Wednesday, December 23, 2015

I hated beer the first time

I hated the first time I tried a beer. In all fairness I was probably around 8 years old and in the mid 1970's. This was time of Led Zeppelin and the dark ages of American brewing. Most of what was left was the huge conglomerate beers that had fizzled and watered down to a pale yellow fizzy drink. Of course as an elementary school aged kid I was oblivious to what status of the beer world was. I remember beer being a clear pale yellow with some slim white fizzy head. It was probably a Michelob or Schlitz as I remember those being the ones my uncles and their friends drinking a lot. I think it was one of my uncles who offered it to me(can't be sure though). I remember it having an odd smell and taste. Did not like it one bit. I think the grown ups that were around got a chuckle out of the yucky face I made. It did leave a lasting impression though. It was a long time before I had another one.

Even through my teenage years I never developed a strong interest in beer. I think I had remembered my sip so I wasn't that interested. I did have it a couple of times but it never stuck well. The few times I did drink to excess it was with liquor. A high school football game and peppermint schnapps(which I still can't stand the smell of to this day but that's another story) my senior year being my first not-so-memorable moment.

The funniest story from my teen years involving beer was in the case when we didn't even get to drink it. A friend of mine had an older sister who was cool enough to buy for us. A group of us pooled our money and went off to get it. The catch was that we had to use canoes to get there. We lived near the ocean with a river running through marshes. We used two canoes as I believe there were 4 or 5 of us. We paddled down a certain point. My friends sister went and got a six pack of Michelob which had a cone like bottle at the time with a gold label wrapping the top. We soon headed back. I'm not sure what triggered but just as we passed a wooden bridge both canoes tipped over. everyone and contents. I was not the greatest swimmer so I stuck near the boats. Fortunately we all made  it to shore. The our ill gotten beer did not though. Sadly attempts to salvage them were unsuccessful.

The time I went into the Army did help with my beer awareness a little bit but I was still stuck to the hard stuff although I'd still have a beer or two. It grew a little more aware being stationed in heart of old beer country Germany(then West Germany). I was introduced to terms like Export, Bock Doppelbock and so on. I learned it came in different colors and strengths. After awhile drinking them you'd go back to a Budweiser and swear you're drinking water.

When I came back to civilian life I was of course disappointed by the selection which hadn't changed much. The few German beer available like Beck's or St. Pauli Girl were not even close to same. Samuel Adams was still relatively new but that was about it. I soon just fell into a rut of just purchasing normal beer like Coors(which was new to the region.) , Budweiser or something like that.

For the next couple of decades I was really just an occasional beer drinker. Perhaps buy six pack or have a beer on a social occasion but that was about it. The only beer that made an impression on me in that time was George Killian's Irish Red. I still love it to this day. That didn't really do anything spark any change.

Around the year 2009 I decided to quit smoking and soon after I regained my taste buds. This included beer. It first I started with usual brew like Miller High Life and my old favorite Killian's Irish Red. It didn't happen until I spotted some miscellaneous beers in shopping basket marked for clearance at a local liquor store. One of them happened to be one called Anchor Liberty Ale. I was intrigued by it's pregnant pear shaped bottle. It's eagle and anchor adorning looked patriotic and yet had a rustic look to it. It even had a quick story about the beer on the label.



I brought this Liberty Ale home along with a few others. Something about the moment I poured it in the glass grabbed my attention. Had a pale hazy yellow body with an inch thick snow colored pillow top head. Had a unique, to me at the time, pine and grapefruit aroma. The taste had a mild citrus bitterness. It finished crisp and dry. It seemed like something clicked inside me.I didn't know beer could taste so incredible and different from mainstream football commercial beers.  It was from that point I was hooked on craft beer.


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