I remember my first beer. I was 4. I didn't like it. It turned into a pi$$ing match between Dad's mom and my mom. Grandma thought all good little German boys should learn to drink beer. Mom thought it was an atrocity.
Growing up, there was plenty of beer around. Grandpa Whitey liked Wideman. Dad liked Hudepohl. It was always around the house, but I never tried any.
The thought of a beer allergy never entered into it until College. I went to a few frat parties and kept leaving early with a case of the sniffles and a bit of a headache. Gradually, I learned that I was allergic to beer and that enough of it was in the air, it'd set off a reaction. I learned to shy away from bars and beer parties. When I finally did drink alcohol, it was scotch.
Since then, I've found several other people who have a similar problem. One fellow drank beer for 20 years before he realized he was getting ridiculously sick with flu-like symptoms. He switched to the hard stuff and the problem went away. We'd known each other since high school, and he was happy to know there was at least one other guy out there that was that way.
It's funny, but other yeasty things don't bother me. I can eat sourdough bread without a problem. Wine gives me a bit of a problem, but not nearly as much as beer.
