The Beginning

Beer.

I never thought that I would come to love a beverage as much as I do. Beer is that beverage. The look, taste, and smell of each style is unique. Each type of beer has it's own story; from how it is crafted to the history that brought it to be. I love it so much that I decided to start my own business that is dedicated to beer. This blog is one step in starting my business. Yep, my love of this beverage is great. However, it wasn't always that way.

When I was little, I remember being excited every time my father opened a beer. That's because I knew I was allowed to have a taste in my tiny plastic cup. I would run to the cupboard and get my cup so my Dad could pour a very small amount into it. I'm not sure what beers they were, but I really savored those small tastes. Those are my first memories of beer.

When I was a teenager, I didn't really enjoy the taste of beer anymore. I seemed happy to forget those fond memories of tasting my Dad's beer. I think it's because of the beer he was drinking. At the time, he drank a lot of the mass-produced macro pilsner lagers. I would still taste my Dad's beer occasionally, but it wasn't something I was interested in. I remember one day when he opened a Leinenkugel's Berry Weiss and made it known how much he disliked it. "This tastes like a soda pop, not beer!" he said. Well of course since he said that, I had to try it. A beer that didn't taste like beer interested me. He let me have a sip and, although I'm not proud of it now, I enjoyed it.

I didn't have an entire beer until I was 20. A couple of my friends went up north to stay at a cabin for the night. They were 21, and planned on having a few beers while we were there. They didn't want me to feel left out, so they asked if they could get me a 6-pack of beer. I told them yes, if they wanted to get me Berry Weiss. That's right, my first 6-pack was a sweet, artificially flavored beer. Oh well, we all have to start somewhere, right?

Right around that same time, my Dad had discovered the small world of craft beer. I noticed he started buying different beers than I had ever seen before. Since I now knew there were options, I decided to get myself a 6-pack of something different on my 21st birthday. The first 6-pack I bought when I walked into a liquor store was Rolling Rock. I remember going home and forcing myself to drink it to celebrate my 21st. I didn't hate it, but I didn't really like it all that much either. It became my go-to beer for a while because it was pretty easy to drink fast. Not the best way to choose a beer, I know, but I was happy to be drinking something different than Bud, Miller, or Coors. Eventually, I started to enjoy the taste of a cold beer on the weekend.

I started to enjoy more variety in beer not long after that. My Dad would buy different Leinenkugel's craft beers and share them with me. I remember thinking that it was cool how each of the beers from Leinie's tasted different. So I started to go into liquor stores and looked for new beers to try.

At first it was hard, because beer can definitely be an acquired taste. I liked more mellow beers with flavors that were not too strong. I really enjoyed reds and ambers, malty and not too hoppy. I remember the first time I tried an IPA. I thought I was going to have to spit it out. (Don't worry, I didn't. I couldn't stand to waste beer.) I eventually found that I got bored with ambers, so I started drinking stouts. Then I started drinking bocks. Then pale ales. Then porters. Then wheat beers. You get the idea. My mortal enemy was the IPA. But then one day, I tried one and I really enjoyed it!

Now I'm the guy who goes into the liquor store and spends way too much time trying to decide what beer I'm going to drink. I almost always look for something I've never had before, but sometimes I have to get an old favorite.

I know many people will never want to try as many beers as I have. It's important to remember that you don't need to. All you have to do is find one good beer that you really enjoy. After that, you can decide if you want to try anything new. My motto is "If you claim to dislike beer, you haven't tried the right one yet."

Lupulin Libations, my business, is dedicated to helping people learn more about beer through organized tastings. I want to help people find the right beer for them or help them learn more about a beer they already enjoy. Who knows, after the tasting you might find yourself browsing the craft beer section at your liquor store a little more often. Or, you might want to pick up that book to learn more about the history of a particular style. Making beer is an art and it can be fun to appreciate that art.

As an aside, can you tell where a lot of my love for beer came from? My Dad was the single greatest factor in helping me get started in my appreciation of beer. Thanks, Dad. Because of you, I found something I enjoy enough that I started my own business dedicated to it.

I hope you will visit this blog more in the future and maybe even hire me for a tasting. I know I'll try to keep it interesting for everyone.

Enjoy beer, everyone!