Three Beers For Your Taste Buds
I really, really like beer. I like light beer. I like dark beer. I like hoppy beer. I like sour beer. I like nutty beer. I like bitter beer. I. Like. Beer. In college my relationship with beer was pretty much nonexistent. I'm sure I had my fair share of cheap "lite" beers with my girl friends, but let's just say I had no relationship with beer. Then, on one of our first dates, John took me to his favorite watering hole... full of beer. When he offered me a Guinness, I took it with enthusiasm. Then I looked at it. Beer can be THIS dark?! What is that foam at the top... am I supposed to pour that off? 
I waited for him to take a sip so I would know how I was supposed to drink it... after all, I would have been so embarrassed if he raked the foam off the top first and I had already taken a big sip! He sipped... drinking the foam. I followed suit. That was my first real beer, and luckily for me, I LOVED it. Like, seriously loved it. I looked up at the two humongous black boards filled with beer names and I vowed to try them all. It's for this reason that I have dubbed Guinness as my "gateway beer". My new hobby suited my new relationship well and for the next several months years we were on a beer drinking frenzy. I needed to try them all. It was my duty to all of the silly mixed-drink-loving-college-girls everywhere. Beer can be good! Like, seriously. I developed a taste for hoppy beer pretty early on--specifically pale ales. When I tasted Elliott's Phoned Home from Cedar Creek Brewery, it was love at first pint. We picked it up on a whim while on a trip somewhere. Cedar Creek Brewery? Never heard of that... guess we can try it... That was the best on-a-whim beer decision I have ever made. It's refreshing, and hoppy, and all of the good things I love in a beer. Now that I'm a relatively seasoned beer drinker (3+ years strong), I'm always on the hunt for the beer--The mecca of beers--I'm sure you've been on that hunt before (but maybe for something like, ohhh, boots). I've tasted a lot of really good beer, but recently I found a beer that nearly took my breath away--Founder's Oatmeal Stout. We were on a "pint-date" to the same little joint my husband brought me to so many years ago. I was perusing the black boards for something I hadn't had and came across this beer. We sat down at our booth, and I took a sip. It was almost creamy in texture, yet still refreshing. It was dark, but not completely opaque. It smelled of coffee and chocolate, but wasn't a bit sweet. It tasted nutty, but was not over-powering. And there--right there in that booth that we sat in 3 years prior--I found my favorite beer. 
Do you like beer - what are your favorites? Not a beer girl? That's ok, too. What's something new you've tried that you fell in love with? Linking up to Thirsty Thursday. :)