When all I knew was BMC - beer was dead to me

So you don't like beer, but you like chocolate, flowers, and smoke? Welcome to the new generation.

 

I liked BMC while growing up, didn't have to choke it down.

 

My transformation has to do with spirits more so than beer. I could never understand the cats that would buy a bottle of Captain Morgan instead of beer. Now, I drink a wide variety of spirits after I was introduced to the "sipping" stuff. I was instantly attracted to beer though, even though I hardly drink what I used to.

Light beers on the other hand...

 

Shit when I was starting out all we had was BMC and our Canadian imports. Maybe some Guiness and Becks if we wanted and we could search for some Boston Lager or Pete's. Transformations aren't a single experience type of thing for me. I gotta have shit drilled into my brain for me to retain them. Slowly after time places like Bells and Founders surrounded me to the point I couldn't ignore them and then boy then..........

 

Not so much a transformation as an evolution on a journey of exploration and discovery.

I used to drink AAL once in a while out of habit rather than enjoyment, but found I preferred drinking beer in a Pub in the UK with folks who introduced me to real ale and how a beer could change its character over it's days of life between the tapping of the cask and when the cask kicked. That was when I first discovered there were other beers and important things about beer drinking and where and with whom that I'd been missing.

During visits to Germany I found, among other things and other beers, an appreciation for the Pils style, both it's subtle complexity and it's variability from one interpretation to another. I also found I enjoyed in beer the smoky flavors imparted through the use of malts that had been dried with smoky heat.

During trips to Belgium I found that other examples of some of the best beers in the world had hints of chocolate and/or plum and/or green orchard fruits to them, etc. and so when Michael Jackson talked about "The Burgundies of Belgium" I knew immediately what he wanted to communicate.

During visits to a variety of places in the US I came to appreciate the floral and/or fruity complexity a really good IPA could offer beyond any bitterness and/or dryness it also carried along as well. I also learned that the diversity of flavors carried by different hops could be something worth exploring as well. As with any exploration of new territory there will be both false starts and new trails to be blazed, but even the false starts can help with learning the territory.

In the process of the physical travel I discovered that I live in a region of the US where I actually don't have to travel to enjoy the flavors of beers that are fresh and show, across a wide range of availability, the diversity of flavors that can be found anywhere in the world. As with anywhere else in the world there are some really good beers, some OK beers, and some I'll not bother with again, but I don't have to be in the UK, in Germany, in Belgium, or anywhere else in the US to continue my journey of exploration or to recapture or recreate memories of beers and places I've enjoyed. (I even found a few virtues to at least some AALs )

Welcome to the site and welcome to the journey. Don't forget to enjoy yourself along the way!

 

What!? How is that possible!? We're constantly told that it's just "beer snobbery" that keeps some of us from drinking American Light Lagers. After all, beer is beer. There's a time and place for every beer. It's just fizzy corn flavored water!

No, something's wrong. You need to see a therapist to find out why you really won't drink American Light Lagers. It couldn't be the taste.

 

After athletic activities (hockey, tennis for me) they're still surprisingly refreshing on occasion.

I'll hand in my card if need be, but that's my opinion.

 

Mine was fairly similar:
From 15 - 20: lots of BMC and malt liquor...pretty much anything that we could get our hands on being underage and whatever got us drunk.
20 - 23: Guinness. Drank Guinness religiously for about 3 years. It was actually drinkable and compared to the stuff I was drinking before, I actually drank it to drink it and not just to finish it and get wasted. It was to the point where when I would walk into my regular bars, they would have one waiting for me. It was a funny transition when I switched to craft...so many times I would walk in the bar and they would have a Guinness waiting or pouring and I would be like, "No big deal and I'll drink this but can you make my next one a Two Hearted?" or other craft offering.
23 - present: 99% craft. I'll drink BMC if i'm really in the mood to drink and there is no craft alternative but the taste and variety of craft is reason enough for me to never drink BMC if I don't have to.

 

It's ok. The past is behind you, you're with us now.

 

My journey was a lot like yours. Great post.

I always thought I hated beer until I was 21 or 22. The only stuff I was ever offered was BMC swill. Trying and liking beers like Guinness, Newcastle, and Warsteiner made me realize all beer didn't have to taste like watery fizzy piss.

Then I found out I really liked Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and Boulevard Wheat. Hooked for life after that, now here I am. I'm even learning to home brew now. 15 years ago I never would have dreamed I would ever love beer this much.

 

Sometimes I wish all I knew was BMC. Life would be so much easier and cheaper living in ignorant bliss.

 

I was quite happy in my younger days with the beers they had available. Big time beer was Heineken of Lowenbrau, even Michelob was high end stuff. We usually bought Rolling Rock or Schmitty 16's, it was fine, it's what there was, and Sam Adams was still 10 years away.

 

I didn't hate BMC, but after a while I got the feeling that other things had to be out there. I went to a Buffalo Wild Wings with a friend who ordered me a Summer Shandy, Boston Lager, and Cherry Wheat in that order. I wasn't blown away but my suspicions of better more flavorful beer was confirmed. I wanted to know more.

I stumbled onto this site, read, tried some things and honestly at first the bitterness was too much for me. I went back to BMC and was completely underwhelmed. I was in no mans land. I kept trying different beers and styles and it just clicked. I started enjoying the bitterness and then noticed all the flavors beyond that and that's what hooked me.

 

I got into mass market crafts like Sam Adams before I had any exposure to BMC. My first exposure to BMC was Coors Light at an event that offered free beer.

I wouldn't say I hated it, so much as I was thoroughly unimpressed. It was good enough for free beer, not nearly good enough to pay for. D+. Just like when I went to a casino last weekend all they had was Budweiser, so I drank the Budweiser they offered.

If craft beer, or at least stuff like Sam Adams didn't exist I probably would have never gotten that into beer, at least not enough to switch over from mixed drinks. I would see beer more as an 'alternative'.

 

I've probably tried at least a hundred different pale macro lager beers, and out of those there's probably a handful or so which I wouldn't buy or drink again. Craft beer for me simply meant more choices and variety.

 

While in school, then the Navy, all I knew was Bud. When I got married at 22, I didn't drink at all anymore...nothing. Not that my new wife didn't like me having a drink, it was just that life became a reality and I had no money for anything but our new lives together. Jump forward 20 years and I tried a DFH 60 (and being in Delaware I thought DFH was too big for it's britches at that time) and thought it was okay. Then two years ago I tried a sampler at DuClaw Brewpub in Belair, MD. I was shocked when they brought out 22 samples!!!! I tried every one of them and was amazed at the different varieties and tastes, I found this site and have never looked back. Maybe one day I will try home brewing, but for now I just enjoy trying as many different types and styles as possible!!!

 

When you're young and broke, you look for the cheapest way to get trashed, and you will still drink vodka mixers with gusto and prepare for that evenings drunkening with mac and cheese out of a box. I mean, you still buy Kool-aid packets for 5 on the dollar and have a pitcher devoted to it, so what do you really know?
Eventually, you got a modicum of money and respectability about your nefarious behaviors and move on up to something that will cost as much as your entire weekends party budget or you move on to a middling drug habit which seems to work for a while until you grow leary of the day after day after heeby jeebies that happens with powdered substances and come back around to discover that good beer is just less taxing on you physically, mentally and emotionally and dive right in.

 

I second or third that? I drink a ton of craft beer but always keep a 30 of Bud Select in my beer fridge.

1 - for guest who don't share my passion for the finer tastes in life and ...
2 - for those days I mow the grass and it's 100 degrees outside and I want to pound 2 or 3 malty carbonation bombs or when I'm inhaling a pizza and need something to wash it down with...all the while cleaning my palate...
3 - on a fishing trip with the boys, floating a river with friends on a blistering day...ect...

After a few I will always go back to something of better quality but 1,2 or 3 BMCs doesn't bother me under the right circumstances. I'm not a beer snob...I'm a beer consumer that turned into a connoisseur.