Pinnacle of my Homebrewing experience!!

Hey HBT,
I have been brewing for a few years now and it quickly turned from a "hobby" to an obsession. So much so that I was seriously considering opening my own nanobrewery for the past year and a half. Anyways I agreed 6 months ago to pour my beer at the California Beer Festival thinking that I would be a fully licensed brewery by the date of the festival. Well my city wasn't to keen on the idea and it has been stalled due to zoning laws. The Festival though agreed to let me pour my beers. I knew this was a possibility since my homebrew club has had a booth there the last couple of years. I brewed up 50 gallons for the festival...10 corny kegs. 30 gallons of an India Red Ale and 20 gallons of a Belgian Wit.
I start setting up for the festival yesterday morning and I am a nervous wreck!! I am pouring next to the "big boys"....Stone, New Belgium, Firestone Walker, Alaskan, Anderson Valley, etc...I start thinking to myself "What have I gotten myself into?" This is a festival with 4000 beer drinkers!! The festival opens at 12 and first pour is at 1. People are lining up early in front of the "big boys". In front of my tap....not so much. Eventually a line does form and the festival gets underway. Here is where it gets good. No it gets great!! Within half an hour I have the longest line in the festival!! People are coming up to me and telling me that my beer is some of the best at the festival. They want to know where I am "located" and I tell them in my back garage. I can't believe how many high fives I got!! People waited in the longest line at the festival multiple times just to try a 4oz sample of my beer.
Here come the best part.....they have a People's Choice award. My homebrew, Two Trees Brewing Co, WON!!! When I found our little home brewery won...I swear I almost cried. Anyways thanks to all of YOU on HBT because I couldn't have done it without YOU. I think I have asked just about every homebrewing question known on this forum and have always received really good advice and guidance. Thanks and Cheers!! Al
Two Trees Brewing Co.

Awesome man

That's awesome!

Congrats man. That's awesome.

That's awesome! What a great experience, and how wonderful it is to have such positive feedback!

Of course, we all knew you could do it! :rockin:

thats a really sweet story congrats

Care to share that award winning India Red Ale recipe?

Don't know ya, but damn proud of ya!

This is very encouraging. So happy for you and inspired. I am entering my first competition this week and am super nervous about it and excited, too. Way to go!

VERY cool, congrats!

I aspire to do that exact thing! I am trying very hard hard to turn this passion into a career. You have just added another puff of wind to my sails! Love ya!

WOW CONGRATS!! Now I wanna taste your beers

Good for you.

Congrats. Always a good feeling when total strangers confirm what you think.

As Biden would say, "this is a big f'ing deal!" Congrats man!

Congratulations! When you get that nano license (or move somewhere you can, and get someone to ship you truckloads of your old water ) then let us all know where to get your brew.

You da Man!



Congratulations!

That's awesome man. Congrats.

Amazing story - congratulations as I'd call that a Defining Moment!

Really cool story

congrats! you are a "brewer for the people"!

That's pretty damn awesome! I can't imagine how good it must have felt to have so many people enjoying your beers!

Now that is a great story. Congrats on the win.

That is cool as hell! I am jealous.

I would have to agree with you about all of the great expert brewers/helpers on this site. This is the greatest place to learn. All of these people are wonderful and willing to share their knowledge. I have now brewed for 13 months and owe everything to Yoop, Revvy and all the others that are daily contributors of info. It seems I'm always behind in yard work because I'd rather spend more time here reading or planning recipes or whatever. It's addicting!
I am now into hard lemonade and cider as well as beer and my friends love talking to me on how to make this stuff!
I've also got 26 hop plants going and am planning an expansion for next year.
It's out of control.

Way to go that's a great story and a great inspiration. Congrats on your success!!!

wow man, I can feel the excitement oozing from this post...congrats to you, that's fantastic!

YOU SUCK!!!!

(unless you post recipes )

Awesome story that can only be validated by explicit recipes and instructions.

Ya waaaay awesome!!! Congrats!!! Now lets hear about that India Red Ale recipe

Mr_Pear said:

Ya waaaay awesome!!! Congrats!!! Now lets hear about that India Red Ale recipe

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Thanks for all the kind words! It just feels awesome that the "common" craft beer drinker liked my beers.....a lot!! I certainly don't think my beers are on par with Stone, Firestone, etc.. but I guess they are better than I thought they were. The India Red Ale recipe is actually pretty common. A variation can be found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/hoppy-american-amber-malty-american-pale-ale-145402/
Jamil Z. has a very similar recipe in BCS which I believe was a clone of Red Rocket Ale from Bear Republic. I also saw that the winning Amber at the NHC was basically the same recipe. My grain bill was similar to Yoopers but without the oats. I used 05 for my yeast. I hopped mine up a bit more so it is pushing 70 IBU's. I also dry hopped with Cascade and Amarillo. It really is a great beer.

That's great man! Congratulations!

Congratulations to you! You are living the dream. It's nice when people love something that you obviously put so much into.

Congrats. I hope you get the zoning issues straightened out soon.

Thumbs up! Way to go!

ReverseApacheMaster said:

Congrats. I hope you get the zoning issues straightened out soon.

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... and we are all invited for the grand opening!

Nice!!! Congratulations!

This gives me encouragement to... obsess more... on this hobby.

Awesome story man! Congratulations!

Awesome story, thanks for sharing. Inspirational for us all!

Right on!

That's fantastic! I'll look for your bottles soon here on the shelves in Missouri.

I liked "Two Trees Brewery" on Facebook

Congrats, what a GREAT story!!!