Last Thursday I was standing outside my house at the corner talking with my brother-in-law (who lives next door). We were watching the sun set and chatting about the kids running around. We are new to the neighborhood so the neighbor that lives across the street comes out to say hello. She introduced herself and her baby girl mounted on her hip. Nice start. After the conversation progressed a little bit she startled me with the following exchange:
Neighbor: “Were you doing something in your garage last night?”
Me: “Um…Yes but it depends on whose asking?”
Neighbor: “Were you brewing beer?”
Me: “Yes. Yes I was brewing beer.”
Neighbor: “I thought so. My husband and I are big craft beer fans! We just built his mash tun last fall and he brews beer too!”
I was psyched and blown away. Now I haven’t had a chance to talk with said ‘husband’ yet. He was at work/school; apparently finishing off a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. However, I have exchanged several friendly nods while were were both snowplowing our driveways over the winter. I told her that any time you see the garage door open and the kettle steaming away, come on over and see what’s brewing. Maybe soon, I’ll finally get to my kegerator finished and I’ll be able to serve up some brown ale if they stop by.
The moral or the story is: Always keep an eye out for homebrewers. Our ranks are growing!
BREW ON!
Crazy Zebra
COOL!!! Brew on
David
This is awesome! I recently found out a good friend of mine has a brother that brews a lot of beer now. Haven’t spoken with the guy in years but reading this reminds me I need to get in touch with him.
JayZeis
I try to brew in my garage to let people know what I do. My brother (in Ann Arbor, MI) had a group of 6 guys who all brewed in the same neighborhood, I could only wish that we had as many.
Cheers to good beer.
John
There goes the neighborhood…
Mike
Another story happened at my last house. I was brewing late night one night just outside the garage. It was a nice cool and nearly still air summer night, so I set the brew kettle outside the garage on the brick landing of my porch stairs. Some guy walking his dog in the dark startled me from the street. He said:”You brewin’ beer?!” I said yes. He replied:”Good man!” He never broke stride just kept walking. I never figured out who it was in the ‘hood.
John
Do people know that the Brew Dudes now live a street away from each other?
And now there is some other dude that lives in between? I tell ya, crazy times we’re living in.
Mike
We can see each other’s houses through the trees. I think we may need to recruit this new guy to house large conical serving tanks in his garage and we’ll just run serving lines to our two houses.
Ryan
I smell a brew competition or cooperation in the future.
Chris
Good to hear. Homebrewing is growing in leaps and bounds in Canada at the moment. It took a long time for people to wake up to the advantage of making your own beer. The average cost of great Craft beer in Canada around $50.00 a case of 24, the advantages are endless. You can buy mega-lager for half that, but it sucks. Homebrewing is the only way to go.
Zhaosheng
Hi. I am from the sunny island of Singapore. Homebrewing has been growing here too but not as much as I would like to. The weather is summer all year round. Throw in the >80% humidity, it can be an ass to be a homebrewer.
Only the most passionate can survive such an environment.
dafewl
Im from Melbourne – we are about to embark on yet another Good Beer Week.
(www.goodbeerweek.com)
Just getting into it myself – one DME batch in and a partial grain Porter in the pipeline – cant wait.
Its been getting pretty chilly down here (for Aust. standards) so temp regulation is the key.
Great site – keep up the good work