Your story

You know it! Way better than the diaphragm.

 

Someone bought my dad a Beer of the Month club, about 10 or 11 years ago. Up until that point my experimentation with "non-mainstream" beer was the occasional St Paulie Girl or Killians. We tried a few together, and a Saranac Black Forest made me say "Holy Crap" thats beer? Pretty much started sampling everything I could from that point on.

 

So I take it that she found you "spongeworthy!"

 

Nobody makes me bleed my own blood.

 

You know... I've been sitting here trying to think of that point where I got into craft, it wasn't even long ago, this year in fact, but I can't for the life of me pinpoint it. It just kind of happened.

I had never even been a beer/alcohol drinker either (only just turned 22 in Feb, but we all know we all had plenty of opportunities in highschool and the such), even when I turned 21 I wasn't that interested, just had the occasional (not regular by any means) Corona, Woodchuck, and gin and tonics.

I honestly cannot remember how I got here. haha It's so weird. Just one day I guess I realized that there is a HUGE world of beer out there, the different styles, the breweries identities and uniqueness! I still just think that's amazing and wonderful. And I started doing a ton of research, became obsessed, and ended up here. All within a couple months.

But that specific point or that "trigger" still evades me, I have no idea what it was or how it happened, but I'm grateful for it none the less. haha

 

During my teen years I had several friends who worked at local liquor stores, which gave me access to what we considered to be superior (because foreign) brews like Newcastle and Becks and Swiss Lowenbrau. Several years later, my arrival at legal drinking age coincided with the boom in microbreweries and brewpubs of the mid-1980s, several of which established themselves in my local environs. Curiously enough I'd been drinking beer for many years before a period of extended grad-student poverty introduced me to macro swill.

So rather than having a BMC-to-craft conversion experience, I've had more of a craft-to-BMC-to-craft-again experience. And boy oh boy, I'm glad to be back.

 

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my gateway drug close to 10 years ago

 

drank my first sunshine wheat fifteen years ago and never looked back.

 

I didn't have a drop of alcohol all through high school and then even for a few months after I turned 21, just wasn't interested in at all. I was used to seeing my parents drink pretty decent craft stuff like red hook, new belgium, stuff along those lines also with some BMC mixed in, pbr, coors, etc. Then I started realizing that a lot of my older friends were really into beer and I discovered all the different varieties and that the craft beer culture was pretty awesome. So one day I'm out at Rogues Washington state location in Issiquah with my parents and the waitress comes up to take our order, then to my parents surprise I order a shakespeare stout. Great beer has been on obsession ever since that day.

 

After I got through the college phase of drinking for quantity, I decided to enjoy my beer, I founf that sipping a Natty ICE just wasn't a great way to enjoy beer, I started branching out, first to BBC then on two others and since I have been making my way through every beer ever brewed, I will be at it for awhile. I still miss Miester Brau and all the wonder it brought me in college though.

 

Said it before but I don't mind repeating myself.

Use to go to house parties as a teenager and eventually got fed up with my beer being stolen from the fridge. So I began to buy more obscure beer to ensure no one would ever drink it and before you could say Brouwerij Westvleteren I had acquired a tasted for the finer beers in life. The rest as they say is history

 

When I was 18 in 1987 someone had some Guinness. I don't recall drinking anything outside of BMC before that. My first sip put a pucker on my face and I didn't like it. By the end of the bottle I thought it was interesting. The next time I tried it (probably the next night as best I can recall) I realized there was more to beer than BMC and I've been on this cool ride ever since.

 

Will leave out dates and let the beer tell it.

Schaeffer, Budweiser, Lowenbrau, ZumZum Helles and Dunkel, Spaten, Samuel Smith's, Chimay, Fullers, Sierra Nevada, homebrewing, Pete's, Gritty's, Harpoon, many,many years and many, many beers, today.

 

When I was underage I never really appreciated beer because the only examples I was exposed to just are not good. SNPA was a real eye opener, I thought it was simply too good. After this I tried celebration and while I was struggling through a bottle I really enjoyed the flavors. Sierra Nevada plays a large role in me getting into craft beer, I remember even bigfoot being one of my first craft purchases.

 

My boss bought me a 6-pack of Radeberger after work one day. Went under his wing and tried some awesome beers. It's only been six months, yet it's turned into an addiction. I have over 125 beers in my "cellar" and have drank many awesome/rare beers.

 

January 2011 I was in a grocery store that had installed a new Craft Beer section. I looked at those beers for a long time. I picked up a 6 pack of Bitburger (Back in the 70s I lived outside of Bitburg for 5 years and drank a ton of it) and a 6 pack of Anchor Steam. Well the Steamers did it for me and I made a New Years resolution..... to try 100 new beers in a year. Since then I have tried 168 new beers and have thoroughly enjoyed my Craft beer trek. Now each week I attempt to try at least 2 or 3 new beers while "keeping" up with my regular favorites of course!

 

That's awesome. I have my 14 year old help me brew beer as well and try to teach him the different components and why and how they work. He wants to take more biology and chemistry courses in HS now and is always asking when we'll brew again.

 

^+1

Went to college in Boston... went from Boston Lager to Harpoon Leviathan and everything in between. When I turned 21 the Victory Prima/Golden Monkey/HopDevil 12pk went on sale in the liquor store around the corner. I had no chance.

 

I've had beers throughout my young life; I never was really impressed with any of them. I asked my buddy which was a good beer when I turned 21, while we were at a hole in the wall bar. He said Yuengling. So, I tried it and it was decent. I then used to drink to get drunk and buzzed. I used to get drunk with my other friend on Sunday's off of Budweiser but I wasn't a huge fan of that beer. I then started to drink during the week, I started to look at high abv.; that decided my direction of what I would drink. I then realized they're a world of beer out there with wonderful tastes - it wasn't about getting drunk anymore. I used to take pictures of beer I had tried on my phone. I then wanted to find a site that could help me keep track of beers I had tried and then I discovered BA. It really became a passion after that. I believe quality beer saved me from becoming a true alcoholic, as funny as that sounds. I used to drink to get drunk, now I drink for taste with only having one or two beers a night.

 

I BMC'd after high school, but those days it was only to get imbibed. Drank a lot of Michelob, and miller. I got out on my own, still the same thing for years. I dunno about 7 years ago I started drinking different stuff, Bass Guinness ect and gravitated towards ales in general. Not too long after I started down that road I tried SNPA, and was disgusted buy it. But little by little I ventured out and as it normally does my tastes change, and was trying different styles like IPA's, and Stouts. Then in 2009 started working for a German auto company, and was brought to Europe for some training. This 2 month trip cemented my love for different styles. I still take pictures of every new beer I try.