Ready... Steady... BREW!

OK, I’m going to make a confession. Until a few years ago, I didn’t even drink beer. I didn’t understand what the fuss was. Why was the entire world obsessed with beer? I was a cider drinker. If there was no cider, I would drink spirits. If there were no spirits, then it would be wine. And at the end of the list, a few steps below Bailey’s, there was beer as a last resort. But then I got a student job in a craft beer pub in Bristol.

Every so often when I bullshitted a little bit about what the flavour profiles for each beers were, one of the ‘beer geek’ customers would call me out. So I decided to try some of the beers; then I could at least talk about them. And suddenly, it hit me. I don’t hate beer. I just dislike shit beer, and good beer is out there. The flavour from the fresh vibrant American pale ales and chocolatey stouts was like a revelation. This wasn’t the beer I knew and hated, this was the beer I didn’t know and actually really liked!

Craft beer skyrocketed from the bottom of my drinks list straight to the top. I started to order beers when I was out, trying to get different beers each time I ordered. I wanted to drink as many different craft beers as I could (with my limited student funds). After a while I even ordered shitty beer over cider, although I still try and stick to beers with some flavour.

On this ‘beer discovery journey’ I continued to work at the craft beer pub, where it was often completely empty because it was an expensive bar in a student area. I filled the day with sitting around, and flicking through some of the beer books that decorated the shelves. One of the books was on how to brew beer.

I have always loved cooking, and putting together ingredients to make the exact flavour profile that you want in your mouth. Brewing seemed like a sort of cooking, where you followed a recipe to make the exact beer you want. Actually, I guess that is exactly what brewing is. Duh. I started to think about all these different flavour profiles that I liked, and how I could come up with new flavours for craft beers. I started reading a bit more and figured I could definitely enjoy brewing.

…

So that was a year and a half ago. And I have done nothing but read and say I am going to brew ‘sometime soon’. Well that time is now, and I have recently bought a load of beer making paraphernalia from Wilko’s (a big UK store), ready for my first brewing experience. I thought that rather go through this process alone, I would write a bit of a blog on starting brewing, from the first brew onwards. Then every fuck-up and faux pas will be a nice warning example to everyone who is starting after me. Like I’m testing a fighter jet for the first time. Apart from way more chilled out than that. Inaccurate similes aside, if you are reading this then I hope you enjoy my first venture into brewing.