[erockrph]

My first batch had some flaws, but I had already started reading How To Brew and following this forum by the time I started drinking it, so none of the flaws were surprises. I lowered the temp midway through fermentation instead of raising it and ended up with diacetyl. I also used the full packet of priming sugar, even though I boiled off more than expected, and ended up with a smaller yield. Needless to say, there was some gushing going on.

Batch 1 was passable, and was enjoyable simply because it was my first batch of homebrew. I was already working on batches 2 and 3 by the time the bottles were ready, and knew what I had done wrong with my first batch. Each batch was better than the previous, and my brewing grew by leaps and bounds for much of the first year.

[bayareabrewer]

my first homebrew kit came with a bulging can of hopped extract,3 pounds of corn sugar and an unlabeled package of dry yeast. I was instructed to put my fermenter on the top of my fridge or my attic to keep it warm because it ferments better that way. It was a thin insipid mess.

[Hand of Dom]

My first homebrew was a Coopers Pale Ale kit.  I was pleased with the results.  First steeped grain/extract was good too, as was my first all grain.  I've chucked loads of disappointing brews too, will be ditching a crap saison this weekend (assuming it hasn't improved in the 2 months since I last tried it).

[reverseapachemaster]

My first batch was the Brewer's Best Belgian ale kit. I brewed it in a bucket in my apartment kitchen. It was so hot that summer that it fermented well over 80F and my apartment reeked of esters for days. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great but it wasn't awful. I've had worse Belgian beers from US craft breweries, sadly.

I've brewed some really awful beers in the names of experimentation, dialing in my brewing system and occasionally making truly stupid mistakes.

[hopfenundmalz]

Mine was an extract stout of LME and it turned out pretty good for my palate at the time. The next 2 were disappointing, ales from the LME. Glad I stuck with it.

[denny]

My first was a pale ale LME kit that came with my gear from Liberty Brewing Supply in Seattle.  I still recall popping the cap on the first one, hearing it go "pssst" and feeling like I'd done magic.  The beer turned out great and inspired me to get into brewing.  A monster was born....

[Laminarman]

As I get past the first batch, in anticipation of kegging my second batch (I hate bottling), I recall my first bitter 25 years ago.  It was like Bayareabrewer's experience.  I had a paper catalog for home brew supplies as we had no shop locally.  I mail ordered the "English Bitter" with two cans of LME.  They sat on my porch in the box in the sun for a weekend until I got back home.  The yeast was in a packet taped to the lid of one of the cans.  I just chucked it in after the boil/cooling.  The hops were added somewhere near the beginning of the boil.  I remember thinking..."Wow, hops are green but pellet hops are gray...interesting."  So my reincarnation is better for sure this time around, but I'm enjoying the journey.  Of course I'm devouring books at a fast pace and all the info. I can get.  Oh...the last batch that I did 25 years ago ended when I dropped the carboy, full of stout wort, on the kitchen floor.  I gave up but am glad I took it back up...with a carboy hauler of course : ) 

[bayareabrewer]

My first was a pale ale LME kit that came with my gear from Liberty Brewing Supply in Seattle.  I still recall popping the cap on the first one, hearing it go "pssst" and feeling like I'd done magic.  The beer turned out great and inspired me to get into brewing.  A monster was born....

When my bucket of beer started bubbling the first time was a pretty "holy s*** this is awesome" moment.

[HoosierBrew]

  I still recall popping the cap on the first one, hearing it go "pssst" and feeling like I'd done magic.  The beer turned out great and inspired me to get into brewing.  A monster was born....

When my bucket of beer started bubbling the first time was a pretty "holy s*** this is awesome" moment.

Yeah, these were my two "oh s#^t" moments when it all became amazing and magical. I'll never forget the feeling.       

Edit - Resistance was futile from there.   

[rob_f]

My first brew back in 2001 was an English Brown Ale extract kit.  I thought it was fantastic, but I really hadn't had any great beer back then.  If my current palate tasted it, probably a meh reaction,

[pkrone]

My first homebrew attempt in 1996 was exceedingly bad.  It was a "beer in a bag" kit, supposed to ferment and carbonate in the same plastic bag. It was a birthday present from my mother-in-law.  Maybe it would've been better if I'd not fermented it at 80 degrees.  (We were living in Phoenix at the time.)    Can't believe I tried another batch it was so bad.     Now I much prefer my homemade brew to most commercial ones and find myself uber-critical of some of the craft crap that's being produced these days. 

[bayareabrewer]

I friend of mine recently brewed a batch of beer from some kit that he got from Cost Plus. He gave me some and it didn't taste good, but he was so proud and so amazed that he actually made beer, to him, it was some of the best beer on earth. I thought that was pretty cool.

[el_capitan]

I helped a buddy brew an Irish Red, then he gave me TCJOHB by Papazian and I read through it before choosing a recipe to try.  I went with his "Elbro Nerkte Brown Ale" (LME + specialty grains) and had a decent base of knowledge going into it.  That first batch was actually pretty awesome.  Many people remarked how smooth it was - and I saved and sampled some over the next couple years and it held up well. 

I worked through many of the common mistakes during that first year and a half of brewing, but I remember it as a time when I was just learning so much, and immediately implementing new knowledge into the process.  My poor wife had to listen to mini "brewing lectures" as I explained things to her to help internalize it.  She doesn't brew or drink, but knows a heck of a lot about brewing!  Good memories 

[Steve Ruch]

Not then, but a similar effort today would be dumped.

[yso191]

My first brew was all-grain, a red ale.  I was split minded about it.  On the one hand I was pleased that it wasn't a dumper, but disappointed that it wasn't stellar. 

I've never had a dumper to date, and only a few that turned out just right.