Little beer story as I wrapped up from my Sunday work shift.
Up until my early 30s I pretty much only drank lagers. Strong, imported, flavourless lagers like Stella Artois and others which were and remain extremely popular here in the UK. We visited the U.S. for my sister's wedding (a lovely event in Lake Tahoe). While there we also visited San Francisco and when I ordered my first beer I was met by an array of taps and logos for beers that I barely recognised. There was Bud and Miller of course and tbh that's largely what the UK considered to be America's input to the beer world at that time. There was also oddly enough, Newcastle Brown Ale which struck me as one of the oddest of our beers to cross the Atlantic but I didn't really fancy one of those. So, to cut a long story short (too late), I ordered a New Belgium Fat Tire. Well, it was like a flavour explosion happened in my mouth. I'd never come across something with such a hop kick. Something so refreshing but bitter at the same time. I was instantly hooked on trying every American beer I could get my hands on. Over the years I've discovered so many more beers that are better for various reasons than that first Fat Tire but, for changing the way I look at beer and particularly American beer, Fat Tire, I salute you. Does that beer still exist over there? It never made it to the import shelves over here but would 100% try one again if it did.
