough to visit a liquor store instead of the grocery store for an occasional (less than once per month) beer. Almost 5 years later I was living in Florida and decided to tour Cigar City for something to do while my brother was in town. We were blown away by Invasion Pale Ale and it's been non-stop since then.

 

Had some Wicked Pete's way back, but stuck pretty much to PBR until my first KBS, that changed everything.

 

Arrogant Bastard in like 2003. I'd had other great, relatively standard beer like Celebrator or Delirium Tremons/Nocturnum and knew there was beer beyond the US macros. But it was a beer tasting with a friend who was just trying to educate me a bit where Arrogant Bastard opened my eyes to US craft brew.

 

I've always liked trying new beers, but I got heavy into craft beers back in April when I won 8 bombers for having the best bracket for March Madness. One of those bombers was Pipeworks Yuzu Saison, the taste was so refreshing and crisp. After that I started going to every liquor store in my area and just checking out their craft beer selections. Recently I joined this site and it has helped me find a lot of beer to try. Cheers Beer Advocate! This site is the best!

 

Harpoon Leviathan IPA or Sierra Nevada Celebration

 

My revelation beer wasn't anything rare. It was Long Trail's Ale. My ex roommate drank Long Trail & that's what really sparked my interest in craft beer.

 

I started drinking craft in the 90s and I remember Pecan Street Brewing having one of my favorites. Then I went on a low carb diet and gave up beer almost altogether for years. Someone told me Mic Ultra was low carb and almost tasted like beer. At which point I did some soul searching and decided I would rather be fat! Respect Beer!

 

I believe it was Goose Island Honker's Ale back around 1991.

 

Perhaps there was a single beer that changed my view of things, but to be fully honest, Sam Adams and Blue Moon actually ushered me into craft. I thought Blue Moon and Sam Adams were great crafts, little did I know that was just the very tip of the iceberg. I tried the widely available stuff, basically: Blue Moon, Sam Adams, Leinenkugels, standard macro stuff. But then I started to branch off into bigger and better things. I remember like a month back after sampling crafts heavily in the months prior, I went to a restaurant. They had no beer selection at all, so a got a Blue Moon Belgian White, and it's insane how much it lacks character and complexity.

 

Was at a wine bar, had already drank my bottle of red and was going to grab a beer to tide me over until they shut down. Choose Three Philosophers, right beer, wrong time. Was not a tie me over beer, but it was a good beer to make me realize shit beer has a whole range of flavors, not one dimensional. I switched back to beer after almost 13 years of exclusively drinking wine

 

MGD. I just knew there had to be something better.

 

Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout

 

Dabbled in the "craft" as I regularly ordered/bought beers that I had never heard of before. Tried lots of beers and was turned off by a couple that I have now come to love (Uinta Labyrinth is the first to come to mind) but I have to say the first time my wife's best friends husbands father (who is a beer distributor) first let me sample some BCBS, I was completely sold on this whole "craft" thing. Been broke ever since.

 

An excellent, and otherwise rather NSFW webcomic called Go Get A Roomie.

 

Hop slam. I had most available ipas you could get here at that time, but that first beer was literally a mind blowing beer. It's a shame either that beer has changed or I've changed, it's not the same.

 

Had to be Arrogant Bastard and/or 90 Minute, they both opened my eyes to different ways beer can be made.

 

Anderson Valley Wild Turkey BB Stout for me. Had been almost exclusively a whiskey drinker for the previous 5 years, but stopped into World of Beer one cold wet Saturday while the wife was Christmas shopping. Had that and then a Deschutes Obsidian Stout and craft beer had me in its clutches

 

A Baltic Porter that I had on draft at Gillette Stadium..thought it was a Sam Adams product but found out it was a home brewer who won a contest to have his beer served there during Patriots home games...he might actually be out there reading this.

 

I never liked beer. I never drank it. Ever.

I drank wine. I like wine and tasting with notes.

Then I was talked into trying a Guinness at a pub. I picked up some depth and layers I'd not noticed in fizzy yellow pop. I was intrigued.

That was three years ago and a lot of different beers.

I would say after Guinness the next beer that blew my mind was Sucks. I didn't know a beer could taste so good.

 

Years ago I grabbed a 6 pack of Leinenkugels Fireside Nut Brown on a Thanksgiving, really enjoyed it but went back to AAL beers for many more years....after a bout with the Flu a few years ago turned me off AAL I wanted to find it again but it was retired. Picked up a 6 of Blue Moon and never looked back...663 different beers later I'm still enjoying Craft Beer and remember the Fireside Nut Brown fondly...it turned my taste buds without me even knowing it.

 

Mine was Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA. I didn't really drink a lot of beer, even the cheap stuff, back when I started working where I do, and I remember that one being distinctive and I just really enjoyed it.

 

Gulden Draak is so good. Understandable. It was a dark Belgian for me, too (Rochefort 8).

 

For stouts: BCBS

For IPA's: 90 minute, followed by fresh squeezed

Overall though, Duvel was the beer that made beer pop for me!

 

My revelation was DFH Indian Brown over a decade ago. Was at merriweather post for a Buffet concert and one of our crew had a few of these. I had been drinking stuff like sam adams and sammy smith's, but none of their beers ever blew me away... but indian brown did. When was the last time you had it? It's sort of unique in a way, and it was the game changer for me and the beer that made me branch out into other american craft beers not named after founding fathers. To this day, I always buy it when I see it fresh wherever I am. Confirmed by the time two years ago I lugged a sixer around with me all day in NYC when I found some that was only two weeks old.

 

Tallgrass Brewing Buffalo Sweat