It's Official!

This is my first post, so don't hold it against me.

Until yesterday, I only claimed to be a homebrewer, now I am one. Well, I guess that's only true if you're the type of person that requires membership in a guild or association of some kind for validation, but still, it feels good to be a "card carrying member".

I have always enjoyed drinking good beer, but I think my desire to know more about how it was made started in May of 2005 when I went to Germany to visit a friend of mine who was towards the tail end of a year long stay there. Every town had their own brewery. We toured around and drank a lot of beer, really good beer. It was the best beer I had had up to that point (maybe still the best beer I've had?). I was amazed at the quality of the beer as well as the variety that they were able to achieve using only the four ingredients allowed by the Reinheitsgebot (the German Beer Purity Law): water, barley, hops, and yeast.

I left Germany with a new appreciation for beer. My eyes were opened to the vast world of beer and I came away with a desire to sample beer from as many places as possible. I didn't just leave with a thirst for beer though, I also came home with a thirst for knowledge. I wanted to know more about how it was done. How did the Germans make the best beer while at the same time limiting what they could use to do it with? I started reading books on beer and then it was only a matter of time before the idea of homebrewing crossed my path.

I've been homebrewing since August of 2007, although, I've gotten more serious about it within the last year. It is something I love to do, not just because I love the results, which I do, but also because it has demystified the process for me. Now I can go on brewery tours and know (generally) what they are talking about and ask (semi)intelligent questions. I can go to pubs and try a new beer and appreciate it in a new way. Homebrewing is another step in my learning process and now I have a membership card and a cool bumper sticker (and a subscription to Zymurgy magazine). Hopefully, new doors will be open to me and the learning process will continue.