Feeling nostalgic. What was your gateway craft beer? Your first craft beer that got you into craft beer?

Inspired by a post I just read about Magic Hat #9 being discontinued (RIP) and people mentioning it was their first craft beer. Thought it'd be fun to see what everyone else's first love was.

Funny enough, my first craft experience was my cousin's homebrew when I was around 16. He brought a peanut butter oatmeal stout and a chipotle stout to Thanksgiving, and it completely rewired my brain. Wasn't really drinking at that time though.

Fast forward to college, just starting to learn how to drink. Lienenkugels used to make some kind of blueberry wheat that really clicked for me, but I ended up hating it by the time I graduated. That got me into Rivertown (Cincinnati based), my first local craft beer. They also had a blueberry beer that was far more well made. That set me on the path of drinking anything local that I could. Magic Hat variety packs were definitely in the early rotation of craft beers, and I'll definitely miss #9.

Interested to hear other people's origin stories, and maybe try some new brews in the process.

Edit: It was a horrible idea for me to post this during Dry January