Who or what got you into craft beer?

Back in college there was a small bar that had a drinking challenge of you have to drink at least one beer, shot, or liqour drink every day for 30 days and you get to decorate a brick on the wall. A few of my friends decided to try it our senior year and ended up succeeding. After going to the bar for a few days I didn't want to keep drinking the same ol thing so I decided to keep asking the bartender to surprise me with a new beer every time from their small selection. I started to realize there was more out there than just shock top (which was all i mostly drank at the time.) After college I became roommates with one of the friends that did the challenge with me and she got really into beer as well. It really helped having another girl to go on beer adventures with and who loved craft beer as much as I did. It's hard to believe that was over four years ago and some silly bar challenge I started with 5 other sorority sisters would lead to such a passion for craft beer.

 

No one. That's why it took me until 24 to find out what good beer was. Then it was an accident.

 

My brother got me into it. I did't have any interest in beer before, but whenever I'd visit, he'd offer a bottle of good craft beer. Sometimes I accepted, other times I declined. It actually took years for me to get used to the thought of enjoying beer. Moving half way around the world has a way of making you miss people you love. It was in China I started looking for good beer (mostly imported) and enjoying it.

 

There was a beer review in my college newspaper. The editor did it mainly on crappy beers as a gag at first. I offered to write it on micro brews and from there the journey evolved.

 

My uncle was always bringing by craft beers when I was younger. My dad still sticks to macro brews....

 

this guy introduced me to craft beer.

 

A chance encounter... at Tom's Farms in Corona. I went to buy some snacks at their cheese and wine shop as I normally do after playing a round at Glen Ivy. One day I wandered into their tiny beer section and bought some Russian River without knowing anything about craft beers. It was an acquired taste because I recall I didn't particularly like Temptation or Pliny, but I did research what the heck I was drinking and never looked back.

 

It really started back when I turned 21 and refused to drink Bud Light and such with my friends. I had given Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada and Shock Top (the only non mainstream beers I knew of at the time) but nothing stuck out to me. I had moved onto Shiner and New Belgium Fat Tire for a few years before starting work at a local liquor store. The guy who trained me was from Massachusetts and raved about Shipyard's Pumpkin Head, so I had to try it. That was the true beginning. Since then, every payday, I would try a few new things. Beers that sounded interesting and right up my alley to some that I knew nothing of and just picked off the shelf. Cuvee des Trolls and Delirium Tremens are perfect examples of random gold I grabbed unknowingly!

 

A bartender at The Vine in Iowa City around 97-98. I was walking home after class and stopped in to get wings and a beer. I was going to get the standard Coors Light and the bartender/manager gave me a free pint of Red Hook ESB to try. It was all over after that.

 

24?
Try 62!
It was KBS & BCBS....guess I'm into acronyms.

 

I experimented with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale just to try something new back in 2005. It was not for me. (at the time) A few months later, I went on a temporary assignment (was active duty Air Force at the time) with a young lieutenant in Montana. We went to this pizza place called MacKenzie River Pizza Co in Great Falls for some grub on the governments dime. He told me to try a Moose Drool on draft. I wasn't into "dark" beer or craft beer, but I said piss on it and tried it. I have been hooked on craft beer ever since. That was about 8 years ago and I regret nothing. Within a year of that day, I tried so many different craft brews and Belgians searching for "the one". Though I have never found the perfect beer for me, I have found some that are really REALLY close! Thank you Founders, Bell's, Moortgat (Duvel), Russian River, Lagunitas and thank you Todd for breaking me out of my BMC shell!

 

I dabbled with the usual suspects (Blue Moon, Fat Tire, SA Summer Ale), until a co-worker gave me a mixed 4 pack that included Chimay Red, Allagash Black and FBS. They all blew me away, especially the FBS (at the time). He also wrote this website on the 4 pack holder. Came here to see what else was out there. Then I saw all I was missing on the WBAYDN? forum!!! It's been a delicious journey ever since!

 

Arrogant Bastard & Sierra Nevada Pale Ale

 

Morpheus handed me a red pill...er, I mean...a Maudite.

Since then, it's been uphill for my tastebuds and downhill for my wallet.

 

A couple of my buddies in college who were a few years older than me. They handed me a SN Torpedo and things haven't been the same since then.

 

I can't remember the who or what but the beer was Anchor Steam and then various Bell's in the 1980s. (Back in the days of Solsun!)

Then Sierra Nevada in the 1990s.

Then Founder's (at their brewpub) in the early 2000s. (When Founder's was at the brink of bankruptcy.)

I pretty much stopped drinking beer around 2005.

This summer I came back to beer. It's an interesting time for American beer--but you don't need me to tell you that.

 

There wasn't one individual that I can claim as "the person that got me into good beer". There were a few friends that weren't satisfied with light lagers, a home brewing host of a choir tour, a retired lawyer offering up better beers, and a whole lot of other people that enjoyed exploring different tastes.

 

Living in NoCo and turning 21 in Fart Collins. You can't help it.

It's in the blood.

 

When I was first getting into beer I noticed I enjoyed the beers under the 'Craft' umbrella more than the mainstream ones.

 

It was kind of like by accident really, which seems to be a common theme among us craft drinkers. About 3 years ago I was at a restaurant/bar watching some sporting event on TV and wanted to try something new. I was mainly a wine drinker but did drink beer on occasion. The only beers I had ever tried were Bud, Miller and Coors. I was probably going to try any imported beer they had, I asked the waitress what they had on-tap and she said said the usual Bud, miller, coors and then she said something called Boston Lager.

I didn't even know what a lager was, yet I've been drinking lager off and on for the last 10 years. So, I said to myself "what the hell" I'll try it and well.. the rest is history. That was the first time I tasted hops and caramel malts in a beer. It was mind blowing, I haven't had any BMC since then. It's funny though because I started thinking that lager must be some kind of special drink, I didn't think this was actually beer at the time. I thought the waitress must have made a mistake. LOL!

Then I started trying ales and was blown away again. I haven't had much wine over the last 3 years either.

 

I was at the grocery store the wife was nagging me since I always bought Corona so I got the one right next to it It was a Karbach Rodeo Clown double IPA after the buzz I got from that I never went back to a mainstream beer and I thank my wife for everything

 

My new roommates were drinking this beer they called an IPA? I was hooked ever since.

 

My best Friend's kid and DeCicco's of Brewster..."They'll let you sample the beer before you buy it." He said, and I was in.

 

Back in the mid 90's there was a magazine out of Iowa called Brew. It came out about every other month and would feature about 4 -6 craft breweries (Micro back then). Multi page articles about each. This was the first time I'd heard of Rogue or Great Lakes. Remember, this was essentially pre net. Anyway, this led me to my first brewery tour at Blvd in KC, which was much smaller back in those days. The rest is history.

 

My friend George. I told him one day that I didn't like dark beer. He brought me a few beers that I tried and I've been hooked since. Now my refrigerator has nothing but dark beer. Here's to you, George!

 

The quest for the unknown and delicious tastes lurking out there by the thousands of unchartered beers that I discovered.

 

A coworker back in 1998 introduced me to homebrewing. Been brewing ever since. He moved from Austin to CO with this wife. But cheers Cary Lewis and thanks!

 

The first place my buddies and I could get into without getting carded was the Northeast Taproom in Reading. They only had a couple beers on tap but it was stuff like SN Celebration and Corsendonk. I didn't care what it was at the time but after our weekly visits we started drinking less and less of the BMC. Connect Four and pitchers of Old Foghorn? Those were good times.

 

It was a self inflicted wound that started small 35 years ago and kept on getting deeper.

 

One of my nieces, whose had a marriage ceremony performed in the beer garden of the now long departed Bandersnatch Pub in Tempe, AZ.

The day before the wedding she and some friends were in the pub when I came in. She gives me a hug, then hands me a pint of a dark, big headed brew. "What's this something like Guinness?" I asked. "Oh no it's not that-trust me," she said. It turned out to be their Milk Stout, which was AMAZING-I've been a fan of the style ever since.

2 or 3 pints of their other styles, and I was hooked!

 

Started working at a local liquor super store with an extensive craft beer selection and began trying different breweries and was hooked!

 

@Ccuppels @mlhyatt

 

Damn right @halo3one , inpossible to turn back now. Enjoy the ride.

 

Just something different from the AB and Miller Brews.

 

An amazing beer/wine store opened near my apt right at the start of the craft beer movement. They had weekly tastings, often with the brewers, and I was able to really develop an appreciation for the different styles and really get into the specifics of the beers.

 

Unibroue. That is all.

 

A Founder's Red's Rye P.A. at The Irish Rose here in Rockford, IL. I had really given up on beer for about twenty years, but ordered Red's Rye on a whim. It blew my mind. Had to try more...

 

When $1 drafts of "the beast" were the norm in college, I discovered Saranac and was amazed at the different styles and flavors...over 20 years ago

 

Robert Parker's Spencer books