Beer #1: Samuel Adams Summer Ale (2013)

Not drinking a beer tonight because my quest for being unfat continues and I was bad at lunch. In lieu of that, I’ll tell you a quick story about how I got into beer.

I didn’t drink in college, or at my bachelor party, or at my wedding, or my honeymoon. I didn’t care for macro lagers, didn’t really see the point of getting drunk (still wish I could drink more without getting tipsy and/or full), and pre-Pop The Cap NC was limited in what could be bought/sold/brewed in the state.

We moved to Orlando, FL in 2004 and lived for a year under the mistaken impression that, for us, living close to Walt Disney World would be even better than visiting (it wasn’t). There was one thing it had though: Epcot and the World Showcase.

I still remember my first beer: Spaten Optimator from the Germany Pavilion on draft. I was immediately surprised at how different it was from what everyone I knew drank. I wasn’t hooked, but I was definitely more curious about not American Light Lager beer. From then came Samuel Adams and his infinite variety packs. I’ve always found them to be very solid introduction to various styles. Those seasonal collections primed the pump that beer wasn’t just light or dark.

I was slowly expanding outwards over the years, more of a meander than any sort of passion. Then came Untappd in June of 2013. I saw a friend on Facebook auto-posting beers I’d never heard of through an app. At that point, I usually kept a few beers around the house and was making six packs at bottle shops. I thought it would be a great way to keep track of what I’d had and hadn’t had over the years.

So I checked in a beer. Then another. Then another.

And now we are here.

Over 3,600 different beers later.

It all started with Spaten Optimator. That one cranked the car engine. Beer #1: Samuel Adams Summer Ale (2013) is the one that hit the gas on this sudsy road trip we are on now.