Zymurologist
Life's Too Short To Drink Garbage Beer
By the ripe ole age of sixteen I was blessed with an extensive enough baldness that allowed beer purchases by way of grocery store, that made it easy to pursue cheap beer and long nights praying to the porcelain gods. Along about the time I turned eighteen an uncle introduced me to the world of import beers, on a single evening it was Cooper's, Guinness, St. Pauli Girl, Heineken, etc. the flavors experienced in that session were unforgettable to say the least and a seed was planted. By the time I turned twenty-one I had grown tired of drinking for effect and bar-hopping held no fascination or intrigue.
Fast forward some years and I found myself strolling through a pre 1840's rendezvous enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells associated with a period correct encampment, lo' and behold there was this wonderful aroma wafting through the crowd, the scent was nothing I had encountered before and was not easily identifiable, but was definitely worth further investigation. After some searching through the vendors my nose led me to an engaging gent decked out in period garb stirring a roiling boil of this viscus liquid in a large kettle upon an open fire. At my inquiry he informed me that he was making "homebrew", a bit skeptical I quizzed him some on his processes and practicality of such an endeavor, at that point he offered up a small taster of his "brew" and ayup tasted just like beer without the alcohol, green beer he called it. Still a bit skeptical I purchased a kit just to see if he was for real.
That summer of 1990 in the heat and humidity of the upper-Midwest my first batch of home made beer was brewed and consumed, faults and all. Over the next eight years I moved back to the west coast and continued to hack out a few batches of beer a year, brewed beer for my wedding (bought a pony keg for the muggles), collecting equipment along the way and moving up from canned kits and quantities of corn sugar to extract brewing with grain additions. In 1999 I went into business for myself (service industry) and the time to physically brew ceased but the desire to create smouldered on. In my daily travels and interactions I met folks and managed to continue to collect various bits and pieces of equipment (gifted to me out of appreciation for hard work provided) to up my game and overall brewing experience. In 2011 all of the required ingredients to brew a batch were purchased but life was still in the way so it never came to fruition, still have those ingredients though.
In early 2019 some loser ran a flashing stop sign and I was hit broadside, that effectively put an end to my business and labor intensive service career. Over the years I never parted with any brew equipment, (still have the original kit bucket and air-lock I started with), the key at this point is to work smarter and not harder. I still consider myself a FNG due to the two decade time lapse so my inquiries will reflect that, it's funny how much has changed in the industry since 1990, Had (still have) Charlies book and at some point a subscription to Zymurgy, today all of that information and so much more is available at the pressing of some select buttons.............
Fast forward some years and I found myself strolling through a pre 1840's rendezvous enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells associated with a period correct encampment, lo' and behold there was this wonderful aroma wafting through the crowd, the scent was nothing I had encountered before and was not easily identifiable, but was definitely worth further investigation. After some searching through the vendors my nose led me to an engaging gent decked out in period garb stirring a roiling boil of this viscus liquid in a large kettle upon an open fire. At my inquiry he informed me that he was making "homebrew", a bit skeptical I quizzed him some on his processes and practicality of such an endeavor, at that point he offered up a small taster of his "brew" and ayup tasted just like beer without the alcohol, green beer he called it. Still a bit skeptical I purchased a kit just to see if he was for real.
That summer of 1990 in the heat and humidity of the upper-Midwest my first batch of home made beer was brewed and consumed, faults and all. Over the next eight years I moved back to the west coast and continued to hack out a few batches of beer a year, brewed beer for my wedding (bought a pony keg for the muggles), collecting equipment along the way and moving up from canned kits and quantities of corn sugar to extract brewing with grain additions. In 1999 I went into business for myself (service industry) and the time to physically brew ceased but the desire to create smouldered on. In my daily travels and interactions I met folks and managed to continue to collect various bits and pieces of equipment (gifted to me out of appreciation for hard work provided) to up my game and overall brewing experience. In 2011 all of the required ingredients to brew a batch were purchased but life was still in the way so it never came to fruition, still have those ingredients though.
In early 2019 some loser ran a flashing stop sign and I was hit broadside, that effectively put an end to my business and labor intensive service career. Over the years I never parted with any brew equipment, (still have the original kit bucket and air-lock I started with), the key at this point is to work smarter and not harder. I still consider myself a FNG due to the two decade time lapse so my inquiries will reflect that, it's funny how much has changed in the industry since 1990, Had (still have) Charlies book and at some point a subscription to Zymurgy, today all of that information and so much more is available at the pressing of some select buttons.............