Paying it forward
Whenever I tell people that I homebrew, I often get a look of surprise. Apparently brewing beer at home still carries a lot of mystique. Inevitabliy, I will always get asked if homebrewing is difficult. This is a very loaded question to ask a homebrewer and beer lover. In the past, I would spend the next 20 minutes or so talking the ear off of whoever was brave enough to ask me. Now, I try to keep my answers down to about 5 minutes or less.
Well, the time has come for me to put up or shut up. This Saturday marks the first Saturday of November. While nothing out of the ordinary, the American Homebrewers Association has designated the first Saturday of November to be Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day. It’s kind of like how I celebrated Mead Day a few months ago. Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day is meant to introduce non-brewing friends to the homebrewing hobby as well as to support the local homebrew supply stores. This year marks the 10th year of this event. It’s a great reason to have friends over to hang out. I missed it last year but not this year. It’s been inked in.
This Saturday I plan on brewing two batches of beer. The first beer has some personal significance. My sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl about a week ago and her husband has requested a special batch of beer to be brewed. So, to honor baby the little baby girl, I am brewing a raspberry wheat ale in time for the baby shower.
The second beer I am brewing is my attempt at an award-winning beer. Left Hand Brewing Company out of Longmont, Colorado won two awards at GABF this year; a Bronze for their Sawtooth Ale (Bitter or Pale Mild Ale category) and Silver for their Milk Stout (Sweet Stout category). The beer I will be trying to replicate is their Milk Stout. With winter on the way, it’s the season to be brewing heartier ales and sweet stout is just what the doctor ordered.
Here is a list of other sponsored Teach a Friend to Homebrew Day events.
If you live in the South Bay Area (San Jose in particular) and have always wanted to know what it’s like to homebrew, then shoot me an email, I’m at betterbeerblog(at)gmail(dot)com. I’m sure you can figure that out. I’ll be brewing all day, starting at around 12pm until I’m done. If there’s enough people, we’ll get a little potluck BBQ going and maybe throw back a few beers in the process. Hopefully I won’t be too hung over from a Halloween party I’ll be attending the night before.
