So I guess I should give a lil info about myself and what made me decide to start brewing. I always "liked" beer but it wasn't until a few years ago that my passion for delicious beer started to take a firm hold. I found craft beers irresistable and couldn't try enough different varieties within a night. I would go to the largest of the liquor stores near me and just pick up random bottles or six packs to see what they were like. I had done something similar when I had worked for a huge beer distributorship near me years earlier.
It was at the distributorship that I found out about a man named Jim Koch and his delicious brand of Samuel Adams beers from the Boston Beer Company. They were fun, they were full bodied and they were bold. You name it and they made it. Everything from lagers that would make you drop your socks to Octoberfest brews that were good enough to win awards in Germany..... for Octoberfest beer. Quite the accomplishment for a simple down to earth guy who loves his product. I actually got a chance to meet Jim in 1999 and we got a chance to talk beer for roughly half an hour. It was one of the best conversations I've ever had and not just about beer, but beer dominated our discussion. The man loves and stands behind his product one hundred percent, nothing will get between him and making excellent beer. He is one of the three biggest influences on my brewing and what I want to accomplish as a brewer.
The next big influence on me was the Brewery Ommegang in upstate New York. My girl and I got a chance to visit the Copperstown, NY operation and we were in for a treat.
We spent an afternoon visiting and seeing the brewery and taste testing their various
brews and seasonal efforts. It was one sublime beer after another all of which were in the Belgian style of brewing. It was at the brewery that I first smelled the distinct and wonderful aroma of barley and hops and what makes beer smell the way it does. I was in heaven if only for a short while.
Dogfish Head Beers created by Sam Calagione would be the third member of my so-called
brewing troika.I had not had the pleasure of having any of their heavenly brews until about a year ago. I had gotten them mixed up with another fish sounding company who I wasn't enthusiastic about so I sort of refused to try their beer out of spite. So much for that great idea. I had been depriving myself of a quality beer, but I made up for that with a vengeance. In about a months time I sampled six or seven of their beers and was thoroughly sold on every single one. It was not until very recently that I sampled their 120 minute IPA
and was blown away by their behemoth of a beer.
So that's my story, what's yours?
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