Jan,
Thanks for the links and the stories. I graduated from drinking mostly UK ales (I grew up in the British West Indies drinking Guinness) after I chanced upon a Belgian Lambic (Lindeman's Kriek Bier) in college. I was fascinated by the description of a fruity ale. I was in love but it was a love with a price. Imported Belgian ales were hard to find and expensive. Blue Moon Brewing (now owned by Coors) helped popularise wheat based ales in the US and now even the small local liquor store carries a few brands of imported weisse. My favourite is the Schneider-Sohn Unser Original.

My maternal grand-mother was from a small island near the Venezuelan coast and my maternal grand-father was French. I grew up drinking coffee. I simply love the taste of the stuff. You can view my current desktop background here