Session 15 - how did it all start for you?

Hi All,

First off I would like to thank Boak and Bailey for hosting this months session. I think that this is a great topic and I am looking forward to discussing where "Real Beer" started for me.

To be honest I don't really know where it all started. I have a few ideas. One revolves around beer fests in my early 20's and my other is my trip to the Napa Valley in my mid 20's and finally my trip to Europe. When I was 18 I moved to Florida from NY for my first job out of school and I would drink the normal macro beers and be happy with it. Then I started to go to various beer fests around the Orlando area. These fest included the downtown beer fest, the International Food and Wine Fest at Epcot and Universal Studio's Annual Beer Fest. Every one of these fests had one thing in common beers that actually had flavor. I would go from table to table or booth to booth and try samples of beers I never had before. Each one of these beers were so different and good or bad (I shouldn't say bad I should say not to my liking) in there own way. I loved that and after these fests I have always tried to try as many different beers as possible. I even changed what I would purchase for my normal drinking. I would try to avoid getting the same six pack because I had seen there have been so much out there to try. I feel that this was the start but I was still mostly wine person. Most of my wife and I's vacations would revolve around wine.
Fast forward a few years to fall of 2004. My wife and I went to Napa and Sonoma to hit the wine capitol of the US. Like I said it was our passion and what we did. So we went wine tasting for a few days and my palate started to get wined out. I wanted something different so I asked the concierge if there was a good beer bar in Sonoma. He told me yes Russian River Brewing is right down the road so we went there for dinner. I will admit that I did get kind of plastered so I don't remember it all. I asked for a sampler of every beer they had. I didn't know that they would bring a dozen or so. Well the only one I really remember is there was this IPA that was out of this world. I am guessing that it was the Blind Pig IPA but I can't be sure I didn't really pay attention to names back then. It was more to taste the beer then a hobby/passion back then. After that trip and that beer I knew that I wanted to try more micro's and that good beer was going to be important if I was going to drink beer but it still wasn't the moment that hit me.
As I am typing this I am remembering where it all came together. It was the following fall when my wife and I went on our trip to Europe. We went to Italy,Germany, and France to taste the wines and see the site on our dream vacation. Well we did all that but the wine and the sites didn't make it memorable. It was the beer in Germany. We started in Munich where I tried some awesome wheats and some bocks. Then we went to Berlin where they had this beer bar that had hundreds of beers. I tried beers that had 3% alc all the way up to 20%. I know the alcohol doesn't matter but I fell in love with the really big beers that day. I had realized that the world of beer is huge. From that day on my goal has been to try as many beers as possible. Every trip since then I have tried to find a local brew pub or a local beer to try and have been pretty successful with that. I have started brewing my own beer so that I can learn about the science and flavor profiles of the different styles. Beer has kind of become a way of life for me.
I am about to turn 30 next week and for the last 2 years I have tried many many beers all with there own unique flavors and styles and I still want to try many more. I can't really say when it started but I do know when the power of good beer hit me like a ton of bricks and I wouldn't change it for the world.

PS:
Remember 1 good beer is much better then many bad beers in all cases.

Thanks again to Boak and Bailey and I am looking forward to next months topic what ever it may be.