BeerBorg

AND THE NEW.... Congrats BP

Sorry for the delay in responding.

I have to admit I was surprised to win. I voted for myself largely because I was afraid of being embarrassed if I got 0 votes.

1) When did you start brewing and how did you become interested?

I read that Utah legalized home brewing at the end of March 2009. Before that, you could buy, sell, own, etc all of the equipment and ingredients (buckets and even carboys have other uses, as do airlocks, yeast, hops, barley, LME, etc; side note, my LHBS sells bulk LME and many of their big customers are bakers), but technically, you couldn't legally brew with them. Shortly after that, Woot! had a Mr Beer kit as their deal of the day. I brewed my first batch on 5/2/2009.

2) Who would you most like to share a beer with?

Before answering that, a long time ago, I shared many beers with somebody who is now somewhat famous in brewing circles: Stan Hieronymus. At the time, he was just another guy I worked with at the Peoria Journal Star.

The person I'd most like to share a beer with is somebody with whom I shared many beers with, but who has since passed away: my dad.

And, of course, pretty much all of my virtual friends on the borg.

3) What is your favorite beer?

My tastes have really expanded since I've started brewing. I used to go for the yellow fizzy stuff (before I started brewing). When I first started brewing, I tended toward maltier beers. But now I like a variety of different styles. I was big on APAs for a while. I used to hate stouts, but have developed a taste for them lately. And when I travel, I like to try out local options (anybody ever have a Drake Tail IPA?).

Lately, when I'm home, if I'm not drinking home brew, I'm probably drinking one of two Utah brews: Squatters Hop Rising DIPA or Uinta Detour DIPA.

4) Do you have a beer recipe you'd like to share?

Whether I'm cooking or brewing, I view recipes as "more of a guideline than a rule" (with apologies to Ghostbusters and/or Pirates Of The Caribbean). When I'm gearing up for a brew day, I decide on general parameters for what I have in mind (beer style, a range for SRM, IBU, ABV, etc), take stock of the hops I have on hand and plug things in BeerSmith until I come up with something that looks good. My LHBS has bulk LME at a really good price (as low as $2/lb in bulk) and it's always really fresh (the last time I bought some, they tapped the drum on Monday and I was there Wednesday), so that is usually the "backbone" of the fermentables, augmented by a partial mash (mini mash?) with steeping grains. I usually do stove top hop boils in the mash and add the LME at flameout.

Congrats, BP! I love reading these stories!

Congrats BP. I know this is well deserved. You helped me many a time back when I first started brewing.