Hops taking a soak

New Steel Pale Ale?

Here's a picture of the brewpot just starting to return to a boil.  I love the smell of hops.  Something you might ask is "If you just got done making a batch which is still bottle conditioning and not even ready to drink, why are you already making another batch of beer?"

That's a pretty good question.  Obviously, it's a matter of variety.  Those of us who truly enjoy beer, are not happy with a Pabst Blue Ribbon, and nothing else.  Frequently we enjoy those premium styles brewed by the smaller non-commercial breweries.  Well, last night, in lieu of having any of my recently brewed Brett's Beard Bitter, and seeing as how I had run out of ready to drink brewed beverage, I picked up a variety pack of Sam Adams at Sam's club.  It has four bottles each of six different summer styles of beer.  That runs you right at $26.50 with tax.  This brings us to my other reason (besides variety) for brewing another batch.  That makes it about $1.10 per bottle.  If you get something nice at your liquor store or well stocked grocery, it's likely to cost you $9-12 for a six pack of good brew including tax.  That's $1.50 - $2 for a bottle.  This is low to middling beer.  If you like some really nice imported stuff, you pay $4-8 or more for a bottle.  That Belgian lambic is really nice stuff, but you need to treat it like champagne on my budget!  A typical batch of better homebrew will run you around $25 with some extract, specialty grains, and boiling and finishing hops.  That makes me six and a half gallons of tasty brewed beverage, which is all said and done about 65 bottles of beer.  That costs me under $0.40 per bottle of beer.  And Uncle Sam doesn't tax me on the back end either.

A lot of it is about taking something that is generally only available for you to buy from a large brewing company, and doing it yourself.  Its something to be able to take a little pride in, in a world where sometimes pride is often hard to come by.  So if you're a beer drinker and ever in my neck of the woods, plan to stay for a little while so you can enjoy a bottle with me.