AirlockSo why launch a new beer blog today? Because today is Homebrew Blogging Day! What better day to start a blog about beer?

I remember when i started brewing, I was living with my now wife, then girlfriend, and some friends in a large communal house in West Philly. We were about to move to Boston, and needed somewhere to crash for a couple of months after our lease in Philly ended, so we lived at the incomparable Badgerhouse for about 3 months. While there, a couple of us got the bug in our heads to try brewing beer. It was something I’d always wanted to try, and it certainly fit in with the DIY, grow your own food, canning for the winter vibe of Badgerhouse. We threw some money in a pot, trundled down to Home Sweet Homebrew in Philly, and announced our intentions to the fantastic proprietor, George.

We walked out of there with your basic beginners kit, a copy of the Papazian bible, and the ingredients for his “Dark Star” nut brown ale, promised to be an easy and forgiving first batch. We read the pamphlet cover to cover, read the first chunk of The Joy of Homebrewing, and had at it. I really don’t remember it all that well at this point, but I do remember that first tentative sip and the exclamation of “Holy shit, it doesn’t suck!”

Then we moved to Boston (Cambridge to be precise), right down the street from Modern Brewer [ed. terrible website, avert your eyes!] and commenced to happily brew beer in our little third-floor garret apartment for the next two years.

I tend to be the conservative type when it comes to beer, carefully figuring out alpha acids, IBUs, lovibond scales, attenuation, how to get a nice grainy finish, etc., while my amazing wife is the one throwing the spice cabinet into the bucket. Between the two of us we’ve come up with some fantastic beers, including the Lemongrass Wheat that we served at our wedding last year. But I’ll save those for later posts.

Four great years of homebrewing down, plenty more to come!