In 2002, or thereabouts, we flew to Berlin from London City Airport in a shaky, propellor-driven plane which left us needing a drink at the other end.
We’d heard that beer was quite the thing in Germany (who knew?) and our Lonely Planet guidebook told us that Berliner Weisse was the local speciality. We spent ages looking for somewhere advertising its availability and eventually ended up in a kosher-style restaurant near the New Synagogue. A few words of German and dopey smiles got us two chalices of bright green, cloudy liquid which looked as if it ought to be bubbling and smoking in a Visarian laboratory.
We didn’t much enjoy the beer, but it was certainly a change from the Foster’s and John Smith’s Extra Smooth we were used to drinking at home. We didn’t realise it then, but we’d taken an early step towards becoming beer geeks.