Your story

The year was 1993, I was 17 years old and looking for something to enhance my buzz, so I turned to alcohol.

After a bad experience on a camping trip involving a 5th of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum, I turned to MGD. I never really liked the taste, but beer was beer.

A year or so later I started experimenting. Honey Brown, Purple Haze, Turbo Dog, Sam Adams Honey Porter and Cream Stout, and other flavorful brews opened my eyes. Then one night at a grocery store a new friend of mine says, "If you like those beers, you'll really like this", and hands me a six pack of Guinness Extra Stout, and that's all I drank for the next 8 or so years. (I did sneak in a few Shakespeare Stout every now and then)

It had now been 10 years since I had touched hard liquor, as the memory of the camping incident was a vivid one, but on a flight from New York to Atlanta with my boss who had several tickets for free drinks, I broke down and had a couple of Screwdrivers. After realizing that liquor wouldn't make me want to die, if enjoyed in moderation, I made the move from Guinness to wiskey and burbon and rarely touched a beer for the next 5 years.

My relocation to Nashville and a new job which had me working odd hours led me to ask some co-workers where I could go after work for a drink. The first place that they had mentioned lacked decent parking, so I went across the street, made my way upstairs, and found myself in a small, quiet, smoky poolroom. Perfect! But no! They don't even serve liquor here! Only beers that are under 6.3% alcohol! But I decided to give it a chance.

"What'll ya have?" asks the bartender.
"Gimme something with some flavor" I reply.

He pours me a pint of Bridgeport IPA. Not bad!

"What kind of beer is this?" I ask.
"It's an IPA"
"A what?"
"An india pale ale." he replies, and goes on to explain that this style of beer tends to be hoppy and bitter.

Skip ahead another 2 years to today. I just got back from my first "beercation", I just bottled my first batch of homebrew, and I recently discovered that those IPA's that I thought were so expensive, are a bargian compared to sours.

Also the bartender is one of my best friends to this day.

 

my roommate was living on our futon last year (before he was our roommate) after he got back from a semester-long program in DC and before he had housing on campus. as a thank you, he got me and my then-roommate a 4-pack of DFH punkin ale (this was right around thanksgiving). i had no idea beer could taste like that. We'd hang out, drinking it and watching brewmasters. when we ran out, we got sam adams sampler packs and did the same. it was also then that we agreed to start homebrewing as soon as we moved into a place with a kitchen.

 

First tried a beer junior year of high school living overseas in Asia at a local brewpub. I wasn't a fan at that point, but within a few months I was traveling around a lot sampling brews from around the world. It wasn't until about 3 years ago when I lived in Baltimore and starting getting into local beers like Clipper City. I then moved to Reading close to a year ago and started working with some other guys who were also into good beer. That is what really sparked my interest and when I started checking here for reviews and locations. I just recently joined and started actively participating in discussions.