What got you into homebrewing?

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I saw an infomercial on Mr Beer years ago and thought about trying it. I really lij
E a quality brew after living in Germany years back. I never acted on it. A few years ago I got sick and a side effect caused me to give up my hobby. I came across a new LHBS with my youngest daughter and she said "Dad, here is a new hobby for you". The rest is history. She is my best taster and critic. How many 18 girls can tell what hops are in a beer by tasting them?
 
Back in 1989 I was getting into imports and Belgians, and a friend of mine started brewing. That's when I gave it a shot. Back then all we had was Papazian's book and a little advice from a homebrew shop. I brewed about five mediocre batches.
Fast-forward to 2009 when I watched Good Eats with Alton Brown and his presentation of brewing. I figured I would try it again. Well, 2009 was a stark contrast to 1989. The internet changed everything. A homebrewer can brew excellent beer very quickly with the great advice of those who came first. The new books and great websites and Beer Smith have made brewing a lot of fun, and tasty!
 
A couple of friends starting brewing a few summers back, I loved beer and was starting to get sick of paying $2 a bottle for ratpiss beer, so i was very interested. Had a month in between semesters last year so I bought a kit. I really got into the hobby this summer, just brewed my 4th batch of the summer yesterday.
 
i wanted to make my own intoxicating beverage and knew beer was too much work, found an article on making a simple cider and made that. ( hence my handle) i first came on here to obtain cider info. i still remember the first time i got drunk on my own creation and how rewarding it was. i guess after proving to myself i could make decent alcoholic beverages i bit the bullet and borrowed a buddies seldom used starter kit and made and extract batch. it was good but you don't see bottles of extract adorning beer promotions, you see grain. ( nothing against extract, i just found it unfulfilling) so i watched a tutorial on youtube on how to convert a cooler into a mash tun made that. my first batch was a pale ale and like everyhombrewer ever drank it green and was disappointed. however by the last bottle it tasted pretty damn good! i still drink green beer but know it will improve...oh yeah and saving beer bottles has become almost a compulsion...must...not...save....
 
Because I live in slc Utah! Do I have to say more :)
Its not really the fact of only having 4%abv on draft and in grocery stores but more along the selection in the state stores that are dictated by a bunch of non drinking morons at the DABC, ops I mean Mormons.. I agree that the selection is getting better but up until recent we only had a couple examples of any given style and they were what they chose for you not what's best.. oh, did I forget to mention the markup that the state adds.. I would go broke!
 
I had gone through a 2 year beer trading spree where I did 200 trades in that time. Once I started realizing just how much I was spending in retail purchases coupled with shipping costs, I decided that if I was going to put a good amount of money into beer I'd put it into learning how to make my own beer.
 
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