Thanks, jackass. I had no idea.
I am a homebrewer, and I love every minute of the process. From creating a recipe, to executing it and tasting the final product, it's an absolute joy. It's the perfect blend of art, science and...well, alcohol. I can't tell you that I look forward going to work every day, but I can say that the anticipation of an upcoming brew day fills me with excitement long before the day arrives.
I've been heavily into the craft beer scene since college. Back then, craft beer wasn't the big hipster trend it is today. We were just trying something different. During my first year of college, I lived on cheap beer. St. Ides was a staple. When I was finally old enough to get in, the bar in the student center served $1.50 pitchers of something called Yuengling. At the time, that beer was a revelation. I could drink this fine well-made beer, and get shitfaced for $3.00. Sign me up.
My first taste of craft beer actually came when I was about 14 (Incidentally, I had my first glass of wine at 5. That's how we Italians roll). My family and I took a road trip up to Boston for a weekend. At dinner one night, my dad ordered a beer - something called Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Never heard of it, but at 14 Budweiser was still exotic to me. He took one sip, looked at me and said "son, you need to try this" (you know, sometimes, my dad was pretty cool). He slid the bottle over and I took a swig. WHOA. "Dad, we have to bring some of this home." He agreed. We bought a couple of six-packs and brought them home.
The real transition happened when I was at a college party during my junior year. I reached into a cooler just to grab whatever was there, and pulled out a bottle of something called Brooklyn Brown Ale. I remember being annoyed initially because the cap didn't twist off and had to find a bottle opener (I drank shitty beer, so I never needed one). The first taste...wait, this can't be beer. No way. Another sip...I'm tasting.....roasted coffee? Hints of....cocoa? What is this sorcery?!? I ended up downing that bottle pretty quickly. I rushed back to that cooler hoping to find another one, but alas, it appears I got the last one. When I sobered up the next morning, I hit the closest liquor store and scored a six-pack. Returning the favor to my dad, I said "pop, you gotta try this". He took a sip and had the same look on his face that he had that day in Boston.
Over the years since then, I've slowly immersed myself in the craft beer world. I can write a whole other article about that, but I want to stay with the topic at hand here.
About two years ago, I was sitting on the porch at a friend's house having a brew. He looked at me and said "I think we can make one of these." I'd been thinking the same thing for a while. Why not? My family and friends had been making wine for decades. My dad and I made wine once together. It was a special moment in time, but as he became ill shortly after that, we never got to do it again. I never had the urge to since, either. This was a chance to bring in a new tradition, and to get some of those creative juices flowing again.
We made a few batches together. The first couple were from partial mash kits - a black IPA and a Belgian IPA. The Belgian was actually quite good. We thought we were ready to do an all-grain batch, so we tried our hand at a Belgian Witbier. It could have been better, but we did fine given the learning curve.
Fast forward to the present......another dear friend and I have continued on perfecting our craft, and the results have always been solid, occasionally spectacular. We've mastered certain beer styles (we make amazing stouts), and have some work to do on others (though sour beers aren't the easiest to make).
I originally became a homebrewer because I wanted to make beer that tasted better to me than anything I could get in a store or a bar. Even when I write that, I realize that it sounds pretty arrogant. What would ever make me think I could make better beer than those who have been doing it professionally for decades? Simple - I find the majority of those beers to be absolute swill. Sorry, but my standards are higher. I want my beers to taste like they were made with crushed grains and clean water, not corn syrup and food coloring (if you think I'm exaggerating, I suggest you do a little research).
Don't get me wrong. If you truly enjoy American adjunct lagers and the like, drink up. I'm not going to stand here and tell you what beers you should be drinking. I can be arrogant, but that level of snobbery makes me ill. I'm picky about the beers I drink because that's what I choose to do, but I'm not going to put anyone down because I disagree. I'd only suggest trying something new from time to time.
Back to this thing we do.......we have a dream. We'd love to be able to do this for a living. This isn't an easy industry to break into - made harder by the fact that the craft beer boom over the last ten years has definitely caused a degree of over-saturation in the market. That doesn't scare us, though. We think our beer is that good. So, our next goal is to try and get our beers into the hands of as many people as we can. We're giving it away to anyone who will try it and give us an honest critique. We'll do what we can to spread word of mouth, winning over one person at a time. It's guerrilla warfare...with beer.
The last question - what happens if this doesn't work out? The truth is that I don't see any way I could lose my passion for this. I have a creative itch that needs scratching. This craft scratches that itch and gives me satisfaction in ways my work could never do. And I assure you, it's hard work. Some brew days can be long and difficult, but the result at the end of the day makes it worth all the time invested.
Yes, I can get beer in any liquor store for cheaper, and I could save a lot of time doing so. But then I wouldn't be drinking the best beer I could have, so why would I bother?
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