Hoppopotamus
Active Member
Like many new members I suspect my return to home brewing (after a break of 35+ years) was in part due to the extra time on my hands over the last year - combined with the enthusiastic encouragement of existing member - and my eldest son - Alefric.
Starting with a small, but excellent (if slightly explosive on opening) Brooklyn BrewShop Oatmeal Stout Kit - the range and quality of ingredients available online and via my local homebrew shop - have allowed me to 'experiment a bit' (I even tried Blueberry Red Belgian Ale - without the Blueberrys! though that was not entirely intentional!) and produce beers of infinitely better taste than we 'brewed-up' from cheap 40-pint kits as students in mid-80s Manchester - though admittedly that is setting the bar pretty low!.
For me though - a large part of the pleasure is to close my eyes and inhale deeply whilst a brew is in progress and transport myself back to my formative years in Burton-on-Trent (best described then as 'a Brewery with a small Town in it' and not the other way around) - a nostalgia trip in a Mash Tun - with a pint at the end - win-win. For me its part of the pleasure of brewing (though for my wife it just reminds of having her tonsils out).
Starting with a small, but excellent (if slightly explosive on opening) Brooklyn BrewShop Oatmeal Stout Kit - the range and quality of ingredients available online and via my local homebrew shop - have allowed me to 'experiment a bit' (I even tried Blueberry Red Belgian Ale - without the Blueberrys! though that was not entirely intentional!) and produce beers of infinitely better taste than we 'brewed-up' from cheap 40-pint kits as students in mid-80s Manchester - though admittedly that is setting the bar pretty low!.
For me though - a large part of the pleasure is to close my eyes and inhale deeply whilst a brew is in progress and transport myself back to my formative years in Burton-on-Trent (best described then as 'a Brewery with a small Town in it' and not the other way around) - a nostalgia trip in a Mash Tun - with a pint at the end - win-win. For me its part of the pleasure of brewing (though for my wife it just reminds of having her tonsils out).