Your Gateway Beer to Craft

I remember when I was too young to drink my dad always had me try Dogfish Head 60/90 but I didn't have a taste for it yet. I always kind of knew those beers were supposed to be good and even through the days of BMC binge drinking with my friends every night I knew one day I would drink the 'good' stuff. Dogfish was one of the first Craft Breweries I knew about, even before Sierra Nevada. Also, Sam Adams was/is ubiquitous so that was a standard when I was old enough to drink. I drank mostly the Boston Lager. The rest is history. I'd say credit goes to Dogfish/Boston Beer Co. equally for opening my eyes to the world of craft beer. I used to drink a bunch of Blue Moons also....don't tell my friends.

 

New Glarus - Spotted Cow
Three Floyds - Gumballhead

these did the trick for me.

 

Anchor Steam, still a favourite!

 

It is absolutely not true that "most everyone starts out drinking the normal Bud, Coors, Miller, ect." And if you ask me, that stuff ain't normal at all.

 

...but to answer your question Sam Adams Boston Ale was mine.

 

Being young and dumb all I knew was Natty Bo Bay Water, then in my Navy days in the 80s it was Bud but could never get past the nasty headaches. When I got out and lived in Alaska I lived in a few 'dry' communities and pretty much didn't have any, then moved back to Delaware where some little place in Milton (I grew up in Delaware and had never heard of Milton) was getting established. Tried my first DFH 60, then a 90 and have never looked back.

 

I started with NB Blue Paddle, then Spotted Cow, then Furious......all down hill from there.

 

Yup,been about 6 months since this question was posed. Dos XX amber---about 35 years ago. Bottles had gold foil on top---neat!

 

Right before I turned 21 My friend kept telling me about this place by our house called Three Floyd's. My first craft beer was a 2008 dark lord....

 

Oh, I don't even know at what point I started in craft since I'm not even certain what constitutes as beer, so I'll just go through the list of beers I've experienced over the years.

My first beer was a Fosters- seemed decent at the time, but I'm pretty sure I'd find it foul now. A friend of mine was drinking it and gave me a sip of it. It got me curious into the world of beers, so I went over to his place and wound up drinking a bottle of Bass pale ale. This was followed swiftly with a can of Guinness. Finding both beers pretty appealing, I poured one over the other and drank it that way. Talk about an experience!

Sadly, most of my buddies drank malt liquors so I got into Mike's and Smirnoff and left beer in the dust. This continued for quite a few years until I moved out of state. I tried Amsterdam (yuck) and found that I didn't have the taste for beer that I thought I did. Still, the thoughts of Bass started to drift back into my head. Shopping a discount grocery store, I found- hooray- Bass beer! Unfortunately, either my tastes had changed or it was long past its prime but it tasted like junk to me. I about gave up on beer at that point, something that was solidified with a bottle of Michelob Genuine Draft that reaffirmed my distaste for beer.

My then-girlfriend and I went over to her friend's house. Her boyfriend had bought a case of Shock Top and offered me one. Not wanting to be rude and turn it down, I accepted it. Eureka! It was actually pretty good! Realizing that there was actual good beer out there, I started asking my peers about where to get good beer. Hop Valley was suggested to me, specifically the Vanilla Porter. I unfortunately never got the opportunity to drink it and wound up coming back to my home state without another stab at beer.

A year later, I took a visit back to the area. I stayed with some old friends of mine, and they brought up one of their favorite beers. It went by the name of Arrogant Bastard Ale, and I was warned that I would likely not be man enough to handle it. Hah! One sip later, I was hooked. Ever since then, I've not touched a drop of Bud or any of the likes. I've been trying out great varieties of craft beers, discovering brands and styles to my liking.

 

raging bitch

 

First step was 15 years ago SA cream stout, then the tipping pont DFH 90

 

Back in the mid-late 90s it was Newcastle Brown, SN Pale Ale, SA Boston Lager, SA Octoberfest. Living in CA at the time Gordon Biersch was enjoyable too. Back then I considered Pale Ale and Boston Lager a little too hoppy for my tastes. Now they aren't hoppy enough, especially Boston Lager.

 

Sam Adams Boston Ale, a long time ago...

 

Old Rasputin. Storm king. My cousin hooked it up the first time I asked him to buy beer for me

 

I remember when I started drinking Sierra Nevada Pale Ale instead of the BMC my friends and I had been drinking. I tried to get them on board but they didnt seem to care. I didnt know the term "complexity" as it referred to beer back then, but that is why I was drawn to it. Compared to the crap we had been drinking, SNPA had some sweetness, bitterness, and these floral flavors that I now know are from the hops. I drank SNPA for maybe 10 years and I just didn't realize there was other beer out there that the grocery store didnt carry. I have a special place in my heart for Sierra Nevada, but it wasn't until I tried a Bell's Two Hearted that I had my beer "epiphany" which opened the door to the wonderful world of craft beer. It was then that beer became my passion.

 

DFH 90 minute got me interested, DFH 120 minute got me hooked.

 

Anderson Valley Oatmeal Stout when I was 17 way back back in 1990. Still a great beer but without the hype and trade value of of modern day stouts. For kicks I looked up to see what the Bros had to say about it back in the day. Both said it is solid, but hard to throw down $9-10 for a six pack! My how times have changed!

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/193/615/?ba=bros

 

Schells Schmaltz's Alt in roughly 1993/1994