Friendship - great side benefit to home brewing

Man..... I never thought I'd ramble on about a "mushy" topic like this, but it is kinda kewl!

My brewing past started about ten years ago, then I took a couple years off after taking care of my father while he was battling cancer.

After all that, I had a hiatus from brewing.

I now live in a place where it's hard to maintain climate control when I'm not here (no basement either, metal roof) so I didn't brew when I moved here a couple years ago.

A friend overheard me talking about homebrewing and asked the usual questions we've all heard:

Is it hard?
Expensive?
Taste as good as what you buy?
Etc.

Well, I agreed to bring the few items I had left over to his place and get him started.

First did ciders so he got used to the sanitation process and all - done with great results (experimenting with different yeasts).

Extract batches - walked him through that as well and we're having loads of fun. Then........

I get in touch with an old childhood friend I haven't seen in 15 years (my old best friend) and she came out to visit while we did a batch, now she's brewing with us.

Then one more mutual friend - now four of us - our own little club.

Our session usually involves one of the local homebrew shops (more great friends I've met along the way). Then we usually get some good food of some time to eat during our brew session. If it's a light session, we do a beer tasting.

Man, these are the first people I've taught how to homebrew. It is a great experience to see their eyes pop up when you help with a clonebrew or showing them how to modify a recipe for their tastes (now they go on their own).

Now half the group is doing all grain and it's obviously even more of a blast.

All those years brewing alone, I never even thought to bring a friend "along for the ride".

I'm making it my mission to keep it going and make sure I show the hobby to at least a half dozen friends a year.

Good beer, good friends, good times.

I LOVE THIS HOBBY (passion!).

Jonathan

Awww, that's sweet. Wish I had a mushy friendship story to share with brewing. My buddies and family prefer to drink the product, in place of helping/watching. Lazy bums.. So I'm all alone. Soon to join the local homebrew chapter though.

Cancer's tough stuff, I just recently had my bout with it. Instead of taking a break, I used it more as an escape at times.

prost!

For the most part, I'm a solo brewer. I have had friends over for brew sessions but non of them want to take it up. Oh well, I'm still brewing.

My oldest friend got me into the hobby.

At this point, we're the only people in our town (that I know of) that are brewing.

I've had a few people ask me about brewing, so maybe our little circle will start to grow.