Why I Brew
So, I've been not getting around to writing this for quite a while now. I suppose it's high time to get to it.
Anyway, why I brew. I imagine like most brewers I have a few reasons. Originally the idea sounded like fun. I went to the library, checked out a book, and was intimidated. This was before supply stores were common, and it looked like more than I could really take on. Especially the whole malting thing. I stuck the book in a box (yes, I still have that library book from 2 decades ago) and went on with my life of drinking Miller genuine draft. Time went by, and I relocated from Utah to Washington. One of the first things I learned was that beer was a rich and varied beverage. I had no idea that beer meant so many different things, and I went from drinking beer for a buzz to genuinely enjoying experiencing as many varieties as I could find. A few years later, work took me back to Utah, and I was faced with the reality of bud/Coors/miller, or learning to make the stuff myself. Luckily The Beer Nut had opened by this time, and the barrier to entry had lowered significantly. I started to brew. Since that time I've developed an appreciation (if not a full ability to direct) the biology involved, and get almost as much satisfaction from the fact that I've made this myself as I do from drinking something that often is more enjoyable than anything I could buy in a store.
Anyway, why I brew. I imagine like most brewers I have a few reasons. Originally the idea sounded like fun. I went to the library, checked out a book, and was intimidated. This was before supply stores were common, and it looked like more than I could really take on. Especially the whole malting thing. I stuck the book in a box (yes, I still have that library book from 2 decades ago) and went on with my life of drinking Miller genuine draft. Time went by, and I relocated from Utah to Washington. One of the first things I learned was that beer was a rich and varied beverage. I had no idea that beer meant so many different things, and I went from drinking beer for a buzz to genuinely enjoying experiencing as many varieties as I could find. A few years later, work took me back to Utah, and I was faced with the reality of bud/Coors/miller, or learning to make the stuff myself. Luckily The Beer Nut had opened by this time, and the barrier to entry had lowered significantly. I started to brew. Since that time I've developed an appreciation (if not a full ability to direct) the biology involved, and get almost as much satisfaction from the fact that I've made this myself as I do from drinking something that often is more enjoyable than anything I could buy in a store.
Eventually brewing has also become, for me, a journey rather than a destination. With so many obligations to do this or that in my day to day life, brewing is an experience that I can become absorbed in, that I can do and enjoy purely for the sake of the activity. I can become absorbed in all aspects of the process...The creation of the recipe, gathering of ingredients, brewing, and in the end, drinking...The "Zen" in the Zen Of Beer.
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