All great things have to start somewhere...

About 2 years ago, I was walking into a friend's garage to help celebrate the wonders of the good Doctor McGillicuddy and his Schnapps.  After the greeting of old friends and new, I was shown around the garage with all the extra freebie being awarded to any takers.  Nothing like offing all your unwanted junk onto you drunk friends. (it's actually a great idea now that I think about it)  There were desks and dressers, a few chairs and other furniture pieces and at the back side of the wall, a few dusty wine boxes and a couple plastic buckets.  Once I found out that it was a home brewing kit, the pieces promptly made it into the back of my car.  From there, they were transferred to my house and forgotten about for a few months.


Stumbling across the buckets one day while cleaning, I figure I should at least give this brewing thing a shot.  Worse case, I would make a batch of liquid that resembled sewer water that had been filtered through a sweaty gym sock, taste even worse, and more than likely give my friends and I diarrhea for a week.  I could then hang up my hat as a brew and pass the gear onto the next unsuspecting victim.  No (permanent) harm.


I picked up a brewing kit that was a clone of the beloved Fat Tire from New Belgium Brewing.  After flipping through the instructions a few hundred times, it turns out this brewing wasn't as had as it seemed to be.  A few week and prayers later, it came time to test my new concoction.  Cracking the first bottle was exciting.  There was a good head, it looked like beer, smelled like beer and surprising enough, tasted like beer.  Not just any beer either, it was a damn good duplicate of Fat Tire.


Since that day, I have brewed over 30 batches of beer with almost as many varieties.  Some have been a bit of a disappointment but most have turn out great.  After sharing some of these brews with friends, they have been impressed enough to actually offer me money to drink my beer.  What a great deal!


After a bit of thought, I have decided to start the work of becoming an actual brewer and plan to someday open a small brewery.  This blog is the place to follow my progress, see what I have brewing and to share your thoughts and opinions.  I hope you enjoy what I have to share and I look forward to someday sharing a brew with all of you at a grand opening!


Cheers!


Mike