Why beer and why now?

Beer is something that I have been a fan of for a while.  However, it is not until recently that I have become to understand why I like it.
In my early days of experimental drinking, I preferred the obnoxiously sweet nectar that was Zima.  I discovered this nectar of the dipshits at a party on Halloween my sophomore year of college.  Many people might think that I had bad taste in drinks, but in my defense, the only other option was warm Busch Light in a sketchy Sterilite tub in a basement that could have easliy doubled as a sex dungeon.  I feel like I chose the high road.
As my horizons broadened, I discovered Rolling Rock and Killians Irish Red.  These beers are far superior when compared to Busch Light and Zima(sadly this liquid mistake is no longer available in the U.S.) and gave me an air of sophistication when I was sitting in my dorm room eating a Papa Johns pizza.
Lienenkugel's Honey Weiss and Heineken soon joined my list of "really good beers" and I felt like I was becoming somewhat of a beer afficionado.  Little did I know I was still in the dark ages as far as beer was concerned.  I thought that the beers I liked were the great beers.   The big problem with that is that I had no clue of even why I would like one beer and not like the other.  I knew that a beer tasted good, but I had no idea why it tasted good.  Some beers were bitter and I thought that meant they were just skunky.
The day I realized that I was developing a beer palate was the day that I was fortunate enough to try a beer that you could only get in and around Colorado from a place called New Belgium called Fat Tire.  It was a darker beer with a really nice and complex flavor.  I had not tasted a beer like that ever before and it was a revelation.  Suddenly, all the beers I thought were decent were pedestrian at best.  It was like thinking Maria from Sesame Street was hot, then accidentally walking in on Selma Hayek in a changing room at the Dress Barn.  There was no way I could go back to Rolling Rock.