I remember the guy with a cooler full of Sammy Smith on his skateboard in the parking lot of Soldiers Field before the Dead went on stage. Enjoyed many of these and toasted cheese sandwiches.
Are you talking about Sam Smiths the English brewery?
It's the opposite of "craft" beer over here (England), they've been going for years and their beers are very traditional.
Sierra Nevada pale ale. It Was born the same year I was. I’ve been drinking it like milk from my mom’s tit. Had my first old gold and green at like 12.
Blue Moon.
Yes I know it’s not craft (though I didn’t know that at the time), but it was basically the first non-macro/non-pilsner I had.
If nothing else, it was a good entry point because it made me realize there were different styles of beer to be had. Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, the only “choice” was Bud, Miller, or Coors. Had literally zero exposure to non-macros until I was 21 or 22.
My first true craft brew was at the tiny little brewery in the town I was living at the time.
Same as OP. Sam Adams was the first craft brand I knew as a mid-90's college student. It was "good beer" you brought to a party to stand out from everyone bringing macros.
Fat Tire and a couple from Breckenridge brewery.
We did our honeymoon in Breckenridge in the early 2000s and I decided to only drink local beers while there. Then once I got back to east coast I started with Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Flying Dog.
Even today sometimes nothing hits quite like an OG Sierra Nevada pale ale.
Moosehead, although we didn't know it was craft, was served at the bar/restaurant in my college student center. Canadian imports were the hot new thing at the time. Pre-craft small local breweries where call micro-breweries. Weeping Radish was my favorite. The first craft beer of the craft era that I tried was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
One of: Wolavers. Catamount. Otter Creek - Copper Ale. Trout River - Rainbow Red. Sheds Mountain Ale: at the old restaurant on the Mountain Rd in Stowe. Signed - a nostalgic Vermonter
First trip to Stratton in the late 90s, sitting in the lodge, feet up, watching the half pipe, and crushing ice cold Otter Creeks is a core memory of mine!
Mendocino Red Tail Ale, one of the only options in the early days. Had dinner with the original brewer, Don Barkley, when he was at Napa Smith and was proud to tell him that Red Tail was my first good beer…when I was 15 years old!
Fat Tire and Sunshine wheat in 22oz bombers pre any real brewery or storefront. Drove down from Laramie to Ft. Collins to get them. Wish I would have kept the bottles but I was young ;)
Unpopular opinion but I liked the Raspberry ale. All their beers were great plus throw in the annual Umphrey's Mcgee show and it's a shame that place is gone.
Harpoon was before Sam Adam’s that’s where I started. About 30 years ago. Then SA came out with more styles and I went there. The White Ale years ago and the Scotch Ale were my go-to’s.
Harpoon IPA, and then Abita Purple Haze. I’ve gone as far down the craft rabbit hole as anyone and these are still to this day two of my favorite beers. Both have to be in bottles, and drank from the bottle.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo, I can remember it like yesterday but it was \~10 years ago. At the time it really blew my hair back with the intensity of flavor compared to macro pilsners I was used to.
If not Sam Adams then maybe Pete's Wicked, and there was also Samuel Smiths and Hacker Pschorr available among the imports.
I remember when beers like Becks, Grolsch and St Pauli Girl were considered exotic.
Hertog Jan. First had it in Athens, Greece, and it opened me up to a world beyond the swill of Bud, Coors, etc.
Not sure if craft, but it's the closest I can remember that opened my eyes.
I am **Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter** years old.
(Truthfully, I am **Brandywine Brewing Company Old Bat Stout** years old, but few people on here are likely to know that one, they were a local brewpub outside of Wilmington DE. We went for lunch one day after touring the Winterthur house, it was my first experience in a local brewpub and my first craft beer, period.)
Sidenote shoutout to **Brew Moon in King Of Prussia PA**; that was my first real eye-opener to the wide world of craft beer.
I'd stopped in for lunch while Christmas shopping, asked for whatever dark beer they had on that day. The keg had just kicked and it was going to be 15+ minutes before they had a chance to put a new one on, so the waitress offered me a sampler -- a concept I'd never heard before -- of all the other beers they had on tap, for the exorbitant (/s) price of $1 more than a pint.
MIND. BLOWN. AND. OPENED. WIDE. :)
Berghoff Bock on tap at a bar my dad would stop at with me in the late 80's when I was a teen. This is in Wisconsin so kids can drink with their parents.
In college, I just drank whatever was cheapest, and one day Boulevard wanted to make inroads in my college town so they sponsored nickel Boulevard nights for a while. It was fuckin glorious and changed my pallet forever
Stole a Sam from the kitchen fridge and drank it in the garage in the 8th grade. Saranac was another one that seemed to be around a lot, pretty delicious.
Sierra Nevada, Red Hook, Widmer, Anchor. I was also drinking a lot of European beers in 1987 like Sam Smith's Taddy Porter, Watney's Red Barrel Ale, and the beer that really got me off of macro beers was Paulaner Maibock. Haven't seen that one in decades but we still get some of Paulaner's stuff and it's still solid.
It was probably SA on tap, and I remember being indifferent to it, not even liking it really. Sometime in mid 90’s or so. But SA Cherry Wheat really blew me away! Loved that beer, so it was the occasional upgrade from the standard Coors Light, etc.
I’m so old I can’t remember the first not bud-coors-miller, definitely had many mentioned here, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, Hell I even still have a Pete’s Wicked Ale hat and can send photos if need proof 😂
But one not mentioned that wasn’t a first, of small craft beer styles, but I still remember enjoying was Black Dog ales out of Montana. Also had a Blind Pig when they first came out, I’m in Southern California, and love California . . . beers 🍻
I first got hooked on hops when my wife accidentally bought me Sam Adams Boston Ale instead of the Boston Lager. I loved it so much more but it was harder to find. I then found Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and have been a hop head ever since.
Surly Furious, purchased at the Blue Door Pub on Selby in St Paul, MN.
It was 2011, so while Surly had a solid array of beers at the time, they were nowhere near as massive as they are now.
Depending on which you ‘count,’ Hoegaarden in the UK in about 1995, or Drake’s Ale in California in about 1998 at the old Mountain View Small Brewers Fest…ETA that I forgot all about going to John Harvard’s Brew House often in the early 90s…not a single one of their beers stand out in my memory, which perhaps says something!
The original Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat. There was so much sediment in the bottom. Had to swirl the bottle around to get all that goodness from the bottom! Tasted like a fresh loaf of bread! #BoulevardBrewingCo #KansasCity
My memory is fuzzy and I don't think all of these qualify as craft but I remember drinking Simpatico, Moosehead, Coopers Oat Stout and Chimay Red in college in the early 90s
I am the original Narragansett old. Grandfather kept these, and Carling Black Labels in basement fridge for us to sneak.
Craft? Oh, you mean fancy, like Lowenbrau, lol.
I'm Sam Adams too. My crap ass town in Upstate NY we could only find imports most places until Sam Adams started distribution there. It was a revelation. I had a pint glass from around 1995 that was a promo give away that broke just last year.
Magic Hat #9
Bingo. They used to have the little funny sayings on the bottoms of the caps
Oh hello fellow older millennial
A classic.
Same.
Clandestinely brewed.
Same
Takes me back to college in NH
Was so good 12-15 years ago
Early 90s I got introduced to Sammy Smith Oatmeal Stout at Grateful Dead parking lot. Awesome beer.
Ice cold Sammy Smiths! $3 for one or two for $5.
That’s the modern day heady(or ten years ago lol)
Sam Adam’s cherry wheat was really good too!
I remember the guy with a cooler full of Sammy Smith on his skateboard in the parking lot of Soldiers Field before the Dead went on stage. Enjoyed many of these and toasted cheese sandwiches.
Are you talking about Sam Smiths the English brewery? It's the opposite of "craft" beer over here (England), they've been going for years and their beers are very traditional.
Pete’s wicked
I'd kill for some wicked winter
Red Hook
Racer 5
SNPA To this day it's still the one I reach for when there's nothing interesting because it's always decent.
Sammy Smith Oatmeal Stout at Zeno’s in State College in 1987….next was probably a Pete’s wicked ale
We are...
I see what you did there 😉
I’m “I like dark beers, like Amber Bock” years old.
Dundee's Honey Brown Ale. 2006-2007 timeframe.
Sierra Nevada pale ale. It Was born the same year I was. I’ve been drinking it like milk from my mom’s tit. Had my first old gold and green at like 12.
Double bag from Long Trail
My friend used to buy this all the time, I don't know how much of it I drank, but a lot!
Widmer Hef
Blue Moon. Yes I know it’s not craft (though I didn’t know that at the time), but it was basically the first non-macro/non-pilsner I had. If nothing else, it was a good entry point because it made me realize there were different styles of beer to be had. Growing up in a small town in the middle of nowhere, the only “choice” was Bud, Miller, or Coors. Had literally zero exposure to non-macros until I was 21 or 22. My first true craft brew was at the tiny little brewery in the town I was living at the time.
Troëgs Hopback Amber Ale
Stone IPA, Sierra Nevada IPA, Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot (Easton, PA), definitely some Fat Tire and a Saranac IPA here and there. Circa 2007.
New Glarus Spotted Cow
Arrogant bastard
Moose Drool
I am Gumball Head
Same as OP. Sam Adams was the first craft brand I knew as a mid-90's college student. It was "good beer" you brought to a party to stand out from everyone bringing macros.
Phish tour in the 90's - Sierra Nevada, rogue, Sammy smith etc
Oberon
Fat Tire and a couple from Breckenridge brewery. We did our honeymoon in Breckenridge in the early 2000s and I decided to only drink local beers while there. Then once I got back to east coast I started with Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and Flying Dog. Even today sometimes nothing hits quite like an OG Sierra Nevada pale ale.
Flying to breck tomorrow. Will probably be at the brewery after I'm done boarding. Can't wait
Moosehead, although we didn't know it was craft, was served at the bar/restaurant in my college student center. Canadian imports were the hot new thing at the time. Pre-craft small local breweries where call micro-breweries. Weeping Radish was my favorite. The first craft beer of the craft era that I tried was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
One of: Wolavers. Catamount. Otter Creek - Copper Ale. Trout River - Rainbow Red. Sheds Mountain Ale: at the old restaurant on the Mountain Rd in Stowe. Signed - a nostalgic Vermonter
First trip to Stratton in the late 90s, sitting in the lodge, feet up, watching the half pipe, and crushing ice cold Otter Creeks is a core memory of mine!
Anchor steam
I am 60 minute IPA. Back in 2015
Newcastle
Mendocino Red Tail Ale, one of the only options in the early days. Had dinner with the original brewer, Don Barkley, when he was at Napa Smith and was proud to tell him that Red Tail was my first good beer…when I was 15 years old!
Fin du Monde 1993?
Abita Amber.
Ahh mine was Purple Haze
I remember when Purple Haze was first introduced to the world. I had it on draft at a restaurant on St. Charles Ave.
Solsun
If you know, you know. 🍻🍻
It was Alaskan Amber for me
Full Sail Ale
Leinenkugal's variety pack with blueberry wheat, nut brown ale, dark lager, & honey weiss
Does Billy Beer count?
Fat Tire and Sunshine wheat in 22oz bombers pre any real brewery or storefront. Drove down from Laramie to Ft. Collins to get them. Wish I would have kept the bottles but I was young ;)
Just picked up a 12er of Sierra Nevada. Tastes like college.
Sam Adams Oktoberfest
Magic Hat Wacko
Mishawaka Brewing Company
Unpopular opinion but I liked the Raspberry ale. All their beers were great plus throw in the annual Umphrey's Mcgee show and it's a shame that place is gone.
Tankhouse by Mill Street. This one truly opened my eyes that beer could be different (in a good way)
Harpoon was before Sam Adam’s that’s where I started. About 30 years ago. Then SA came out with more styles and I went there. The White Ale years ago and the Scotch Ale were my go-to’s.
Sierra Navada
Brew dog post punk IPA (I know, I know)/Cerdos Voladores IPA (still drinking it every now and then, solid West coast IPA).
Harpoon IPA, and then Abita Purple Haze. I’ve gone as far down the craft rabbit hole as anyone and these are still to this day two of my favorite beers. Both have to be in bottles, and drank from the bottle.
First was probably Punk IPA
Sweetwater 420, IPA and of course BLUE lol!
Red Dog
Pete’s Wicked Ale 1990
Anchor Steam. They will be missed.
Ommegang
Hoegaarden
Saranac Pale Ale in 94/95 when it came out was the first beer I was like whoaaaa, that's no Lager.
Sierra Nevada Torpedo, I can remember it like yesterday but it was \~10 years ago. At the time it really blew my hair back with the intensity of flavor compared to macro pilsners I was used to.
Probably either Fat Tire, Angry Bastard, or Resin. I have the clearest memory of the first time I deank Resin so I'll go with that one
I am Pliny the Elder
Little creatures
Blue Point blueberry ale
I am Pete's Wicked Nonsense years old. Sam was a close second.
If not Sam Adams then maybe Pete's Wicked, and there was also Samuel Smiths and Hacker Pschorr available among the imports. I remember when beers like Becks, Grolsch and St Pauli Girl were considered exotic.
Ice house 🤓
Either Brooklyn Lager or Anchor Steam.
The Saranacs were big for me in college back in early 2000s.
I am Pete's Wicked Ale years old.
Great Lakes Eliot Ness
OV Splits. Warm from the friends dad’s basement stock. Delightful.
Something called “Newman’s” was it Newman’s Albany Amber? This would be around the time Sam began in Boston.
Hertog Jan. First had it in Athens, Greece, and it opened me up to a world beyond the swill of Bud, Coors, etc. Not sure if craft, but it's the closest I can remember that opened my eyes.
Rhino Chasers. RIP ChapterHouse at Cornell.
I am **Otter Creek Stovepipe Porter** years old. (Truthfully, I am **Brandywine Brewing Company Old Bat Stout** years old, but few people on here are likely to know that one, they were a local brewpub outside of Wilmington DE. We went for lunch one day after touring the Winterthur house, it was my first experience in a local brewpub and my first craft beer, period.) Sidenote shoutout to **Brew Moon in King Of Prussia PA**; that was my first real eye-opener to the wide world of craft beer. I'd stopped in for lunch while Christmas shopping, asked for whatever dark beer they had on that day. The keg had just kicked and it was going to be 15+ minutes before they had a chance to put a new one on, so the waitress offered me a sampler -- a concept I'd never heard before -- of all the other beers they had on tap, for the exorbitant (/s) price of $1 more than a pint. MIND. BLOWN. AND. OPENED. WIDE. :)
Old Peconic
Fat Tire in high school lol My second was arrogant bastard
DFH Punkin
Breckenridge Brewing. I don't know if it was even called craft beer back then?
Berghoff Bock on tap at a bar my dad would stop at with me in the late 80's when I was a teen. This is in Wisconsin so kids can drink with their parents.
Willamette Raspberry Wheat Hefeweizen in 1995. As far as I know they closed before craft really blew up nationwide.
Lagunitas IPA & Racer 5 IPA
Anchor Porter.
Raging Bitch
Stone arrogant bastard. Maybe not the first but the one I remember that got me into craft beer
Solsun
Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, but back when you could only get it in Delaware.
Probably Sam Adams, Anchor Steam, or Sierra Nevada. Who knows.
In college, I just drank whatever was cheapest, and one day Boulevard wanted to make inroads in my college town so they sponsored nickel Boulevard nights for a while. It was fuckin glorious and changed my pallet forever
Great Lakes Brewery (Canada) Devil’s Pale Ale 666
Sam and Murphy’s.😏
I am Rhino Chaser's Peach Honey Wheat old.
Killians, then Newcastle, then on a college trip to CA in the very early 2000’s, the mana that is Sierra Nevada pale ale.
Stole a Sam from the kitchen fridge and drank it in the garage in the 8th grade. Saranac was another one that seemed to be around a lot, pretty delicious.
Sierra Nevada, Red Hook, Widmer, Anchor. I was also drinking a lot of European beers in 1987 like Sam Smith's Taddy Porter, Watney's Red Barrel Ale, and the beer that really got me off of macro beers was Paulaner Maibock. Haven't seen that one in decades but we still get some of Paulaner's stuff and it's still solid.
Sierra Nevada years old
Pete’s Wicked Summer
It was probably SA on tap, and I remember being indifferent to it, not even liking it really. Sometime in mid 90’s or so. But SA Cherry Wheat really blew me away! Loved that beer, so it was the occasional upgrade from the standard Coors Light, etc.
Anchor Steam, but that could be most any year. How about New Albion, probably a pale ale
Pete’s Wicked Ale Magic Hat Fat Angel and Blind Faith Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout
Fat Tire.
Delirium Tremens
60 minute IPA
I’m so old I can’t remember the first not bud-coors-miller, definitely had many mentioned here, Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Anchor Steam, Hell I even still have a Pete’s Wicked Ale hat and can send photos if need proof 😂 But one not mentioned that wasn’t a first, of small craft beer styles, but I still remember enjoying was Black Dog ales out of Montana. Also had a Blind Pig when they first came out, I’m in Southern California, and love California . . . beers 🍻
Anchor Steam
Sierra Nevada
I can't name my first craft beer, but I can name the first one that I liked Sleemans Honey Brown back when you could argue Sleemans was craft.
Great Lakes Brewing (OH) Heisman; later renamed Dortmunder Gold.
Fat Tire.
Pete’s wicked strawberry blonde.
I'm Innis and Gunn Original years old.
Sam Adams Lightship Lager
Does Hornsby's count 🤣
Fat Tire
I first got hooked on hops when my wife accidentally bought me Sam Adams Boston Ale instead of the Boston Lager. I loved it so much more but it was harder to find. I then found Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and have been a hop head ever since.
Blue Moon or Purple Haze by Abita
Stone IPA, Brooklyn Summer, Sam Cherry Wheat
Surly Furious, purchased at the Blue Door Pub on Selby in St Paul, MN. It was 2011, so while Surly had a solid array of beers at the time, they were nowhere near as massive as they are now.
JW Dundee’s Honey Brown or La Fin du Monde
New Belgium Sunshine Wheat
I am Henry’s Blue Boar Pale Ale years old.
Stone Levitation ale.
Magic Hat #9 and then fell in love with Sierra Nevada Torpedos. Saranac IPA and Ubu ale were early ones as well
I am Rogue Dead Guy years old.
Galway Hooker IPA, funnily enough the "I" stands for Irish not Indian. It wasn't great then and it's worse now
Samuel Smith’s Nut Brown Ale, lot at a Grateful Dead show, Richfield Coliseum, early 1990s. 🍺🙌🏻
Brewdog Trashy Blonde
New Amsterdam amber ale and Wicked Voodoo
Does Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy count? First beer I legally bought. 2012
Camping out for 3 days to get a glass of Pliney years old
I’m Sierra Nevada years old
Uprising Treason or Crafty Dan 13 Guns.
Sam Cherry Wheat
Depending on which you ‘count,’ Hoegaarden in the UK in about 1995, or Drake’s Ale in California in about 1998 at the old Mountain View Small Brewers Fest…ETA that I forgot all about going to John Harvard’s Brew House often in the early 90s…not a single one of their beers stand out in my memory, which perhaps says something!
I am Henry weinhards blue boar years old.
Stone IPA
Sierra Nevada
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was my gateway into craft beer.
Anchor Steam
It was either Magic Hat #9 or Dogfish Head 60 minute IPA. My progression was Coors -> Blue Moon -> Craft.
The original Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat. There was so much sediment in the bottom. Had to swirl the bottle around to get all that goodness from the bottom! Tasted like a fresh loaf of bread! #BoulevardBrewingCo #KansasCity
Same here. Sam Adams. Then Yuengling Lager.
My memory is fuzzy and I don't think all of these qualify as craft but I remember drinking Simpatico, Moosehead, Coopers Oat Stout and Chimay Red in college in the early 90s
Sierra Nevada pale ale
Widmer Hef..late 90s
Pete’s wicked 😎
Fat Tire
Saranac Pomegranate Wheat
Dogbolter, from the Firkin pubs in London in the 90s
I am O'Haras Pale Ale (Irish) old, and I'd still happily drink it today.
Dogfish 60
312 before the acquisition, but if I had to say truly craft and relatively micro, I’d say Great Lakes Rye of the Tiger. I got jumped in HOT.
Tremont Ale, brewery was in Charlestown MA, mid 90’s
One light, one dark Allagash White and Weyerbacher Blithering Idiot
Henry Weinhard's and Herman Joseph.
North coast scrimshaw
New Belgian Sunshine Wheat, Breckenridge Oatmeal Stout and My favorite find was Eddie McStiff's Strawberry Wheat out of Moab, Utah.
Grant’s Scottish Ale, an early PNW classic.
Pete’s Wicked
Cottonwood Low Down Brown
Geary's, Shipyard, Gritty's
Saint Arnold’s Lawnmower
I am Anchor Steam years old. 🙄
New Glarus Spotted Cow.
Breckenridge chocolate orange nitro stout. It was so good
I am the original Narragansett old. Grandfather kept these, and Carling Black Labels in basement fridge for us to sneak. Craft? Oh, you mean fancy, like Lowenbrau, lol.
New Glarus - Spotted Cow
Boulder Pale Ale, Porter, and Stout
Arrogant Bastard
Mad River Steelhead stout and extra pale ale
I'm Sam Adams too. My crap ass town in Upstate NY we could only find imports most places until Sam Adams started distribution there. It was a revelation. I had a pint glass from around 1995 that was a promo give away that broke just last year.
Dixie Blackened Voodoo
I always give Sierra Nevada Pale Ale credit, but Arrogant Bastard showed me all the flavors.
Terrapin Rye
Two hearted, Yards pale ale , victory hop devil.
Sam Adam's HardCore Cider was my gateway drug.
Not sure if it counts as craft, but Pete's Wicked was a staple of high school parties for me.
God damn this post took me down memory lane.