What beer opened your eyes?

[corkybstewart]

For me it was Henry Weinhard Private Reserve in 1978.  The grocery store had a sale on Tuborg Gold but had run out, so they substituted Private Reserve for it.  I fell in love with it and bought about 5 cases right away.  Then in 1981 on our honeymoon visit to my inlaws in France my FIL introduced me to Belgian beers like Grimbergen, La Trappe and St. Bernardus.  I have a BIL who was a truck driver and he brought me beer from Germany and Austria.  I was addicted and have never been able to kick the habit.

[dbarber]

I enjoyed Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale, but my holy sh!t moment was when I tasted an espresso stout when I was at school in Montana back in 94.  I beleive it was from a brewery in Washington.

[dannyjed]

It was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and the Bert Grant beers from the early 90's.

[edvinjonsson]

For me it wasn't a specific beer, but a place. Venice alehouse in Venice beach, I was amazed by the beer in there. After that I started reading about beer styles, and found out about craft beer and home brewing. I still don't remember what beers I had in there, I just kept telling the waitress to surprise me and they were all so good. The waitress was hot too.

[DW]

Guiness Irish Stout initially (which I almost never drink anymore), and several years later I drank Chimay Grande Reserve at a Portland, OR beer festival.  The Chimay rocked my world (unto these eyes beer took on spiritual significance!).  Really don't drink much Chimay anymore either, but I still think it's a pretty darn good BDS.  It's interesting how some of those initial "eye openers" (though arguably still good beers) fade into the backdrop of the enormous quantity of great beer that the world has to offer. 

[ckpash88]

My beer was Widmer pale ale. I bought out of the blue bc it was labeled wrong and it was only 3 dollars for a six pack and that was the moment I realized big commercial lagers suck. Second would be summit pale ale and two hearted.

[alcaponejunior]

My beer was Widmer pale ale. I bought out of the blue bc it was labeled wrong and it was only 3 dollars for a six pack and that was the moment I realized big commercial lagers suck. Second would be summit pale ale and two hearted.

$3 a sixer for widmer pale ale?  Yeah!!  I love that beer!!

My game changer was probably when I decided to go for a bottle of boulevard saison-brett.  I had reviewed a few beers and had always enjoyed trying new beers, but the whole process of reviewing changed the game, and the taste of saison-brett opened my eyes big time. 

There's just so much flavor to be had with high quality craft beers, the old standards go away when you have that one eye opening brew. 

[tschmidlin]

I enjoyed Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale, but my holy sh!t moment was when I tasted an espresso stout when I was at school in Montana back in 94.  I beleive it was from a brewery in Washington.

I would guess Redhook Double Black Stout, made with Starbucks coffee.

[dmtaylor]

Pete's Wicked, SABL, Sprecher Maibock, and Hacker-Pschorr Weiss were my first loves, with all the shock and awe to a baby budding beer nerd.

[realbeerguy]

Has to be the Sierra Nevada I had while on vacation in Napa Valley.  Drank hefe and Lowenbrau while in college, but the hops in SNPA really opened my eyes.

[morticaixavier]

Another for a place rather than one particular brew. It was the three needs in Burlington VT a tiny nano scale brew pub. I had gone to highschool with the brewer and wondered in one day after work for a pint.  I was a wine drinker before that. Maybe an occasional guiness or magic hat/sierra nevada/seranac etc but those different suprising and unussual brews at the Needs made me realize that beer could be a way to express oneself.

[hokerer]

My earliest would have been back in High School (drinking age was still 18 back then) when I had a draft Guiness Stout at the local ale house.

[jeffy]

I've been thinking about this for a week now and can't say there was a particular game changing beer or pub that drew me towards craft beer.  I have always gone for beer that was either a local product or not in the mainstream.  Even back in the mid seventies I remember doing blind taste tests with local beers (in Cincinnati we had several) and imports.  The best import at the time was Heineken and our local Burger beer outclassed that easily.
That said, I had a beer while attempting to hitch-hike through Belgium in 1973 that knocked my socks off.  Or more accurately knocked my guts out.  Some sort of sweet cherry beer served in a goblet in a dirt-floored house with a party going on that drew the police.  Naked people were dancing on the roof of the car we came in.  I woke up the next morning sick in the graveyard beside a medieval church.  I spent the next day in Antwerp asking bartenders what kind of beer that might have been.
Ahh, the 70's…….

[bluesman]

It was more than a beer that did it... It was a period of time. Samuel Adams and Yuengling were always a winner. I was into the Canadian beers for a while...Moosehead, Labatts, etc... Then it was Pete's and Anchor Brewing...which then led to the craft beer movement. The rest was history.

[hooter]

Alaskan Amber.  It was mainly fizzy yellow beer prior to that.  Now I don't even drink the stuff anymore.