Greetings from a Brit in New Jersey

Hello all,

Been living in New Providence, New Jersey for 4 years now. Used to make homebrew - beer and wine - about 12 years ago but a firend of mine persuaded me to start it up again.

One of the most pleasant suprises for me when I first came to the States was accidentally turning up at a beer festival in Hunter Mountain ski resort in October 2004. We got there about 30 mins before it was due to close. Needless to say I handed the car key to the wife, purchased my glass and 6 tickets and set off into the hall!

Trouble is, no-one wanted to take a ticket off me at that time of day so the rest of the evening is a bit of a blur!!!

Most Brits assume Americans only drink as brew known as "gnatts piss", a style typified by breweries such as Bud and Miller! What a happy surprise therefore to find such a range of good quality Ale and a thriving home brew community. American ales are definitely hoppier then British beer, and to my palette a little harsh - but perseverence may be the key here, so I will apply myself diligently.

The home brew industry is ahead of Britain by a long way though. I have my first extract beer - British Bitter from NB - in bottles waiting to be sampled (I have been away since I bottled it two weeks ago), and was stunned by the quality of the kit. I know I'm going back 12 or more years but the British kits were not of this quality, requiring 2 pounds of regular sugar to be added and a sachet of dried yeat pitched directly into the wort. All my brews - and those of my friends - would have an unpleasant sour flavor.

Anyway, I need to get going so I'll sign by saying that I am very exited to be re-joining this great hobby and with the help of this great forum, taking my beer making to new levels.

Thanks you all in advance!

Cheers!

Welcome to the Forum! I am a newbie and HBT helped me out A LOT!

Also, you are probably only about a half hour from me

THere is a lot of good info around, I may go to a Whales Meeting this month and check that out, so you may think about that too

-Craig

Welcome to the boards. SWMBO is from NJ, so we venture up there about every other month.

Before long you may be brewing All Grain and acquiring gear like crazy.

Yup, the Whales are meeting at JJ Biting's in Woodbridge next Tuesday night. If you're serious about the hobby, drop by. I won't be there this time, but I'm a regular. Moonshae is a relatively new member so he can tell you what to expect.

simoncurry24 said:

Most Brits assume Americans only drink as brew known as "gnatts piss", a style typified by breweries such as Bud and Miller!

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It's true! That's all they drink. This whole site is just a front put up by BMC.

simoncurry24 said:

The home brew industry is ahead of Britain by a long way though.

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That's the sad truth - it's changing very slowly here, but we're miles behind the US. I got into homebrewing after working in the States - when I told people here I was brewing my own beer, the two assumptions everyone made was that (i) the beer would taste like piss, and (ii) I was making it because I was too cheap to spend money down the pub. The idea that you could make great beer literally never occurs to people.

Welcome aboard!

Danek said:

It's true! That's all they drink. This whole site is just a front put up by BMC.


That's the sad truth - it's changing very slowly here, but we're miles behind the US. I got into homebrewing after working in the States - when I told people here I was brewing my own beer, the two assumptions everyone made was that (i) the beer would taste like piss, and (ii) I was making it because I was too cheap to spend money down the pub. The idea that you could make great beer literally never occurs to people.

Welcome aboard!

Click to expand...

We get the same reactions here. When I tell people I make beer for the first time, usually the reaction is that I'm some prohibition era bootlegger making it in my bathtub and then they ask either if it's any good, or if its safe to drink. So your not alone there.

Thanks for the welcome all. I'll look into the meeting of the Whales, although I will be severely jet-lagged until about next Saturday - I'm writing this at 4:30 am in a hotel room in Hong Kong! Flying back in a few hours. 15 hour flight - Ouch!

Waiting for me is my bottled Bitter and a Pale Kit to start making though!