Hi all
I'm originally from the West Midlands and I've been living in Boston, USA for the last 6 years or so.
When I lived in the UK I was partial to Batham's bitter and Otter Bright, though I must admit that other than the occasional trip to local beer festivals, I was a bit of a lager lout. Not a huge fan of Banks's, but when looked after well (and preferably served from a hand pump) I could manage a pint or two....
When I first moved to the US I struggled a bit with what to drink. The lagers were not to my taste and I couldn't take to the many other beers that were on offer. I started off with Sam Adams lager, but over time, and with plenty of practice, I've learnt to embrace IPA's including some of the very hoppy variants. Founders All Day IPA, Harpoon IPA, Goose Island IPA, Lagunitas IPA are all firm favourites now.
Not Christmas just gone, but the one before, my wife got me one of the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits - the Everyday IPA. The kit has sat unused until recently, when I found I had a bit more time on my hands. I was just at the point of getting ready to bottle today, but I've noticed that fermentation is still ongoing so I've found a warmer place to store the kit.
The mash, sparge and boil stages seemed to take forever (due in large part to me not being well organised and having to make do with less than perfect additional kitchen utensils over and above those provided in the kit) and my immediate thought was that it was a lot of work and a lot of expense to make 10 12oz bottles of beer.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out after the fermenting and bottling stages are complete.
Early days yet, but for the future I'm interested in seeing if I can put together some lower strength IPA's and Brit style session bitters and whether I'll be captivated enough with this pastime to move up to larger production batches.
I'm originally from the West Midlands and I've been living in Boston, USA for the last 6 years or so.
When I lived in the UK I was partial to Batham's bitter and Otter Bright, though I must admit that other than the occasional trip to local beer festivals, I was a bit of a lager lout. Not a huge fan of Banks's, but when looked after well (and preferably served from a hand pump) I could manage a pint or two....
When I first moved to the US I struggled a bit with what to drink. The lagers were not to my taste and I couldn't take to the many other beers that were on offer. I started off with Sam Adams lager, but over time, and with plenty of practice, I've learnt to embrace IPA's including some of the very hoppy variants. Founders All Day IPA, Harpoon IPA, Goose Island IPA, Lagunitas IPA are all firm favourites now.
Not Christmas just gone, but the one before, my wife got me one of the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits - the Everyday IPA. The kit has sat unused until recently, when I found I had a bit more time on my hands. I was just at the point of getting ready to bottle today, but I've noticed that fermentation is still ongoing so I've found a warmer place to store the kit.
The mash, sparge and boil stages seemed to take forever (due in large part to me not being well organised and having to make do with less than perfect additional kitchen utensils over and above those provided in the kit) and my immediate thought was that it was a lot of work and a lot of expense to make 10 12oz bottles of beer.
It will be interesting to see how things pan out after the fermenting and bottling stages are complete.
Early days yet, but for the future I'm interested in seeing if I can put together some lower strength IPA's and Brit style session bitters and whether I'll be captivated enough with this pastime to move up to larger production batches.
