What did you drink before the good stuff?

[roundball]

Let's face it: most of us craft beer snobs starting off drinking golden **** water like everyone else before craft beer enlightened us.

What did you start out with, and what was your path to salvation?

Keystone Light and Coors Light were my go-to beers in the early days. One summer I worked at a restaurant, and a coworker and I made a list of "upscale" beers we wanted to try (Heineken, Rolling Rock, Corona, basically anything that we'd seen in the supermarket that came in a glass bottle). This got me to start drinking Amber Bock regularly, which I considered a fancy beer at the time. Occasionally I'd pick up a six-pack of something else, but this was pretty much what I drank until 6-7 years ago when I started branching out after visiting the Boulevard brewery in Kansas City. Since then, I've been hooked!

 

[Cyclonepride]

Milwaukee's Best Light. Quantity over quality was our motto.

 

[we44isu]

Keystone Light was the go to... Box of Rocks for $7.99 at the Keg Shop! Also remembering hints of Red Dog and Icehouse.... yak.

 

[roundball]

Keystone Light was the go to... Box of Rocks for $7.99 at the Keg Shop! Also remembering hints of Red Dog and Icehouse.... yak.

I dabbled in the Red Dog and remember when Icehouse came in plastic bottles. We probably started drinking around the same time.

 

[CYCLNST8]

Ya know- it is possible to continue enjoying domestic beer as well as craft beer. High Life was my original go-to and still is. Heineken encouraged me to try German pilsners @ Hessen Haus & Amana lagers. It evolved from there. Now I'm an IPA junkie.

 

[cowboycurtis]

We could get kegs of natural light for $36.99 at hy-vee when I was in school. It almost ruined me.

 

[Cyclonick182]

I still drink poor man's beer along with the good stuff. Coors Light, Yuengling, Busch Light, and Corona are all beers I drink regularly along with my better beers. I start the night generally with 3 or 4 Flying Dogs and then finish out with something poorer.

 

[RubyClone]

Amber Boch. Before that a lot of Killian's Red. If there's just the standard fare on tap in a bar, it would be Miller...

 

[CEcyclone]

LTD, lots of LTD

 

[Al_4_State]

Whatever was cheap. I didn't have a particular brand loyalty, but Natty Ice was always cheap, so it was frequently around.

I never went through that phase where I thought mid-range macro lagers (Bud Light, Coors Light, Mich Golden, etc) were "good" beers. I started drinking craft beers on occasion (Guinness was my first) when I could afford it, well before my 21st birthday, and my continued drinking of cheap beer was more out of necessity than preference.

I was known among my social circle as the guy who'd drink whatever was on fire sale, so this usually meant a mix of the following:
-Natty Ice/Light
-Beast Ice/Light
-Red Dog
-PBR
-Colt 45
-Olde English
-King Cobra (Bud product)
-Old Mil/Light/Low-Carb (yes, there was an Old Mil Low-Carb)

 

[pulse]

Busch. But I liked good beer from the beginning. Busch was just good and cheap in college.

 

[mj4cy]

Rolling Rock, Budlight

 

[CYphyllis]

Well I started with the likes of Keystone Light, Natty Light and of course, Busch Light but when my enlightenment occurred I moved on to liquor, because I'm an adult.

 

[keepngoal]

Miller High Life in 40s, from Cub Foods for $0.79 each. Two of those beerbonged, and you could take it easy the rest of the night.

I avoided anything with the word "ice" in its' name.

 

[Cyclonin]

I was fortunate enough to be around for the short-lived and failed Hiland Beer from Kum & Go. Awful, but it was cheap.

 

[jbindm]

I drank a ******** of Hornsby's Hard Cider in college (go ahead and laugh, but it was like 6% ABV so it was a quicker buzz than cheap light beer). Lately my preferred drink of choice in order is wine, whiskey, or beer.

 

[GoCubsGo]

We had a very fancy wedding reception, i.e. we served Amber Bock.

 

[huntt26]

Icehouse, Coors Light, Busch Light

 

[intrepid27]

Used to drink Bud Heavy in winter and Corona in summer. Spotted Cow helped me see the light.

 

[NATEizKING]

Hawkeye Vodka -> UV Vodka -> Busch Light -> Bud Light

I'm towards the end of my Bud Light drinking but trying to hold onto it as long as I can while paying off student loans and saving for wedding. Hoping I can get one more year out of it before I switch to something better.