I Have Made…..Alcohol!

Oh my gosh I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

Did I mention the most excellent gift that HHBL gave me at Christmas?

Did I?

He gave me this…….

Oh be still my alcohol soaked little heart.

I came late to the beer loving population. It would not have been my drink of choice during college. 

Those were Whiskey Sours.

Don’t judge!

And when the progeny were young, HHBL and I didn’t keep any alcohol in the house. I don’t think we even imbibed when we were out having dinner just the two of us. You know, that may have been because we so RARELY went out, just the two of us, when the progeny were little. Not that we didn’t want to, it was just that we didn’t want to subject our children on unwitting babysitters. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that a babysitter would find a frog resident in a bedroom.

So, when I began my beer journey we only had your standard beer in the house. It might have been something produced by Coors or Miller or another of the “big” beer companies. I am ashamed to say that I didn’t even know what a microbrewery was. Or the fact that here in the Frozen Northeast Ohio we have some of the best….Great Lakes, Elevator Brewing, Akron Brewing and more. I had an uneducated beer pallet to say the least. The first time that I mistakenly bought anything from Great Lakes Brewing (I think it was Dortmunder) I took one drink and spit it out. What was this awful concoction? Where was my bland and boring beer.

This continued for a bit of time. If it wasn’t brewed by the big boys and of that insipidly bland pale yellow color it wasn’t for me. Step out of the beer box?

I don’t think so.

And then we went to Alaska and toured the Alaskan Brewing Company….and they gave samples….big ones. And they tasted NOTHING like what I had been drinking. Oh, they were good. I began to think that there might just be something beyond Miller Lite.

After that it was in my brain to try something different and local wherever we were. Squatter’s Beer Provo Girl (Park City, Utah), Rwandan Primus (all of Rwanda and Uganda), Cusquena (Peru), Facist Pig from Finch’s Beer Co (LOVE THIS!!! local Chicago). The choices were endless. And the choices were all micro local or regional breweries. We still drink only local or regional if at all possible. I have a list of ALL the breweries that have been gobbled up by the big boys. Call it my “stick it to the man boycott list” if you will.

Yeah, we are beer snobs. It runs in the family. Cousin Jon brews his own beer. Niece Arin is studying to be a “cicerone” which is like a wine sommelier….only for beer. A very good job in my humble opinion.

And now………

I have brewed my own. It has been sitting quietly in the basement for a bit over two weeks. I tested it today.

And oh, does it have an alcohol content. Now, I have to say that it isn’t a heavy beer. The starter kit comes with the ability to brew a lighter beer. We wouldn’t want to scare anyone right off the bat with a red ale or an Imperial Stout. Personally I tend to lean towards an IPA, a bitter and hoppy brew. This is a lighter beer to be sure. But it is MY beer. And I think Thursday is going to be bottling day.
Of course it will then be about another three weeks before we can drink it.

Oh days pass swiftly.

AND, some friends who are moving gave me another beer making kit that had been sitting, unused, in their basement for a long time. The mind boggles as to what I am going to make with it.