I had my first homebrew when I was in college. I may or may not have been of legal drinking age at the time. My buddy’s dad had been homebrewing for a little while. I didn’t even know that you could make beer. I figured it took all kinds of mysterious equipment and a factory. Definitely a factory. I think it was Sparrow Hawk Porter. You know the one from “The Bible”. Charlie’s book. It was good. Or at least I thought so at the time. It didn’t have a label on it and how did he get the cap on?
Getting Started
After I started getting paychecks at my first real job my buddy and I figured we’d give it a shot. It was a dry malt extract beer. All the stuff came in a kit. It wasn’t supposed to be a session beer but it ended that way since we forgot to add one of the bags of extract, but it was our beer and we got drunk on it. There is nothing like the feeling of getting a buzz from something that you conjured up in your kitchen. My setup may be a little fancier now that I’ve moved to the garage from the stove but the sense of accomplishment is the same.
Since then, my homebrewing has become significantly better. At my first homebrew club meeting with the Mad Zymurgists my beer was best described as a “butter bomb”. It was humbling but I received support from the club. They weren’t making fun of me, they just wanted to help me make better beer. Since then, I’ve brewed a lot of beer and became a beer judge. I’ve won some ribbons, judged a bunch of cool competitions from Maui to Philly and moved my way up the ladder with the BCJP.
I’ve been brewing for over twenty years and I still wish that I started earlier. My hope now is to give back a little and help people brew better beer and know what a good beer tastes like. Check out the exam prep classes and Resources page see what might help you in your beer journey.
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