Apr 6 2010

Brewing: An Intro

Recently I started home brewing beer. For the last few years I’ve really gotten into beer. And I mean real beer, not Budweiser, Coors, Miller, or any of those abominations. I guess it started back when I was at RIT and I took a beer appreciation class. I’ll admit, the first reason I took the class was the idea of drinking beer for credits was extremely appealing. However, I soon began to love all the different flavors and unique brews I was shortly introduced to. My tastes grew, and shortly I was trying to find as many different beers as I could get my hands on.

Shortly after, I graduated and got a job in NYC at Firstborn as a Flash Developer (but that’s another story). Across the street from our office is a place called ‘Beer & Cheese’ which soon became my favorite place for obvious reasons. Later, though one of my project producers I ended up at beer and bacon tasting event, hosted in part by her fiancee who works for a beer importer. At the event, I was told about a new bar that only serves American craft brew. In fact, beers like Bud are not welcomed there. Instead, they keep a rotating tap of 20 microbews on tap, every week they have a totally different selection. And lucky for me, this new bar opened a block from the office. I soon became a regular visitor, heading down with a few coworkers every Friday after work

Soon after, I figured it was time- time to start making my own beer. I had made wine previously, so I had some transferable knowledge. I got my first kit from the Brooklyn Beer Shop, and unfortunately I screwed it up by accidentally watering it down. I did a few more kits, and finally got a loose grasp on it. I recently started ordering loose grains alongside kits from the Brooklyn Beer Shop to experiment with. And this is where it begins I guess, my trials, failures, and successes in the wonderful world of home brewing.