Happiness is. . .

I've really enjoyed brewing beer for almost three years now. I like the fact that I can make brews that suit my tastes, I enjoy the process, and I think that everyone who does paperwork for a living should have at least one post-apocalypse skill.

Since I started brewing, I've gone through about thirty batches of beer. Some - like my "honest oatmeal stout" - were horrific. A sin against God. Others were generally well liked - especially Olivia's Honey Wheat.

That said, I haven't been able to find a recipe that - for the price - I would buy in a store. I'm a big fan of Yuengling Lager, and that's just $20 a case here, so the ingredients for a 5gal batch have to cost less than about $40 AND have to make a really great brew in order to make me "satisfied."

Now, I know someone's going to yell at me. . . it's not about the money! It's about the experience! And the ownership! And the freedom!

Of course it is. And that's why I've been working at it for three years. But it'd be nice if it could be about the money too.

Today I opened the first bottle of my fourth batch of Sarcasm & Dry Wit. It was my favorite homebrew to date. I pitched on top of a yeast cake from a previous iteration of the recipe, so yeast was free AND the ingredients were on sale, so altogether I only payed $24 for two cases of this beer.

Level up!

Agreed, my friend. Agreed.

Perhaps we can share a pint in the post-apocalypse.

It'll suck once the LHBS coffers are dry and the malting plants have shut down (I can brew, not malt), but I agree: come the inevitable zombie apocalypse I plan to make myself invaluable.

I also have pretty high standards for myself. Do you brew AG? I think that made my beer a lot more 'storeworthy,' but even now a lot of what I make is great because I made it, not because it's necessarily world-class. I mean my brown is damn good, in my opinion, but my bitter was ok (and came out of a horrific brew day). I think at the end of the day it's about refining your process as much as possible while enjoying the hobby for what it is. I'm never going to make something on par with Stone or SN, probably, but I don't need it to be perfect to be good.