1973. 2 cans of Boots malt extract in my luggage so I could recapture that English Pub experience once I got home. Hah! What a disaster. Batch never carbonated, but fortunately, we had used swing top bottles so we had the bright idea of adding a few raisins to each bottle. Not a bright idea. I think they carbonated alright, but it looked like someone took a glass cutter to the bottom of each bottle and cleanly severed it.
The experience put me off trying again for 13 years until an English friend told me what great beer his father made in the UK. If he could do it, I could do it, so off to find a home brew club I went. That was the beginning of my very long love affair with home brewing. It's as much about the friendships I've made as the beer.
Congrats to all of you who have enjoyed this hobby for so long. Who'd have thought it would just keep getting better and better.