The Home Brew Connection

Back in the early 70's a slow revolution was taking place in North American home brewing. American home brew gurus such as Charlie Papazian, Byron Burch and Dave Miller were slowly changing American attitudes on how beer should taste and look. Americans were still suffering from the lingering hangover of the Prohibition experiment that had given home brewing a bad reputation.

During this era they made many home brew concoctions using a myriad of ingredients under questionable sanitary conditions. Most brews started with a small can of Blue Ribbon malt extract. A large amount of sugar and a packet of bakers yeast was added. They then mixed these ingredients with water in some sort of vessel and covered this with a cloth and left it to ferment for a few days. They then bottled or dipped the "brew" and drank directly from the vessel. The resulting beer was often yeasty, sweet and contaminated and awful tasting.

Of all the people who spearheaded the home brew revolution, Charlie Papazian has to be the one to get most of the credit. His book "The Joy of Home Brewing" is considered the bible of home brewing. He is also the founder of the American Home Brewing Association, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting public awareness and appreciation of the quality and variety of beer. Papazian's efforts have resulted in an unprecedented growth in home brewing that has swept across the U.S.A. and Canada spawning a new industry. The traditional Prohibition home brewer was replaced by a new generation that encompassed people of every occupation including, professionals, academics and business people. The beer they were making was outstanding. Beer drinkers started to get a taste for these full flavoured craft-brewed beers. As these new age brewers developed their skills at home some started to realize there was a void not being filled by the major breweries.

Slowly, one by one, brew pubs and small micro breweries started appearing. The beers produced by these new brewers were unique and unorthodox with funny names and ingredients, but beer lovers could not get enough of them. Sales increased and new brew pubs and micro breweries opened daily.

As you can see there is a strong connection between home brewing and the micro brewed beer you enjoy today. It is most likely that the person who brewed your favourite hand-crafted beer started out in his kitchen just like hundreds of thousands of other North Americans. If you really want to appreciate and enjoy the full range of flavours and beer styles available you should brew up a few batches of your own. This will give you an excellent idea of how beer is made and the different role ingredients such as hops, yeast and malt play in the final appreciation of your beer. You will enjoy your beer more and become a better educated consumer. And who knows, maybe sometime when I visit my favourite pub I may be ordering one f yours!