# Your first Beer. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 5, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475 "2010-03-05T22:36:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/41 "2010-03-07T15:08:43Z")
I was either 6 or 7. It was a bottle of Pilsener. It was with my mother’s permission. I drank the entire thing in about 5 minutes, like it was pop. I then promptly took a nap and woke up incredibly thirsty. (My first cigarette story is eerily similar, btw.) I didn’t drink again until I was about 14, but didn’t develop a taste for beer until my late 20’s. > [@trupa](#): > > When I was a young teenager, my Dad asked me to promise him that I would have my first beer with him. I knew it was kind of intended to control when I would start drinking, but I adored my Dad to the point of idolizing him, and I understood, in a diffuse, hazy way, that this would also be a rite of passage of sorts, a thing that men share among themselves. > > I was barely 16. We we returning from our annual Christmas vacation in Florida, and had been stranded at the Fort-Lauderdale airport all day, due to a complete clusterf$%k on the part of Delta airlines. It had been a long, tiring, frustrating day of delays, line-ups, waiting, gate changes, etc. Late in the evening, we went looking for dinner. The only thing open (this was before food courts) was the airport bar. Before going in, my dad said to me: “Today, if anyone asks, you’re 18”. At the time, I thought it was just so we could be seated, since minors were not admitted. When the waitress came to take our drink order, he ordered a miller for himself, and a miller lite for me. I looked at him with surprise, but knew better than to say anything. He nodded slightly, as if to say: “yeah, you heard me…” > > Dad had said he approved of the way I handled the frustrations that day. When we toasted each other, it felt like, like I had passed a test, like I was admitted to a select group of important people. It tasted terrible. It tasted wonderful. It was like receiving communion at the altar of adult manliness. I was glad I had resisted the temptations the few times I had thought of going behind his back. My heart was bursting with emotion I was trying not to show. I was so proud, and grateful. I loved my Dad then more than I think I had ever loved him before. But I also had a feeling that I would now be called upon to make decisions with a far heavier cast, and to answer to a different, more demanding, set of expectations and responsibilities for my behaviour. I hoped I was up to it. > > It turned out to be our last vacation together as a family. My Dad had a series of debilitating strokes shortly before we were scheduled to leave on the next one. Although he would live for another nine years, those strokes took away most of his personality and memories, and with them, his wisdom, and his character. To this day, the memory of my first beer with my Dad is one of ones I treasure most about him Officially the first time I’ve ever gotten choked up about beer, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/42 "2010-03-07T16:18:51Z")
I was around fifteen, I think. I found three or four cans of Coors while hiking in the woods, and brought them back to my room for after-hours consumption. There was no way to keep them cold, so I drank them at room temperature. I was under the (entirely false) impression that I disliked beer for several years after that. Add me to the list of those choked up by **trupa** ’s story. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/43 "2010-03-07T17:37:15Z")
I was 15 or 16 and desperately wanted to fit in. I was hanging out with my older sister and a couple of her cool guy friends. They talked to me just like I was regular people! I smiled and choked down a whole can of Budweiser. That was my only whole beer ever. I have tried sips of plenty of others, but they all taste horrible to me. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/44 "2010-03-07T18:18:41Z")
I was probably about 7 or 8 at a Dodger’s game with my parents. They let me take sips from their beers. When I think back on it, I’m amazed at how frequently they let me drink alcohol as a young child _in public_, and no one even cared. My parents don’t drink at home, but they always liked to buy a beer on family outings. The beer was disgusting, by the way. The first full glass of beer of I ever choked down was probably an Alhambra, the local brand of Granada, Spain. Also disgusting. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/45 "2010-03-07T18:35:36Z")
Our family visited Germany when I was 13. I think my first beer was a [Dortmunder Kronen](http://www.bierclub.net/bilder_bier/956_2005-09-21_Dortmunder_Kronen_Pilsener.jpg%22%5B). Good place to start. I had my first dark beer a few days later. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/46 "2010-03-08T18:54:49Z")
By age 5 neither my father (Budweiser) or stepfather (Pabst Blue Ribbon) had any problem with letting me have a sip of their beer, just for shits & giggles. I never consumed a full serving until my first college kegger a few days after my 18th birthday (and no, it wasn’t legal). ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/47 "2010-03-08T19:01:39Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > trupa - that was beautiful. Seriously! My story is far less inspired. I was maybe 11ish, and my friend and I stole some Budweiser from her dad. I declared right then, in all of my childish logic and insufficient sample sizes, that I didn’t like alcoholic beverages of any sort. Of course I like booze, I later found, I just don’t like horrible booze. ---
**Author:** ![otternell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecc23a/32.png) [@otternell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otternell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/48 "2010-03-08T19:04:32Z")
About 20 yrs ago, bought a can of Red White and Blue from my brother. Nasty and way overpriced, but it was my first (non-parentally supervised) beer. (I am not counting the sips of Milwaukee’s Best that my father would let me have (and gag over), since those weren’t a full beer, just sips. Fortunately, in the past 20 yrs, my family has developed slightly better taste in beer. ---
**Author:** ![Beerman1963](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2acd7d/32.png) [@Beerman1963](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beerman1963)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/49 "2010-03-08T21:33:38Z")
Probably 3 or 4 when my Dad would have me “beer him” My first full one (Miller High Life) in a steel can when I was 16 withe the old man when we were watching saturday night rasslin’. Then later when my parents were divorced and my dad lived in an apt. by himself we would get hammered together pretty regularly on Old Milwaukee. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/50 "2010-03-08T21:41:28Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > I _think_ I had my first beer when I was about 11 at a friend’s house. Mixed with 7-up. Yummy 🙂 Really? I wonder what that would taste like. What ratio of beer to 7-Up? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/51 "2010-03-08T21:50:49Z")
I don’t remember, I was four years old. From what I was told, my parents had had a get-together with a bunch of grown ups and evidently someone left and open bottle of OV in the fridge. The following morning, I was sitting in front of the TV in my little footie PJs, watching some football thing, and no one noticed anything amiss until my sister ratted me out. “MOM!” she yelled, pointing at me. My mom looked to see me contentedly sitting there cross-legged with the beer between my mitts sipping away. It’s been reported that my mom said: “Cellphone! What are you _doing_?” to which I matter-of-factly answered: “Drinking a beer, watching the game…” My dad apparently thought it was hilarious. My mom, not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/52 "2010-03-08T21:56:10Z")
Not beer, but according to my Mom I hhad some Champagne at a wedding when I was 5 or 6. Apparently, i “felt sunny in my tummy” . Plus ca change. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/53 "2010-03-08T22:08:35Z")
Taking sips of dad’s Old Style when I was three or four. As far as a whole serving of beer? I don’t know. Probably something similar. The first beer I _really_ enjoyed was Sam Adams Boston Lager. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/54 "2010-03-08T22:15:14Z")
At some point when I was a little kid, I jumped into my dad’s chair when he went to the fridge to get a beer. I was sitting in it, looking up at him and laughing/ making siren noises for my Matchbox cars when he looked down at me and then poured some right into my mouth. I’m pretty sure it was a Hamms. Years later, the first time I really drank one was when I was 18 and in the Army. I never really liked the tast of beer until someone bought a six pack of Michelob Dark after we graduated AIT and handed me one. I kind of shrugged and just drank it, and the rest is history. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/55 "2010-03-08T22:30:04Z")
My stepdad drank every night, e v e r y night. I was 10 when I ask what beer tasted like. He gave me a QUART of Budwiser. He told Mom that would cure me from being a drunk as it would make me sick. It did. And I’m not a drunk but I started a lifelong love of beer that night. ---
**Author:** ![lexi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lexi/32/6806_2.png) [@lexi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lexi)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/56 "2010-03-08T22:40:19Z")
I don’t remember when I had my first sip, but I do remember having a Lethbridge Pilsner when my auntie came down from Edmonton to Calgary along with my mom, uncle, auntie and her husband. I still count the bunnies now, and even though I know there are better beers, a Pil is my standby. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/57 "2010-03-09T01:00:00Z")
Can you elaborate on “counting the bunnies” ? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/58 "2010-03-09T01:48:16Z")
in 1977 I was 15 years old, got invited (or invited myself) to go along with my older brother (17) and his crowd to the drive-in to see “Blazing Saddles”, where I had a Schlitz Malt Liquor. I’m sure the Schlitz sucked, but the rest of the experience was so perfect I will always carry fond memories of it - as long as I never drink another one. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/59 "2010-03-09T02:39:34Z")
I can’t say. I’ve never actually have been able to finish a glass of beer. My brothers would taste it; I’d give it a try and hate it (it took me a long time to develop a taste for alcohol). It still tastes like drinking carbonated piss. As for brand, it was probably Miller (and don’t go on about better brands – they all taste just as bad). ---
**Author:** ![Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sticks_and_scones/32/16951_2.png) [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sticks_and_Scones)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475/60 "2010-03-09T03:22:38Z")
I really don’t think that I’ve had more than maybe a sip here or there. Maybe a taste of Corona when I was with my ex. I’m not really into alcoholic beverages other than the occasional (every 6 months or so) mudslide. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-beer/531475.md?page=4)