Your story

Kudos to your Aunt because she could have been sh*t canned for buying beer for minors. I'm not a holier than thou deutsch, and I'm originally from Indiana, but there's no way in h*ll I'd buy beer for my two boys before they're 21 or allow other family members to do the same. (Sorry to be a stick in the mud....seriously.) Being a beer head, I look forward to the time when I can mutually enjoy an awesome beer with my two boys (providing they share the same passion at the time).

 

Understandable. If it wasnt for her i dont know what id be drinking right now

 

When I turned 21, I went to the store and bought vodka and some Yeungling (since I heard it was good). Didn't like the Yeungling so I split some Fat Tire with my roommate a few weeks later. Thought it was OK but meh.

Looked up good beers online and found BA and the beer thread on the b9 forum. Read some and was confused and overwhelmed and amazed that there was so many beers out there.

Went to the store and basically told the guy at the front I wanted to try some good beers...I know nothing and could you explain to me everything. He talked to me for 30 minutes and showed me so many styles and tried to explain everything, even though at the time I had no clue what he was talking about. He recommended Left Hand Milk Stout at the end and said it was a "chocolate beer." Loved the label, it sounded interesting, so I got it. Got home and split some with my roommate and was amazed.

That all started it for me. A year and 130 beers later, I'm hooked and I'll never go back.

 

My father was Miller High Life guy in the 70's and I can remember him getting Coors shipped in boxes marked "Rush Medical Supplies" with the push button tops. He was always looking to try new beers. He was drinking Anchor Steam after a trip to San Francisco in the early 80's and I thought that was pretty good.
I can also still remeber this coming into the house: I was not a fan! Still stay away from the style...

But it was 1985 when I went to England and went into a pub and they asked what I wanted Larger or Bitter? What are they??? I went with the Bitter and have never looked back. I was in the first wave of craft in the late 80's and early 90's. Don't get me wrong I have probably had much more than my share of average beer, that said I have tried A LOT of beer over the last 20+ years and liked most of it and have the waist line to prove it.

 

I grew up in the 1970's (when dinosaurs roamed the earth). The regional breweries were slowly going extinct and replaced by the big monolithic brewers. I was way too young to drink, but I was fascinated by beer, sparked by beer can collecting...

skip ahead to the late 80's/early 90's... new bottles started to appear on the shelves... the spark ignited. I started drinking "micro-brews" and I haven't turned back.

 

After years of drinking every terrible beer you could think of, and every "expensive" green bottle German beer out there, a few of us got sick of drinking beer with no taste. About the mid-80's, a buddy stole two kegs of beer from the local Renaissance Fair he was working--a keg of Coors Light and a keg of Killian's Red.

Believe it or not, the Killians set me on the path towards good beer. It had just enough flavor to make me start looking around for something better, and suddenly there was Sam Adams and Harpoon IPA and then the first wave of craft beer (micro-brews) arrived. We went to every beer fest, brewpub and exotic beer store we could find.

After the first wave crested and crashed, I got stuck in a rut for a while with the Harpoon products back in the late 90's (I still miss their Oatmeal Stout!). Then a friend gently told me that they'd dumbed down the IPA while I wasn't looking. He informed me that a second wave of micro-brews, now called craft beer, was rising once again. He brought me to Colonial Liquors in Acton, MA, and the shelves stuffed with new labels and styles was a revelation that is still unfolding every time I walk into a good beer store, bar or beer fest.

 

I was never a beer drinker until I turned 21. Parents drank Sam Adams almost exclusively but I could never get into it. I had tried Newcastle the week before and actually kind of liked it, so on a whim on my 21st I picked up a sixer of DFH Indian Brown Ale. Soon after I had my first Harpoon IPA and discovered these wonderful things called hops.

 

was generally just a liquor fan throughout high school and undergrad, and then my senior year of undergrad, a buddy of mine wanted to go to this "belgian restaurant" in chicago (Hopleaf Bar) because they have the best mussels in the city. he said they have "weird beer" but it's "good with the food." he ordered me a tripel karmeliet by bosteels and i was HOOKED.

 

After a few years of drinking crappy beers, a friend and I started getting into trying new stuff. Mostly I just bought random stuff from the LCBO (government liquor store) in an attempt to try new things. Living in Ontario it wasn't until a few years after the initial exploration into new beers that I found the huge American craft scene. Now in the last year I've road tripped to the States 3 times and always make sure I try plenty of beer when I get down to the States.

 

Growing up, my dad always gave me a taste of his beers if I asked. I remember him drinking some sort of Honey Brown beer, nothing too fancy but not Budweiser. When I drank with friends we always drank whatever we could get our hands on, usually 30 packs of the Beast. The beast just made me feel full and I never actually like beer until I turned 21. My roommate/best friend at the time was a Mug Club member at Founders, back at their first location. So, I would accompany him to mug club nights, and I was hooked after that. Also, a popular spot during college, one of my local watering holes in town (Mulligans) only had one good beer on tap. So, while my friends drank their $4.00 pitchers of PBR, I always ordered Two Hearted. And lastly, being the angsty goth art student that I was - I was too snobby to drink pisswater and would always step into my local beer store and pick whatever had the coolest label artwork. (Which, to my tastes, often ended up being

​

. And it continued from there... Now at 30 years old, I still love to support everything local, but whenever I travel, I plan things around beer destinations.​

 

my thesis advisor and the guy i wrote my thesis on in chicago brought me to some bar where i got drunk off kwak. moved into chimay after that and the rest is history.

 

When I was 15 i watched the Drew Carey show with my parents. On the show he brewed Buzz beer. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. i decided I wanted to brew beer. At 16 I told my parents I wanted to brew beer even though I had never drank a beer. They asked if i was an alcoholic.

I then headed down the normal path of BMC beers throughout late high school and then head to college. I continued the trend but found a convenience store off campus that sold to underage. I went to school with my older cousin so on weekends she would take me to the store. I would by 10+cases on Natty light for the dorm and then a 6pack of something nice for me(SN pale ale or sam adams or something)

I still kept drinking natty or whatever when in college At home my dad always had something good in the fridge and would always share something when I was home. I eventually started homebrewing and seeking beer around town finally spending my the small amount of money for beers that that were awesome( the first time I had Yeti. My god, mind blown). I got out of school, slung pizza at an awesome beer joint and then started looking and found a job in the industry for great brewery. Moved across the country and then really started geeking. My life has become dedicated to craft beer and I don't regret a minute of it. I still get down with some PBR, but I spend most of the day loving beer/being a geek/thinking of beer/dreaming of beer/loving beer/ fuck I might need a therapist

 

I moved to Seattle in the early '90s. So basically, after that, I really didn't have a choice.

 

I have memories all the way back to being in diapers and recall my bio dad feeding us alcohol on a regular basis, his stance was, "we could drink every night of the week at home but he better not catch us drinking elsewhere". As I got older (teens) I loved alcohol and would get trashed every chance I could on any BMC and/or whiskey. Into my 20s and 30s I had the attitude that there was no way in hell that I would drink a "fancy" beer, that was for "fruity" people I thought. My stance was that I am an American and will drink MGD and everyone could kiss my patriotic ass. Although I would drink Heineken/St. Paulis Girl and Corona/Sol/Tecate and think I really stepped out of the box.
Now in my 40s a friend of mine kept telling me I needed to try some Belgian beer and I thought he was a moron for suggesting such a thing. After several months of his suggestions that I try Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse I did, and thought, "not bad" and then picked up a gift pack of Chimay and it was all over after that! I remember I started with the red and first drink I said to self, "Where have you been all my life?". Started trying all kinds of craft beers after that and didn't like IPAs at first but now love them dearly and crave hops like crazy (as I finish up a bottle of Hercules DIPA, so damn good).

 

You could write books man! Enthralling to say the least…

 

Another boring story. (But at least it's short). The only beer I had before I turned 21 was a Coors Light. I hated it. Then somehow I found out about Rogue Chocolate Stout and Binny's and bought some there. Loved it. Many months later, I had some Sam Smith's Winter Welcome and I've been loving great beer since.

 

When I was in high school I used to drink standard BMC stuff to get drunk. Then, my brother moved back out to California with me and he had previously worked at a Whole Foods. So him and his girlfriend went to a Whole Foods out here and picked up some Hazelnut Brown Nectar and Old Rasputin and he let me try them and I was just blown away that that was what beer tasted like. A few years later when I turned 21, me and him went out to a beer bar and it was Chimay and DFH all over the place. I can proudly say that since becoming the legal drinking age I have never purchased, or consumed for that matter, any BMC at all. Luckily I got started early and it's been all craft. Now I'm 22 and I already got a small cellar goin on, and about to go to my first beer release(Beatification).

 

Short version: I drink, therefore I am.

Long version: Goose Island IIPA, god rest it's soul, was the first craft beer I enjoyed (unless you count 312). Then I got a job at Binnys, where my co-workers peer pressured me into splitting every new six pack release. I've been a scoundrel of a snob ever since.

 

A few years out of college one of the higher ups took us out for happy hour after work. He was a big craft beer buff and I a Coors light(now that I had graduated I had since moved up in quality from keystone) drinker. He ordered a Stone IPA on draft and I followed suit. I'm not a religious man, but the experience was something special; like the time I spotted Chubacabra at a park in Utah or went skydiving parachute free in a custom made bat suit...