Are you the Black Sheep of your neighborhood?

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A: I dont care what my neighbours think of me, they have their issues too.

B: I live in a really free country, unlike the USA where we are left alone.
 
I live in a newer developemnet where most of them make a lot more money than I did before I retired. I was doing something with a brew one summers day,& the neighbor's wife was on a cell phone,saying "yeah,it looks like a meth lab or something". How in the world would these straights know what a meth lab looks like? Let alone smells like?? Ignorance is annoying,but no big problems yet. The cops came over once for something unrelated,& he asked about my stuff. I gave a breif description of how I brew beer with the various elemnts he could see. It's all good.

That is silly of her. Why would anyone run a meth lab outside?
 
When we first moved in, we didn't fit in at all. There was nobody our age and there was a lot of police and air force living in our neighborhood as well. We didn't talk to any one at all. Then the economy collapsed and we got a whole bunch of new neighbors.

The first time we met our new neighbors behind us they apologized for their hop plant attaching itself to our cherry tree. Then they invited us over for some drinks and pulled out a 3 liter bottle of Double Bastard. It's safe to say that the neighborhood has come around since then. Now everybody waves to each other and helps with snow removal. My brewing is a source of curiosity but overall it's accepted.
 
yeah i'm the odd man out in my neighborhood and not so much because i'm odd...LOL! i'm surrounded by mass produced beverage swill drinkers who wouldn't know a craft beer if one fell from heaven and wacked them between their eyes.

therefore i'm an island unto myself. :p i have learned that most anyone will drink free beer even if it's not their usual MPB.

they have the gall to call my A.G. crafted belgian beer, ***** beer.

oh well they can continue to drink bologna while i drink steak.;)

at least i converted one fella to brewing partial grain/extract kits from northern brewer....and he ended up moving....:( the fella living there now is a big time MPB swiller.

oh well all i say is brew on!:rockin:

GD:mug:
 
Norie_ said:
That is silly of her. Why would anyone run a meth lab outside?

Depending in what kind of meth you're making, when you cook off the p2p you could get a pretty fabulous explosion.
 
My closest neighbor is also a home brewer (in fact my kolsch is lagering in his fermentation freezer now) so I'm luckier than most. As fort the rest of the neighbors - most are the ave as you pass but some are good. Overall I can't complain.
 
I'd like it more if my mind were like a hard drive, where I could just drag selected memories into the trash. *delete* ... *delete* .
 
Read every post in this thread which is unusual for me but very interesting. My neighbor didn't drink for six out of the eight years I've lived here. Quit drinking second year in neighborhood. He knows I brew. One day became interested at about 5 PM. Had to shag him out of the house at 1 AM. Now we are good friends and he still likes a sample. His wife thinks there's something illegal going on when the hop additions are going on because of the smell.
 
I just came to the conclusion that I am. I bought my home during the housing boom. These days, I couldn't buy my house if I was a first time home buyer. I have some cool neighbors a few blocks away, but some neighbors that have lived here for some time, look down on my brewing hobby. Many of the husbands won't stop by since their wives don't approve. The good news is that it is not a deterrent. My wife supports me and frankly I don't care what they think. However, I am curious to find out if anyone else is in the same boat.


I didn't skip through your thread Scoundrel and just post at the end. Pretty sure I have a few post on here along the way. Just wanted to re-quote you.

Let's all move to Passedpawn's HomeBrewTown! There will be no judgment, only support. Wouldn't it be nice... Have to hold myself back from playing that song! :mug:!
 
Let's all move to Passedpawn's HomeBrewTown! There will be no judgment, only support. Wouldn't it be nice... Have to hold myself back from playing that song! :mug:!

Awesome idea! In addition to normal water service, every house could have a water line delivered at 155 degrees. Hook it right to you mash tun and go! :rockin:
 
I didn't skip through your thread Scoundrel and just post at the end. Pretty sure I have a few post on here along the way. Just wanted to re-quote you.

Let's all move to Passedpawn's HomeBrewTown! There will be no judgment, only support. Wouldn't it be nice... Have to hold myself back from playing that song! :mug:!
Isn't that kinda what you do when you join a topic specific forum?
 
I'm not going to say anything about my homebrewing activities, because of my job. My four closest neighbors all go to my church, and it would be a little awkward I think. They all know I drink a bit, but still. Knowing one's pastor is also a homebrewer tends to upset some folks. Besides, it's technically illegal here (blasted regressive laws!). The best place to work is my back porch, which is pretty well secluded, especially in summer, so I should have no worries.

And if they ask, I'll just shoot them straight. It won't kill them. ;)
 
Skip the posts? If that's what you meant I typically don't. One this long, if I'm interested in it have usually been here since it started. That's just me.
I meant the second part, about moving into a brewing community. :mug:
 
My status as the Black Sheep isn't just beer related. We live in an area where many people put on airs and I really don't care to play "keep up with the Jones"

-I cut my own grass and trim my own trees (everyone else uses gardeners)
-I own a motorcycle (unfair stereotyping)
-We drive 13+ year old vehicles (that run perfectly, depreciate very little and are in our garage every night)
-And now...I brew (and drink) in my garage

I keep my house up very nicely, so I am not that nightmare neighbor. However, I don't spend money on things that aren't important to me (brewing is important)
 
My status as the Black Sheep isn't just beer related. We live in an area where many people put on airs and I really don't care to play "keep up with the Jones"

-I cut my own grass and trim my own trees (everyone else uses gardeners)
-I own a motorcycle (unfair stereotyping)
-We drive 13+ year old vehicles (that run perfectly, depreciate very little and are in our garage every night)
-And now...I brew (and drink) in my garage

I keep my house up very nicely, so I am not that nightmare neighbor. However, I don't spend money on things that aren't important to me (brewing is important)
215px-Coolidge_after_signing_indian_treaty.jpg
 
Oh yeah!!! My tower looks like a meth cooker and I smoke food, keep different live animals and work in a closed shop nobody can see into. The dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other adult toys all come out and we hang around the bonfire, cook chicken and throw the bones back in the fire. All of our neighbors want a city yard in the country, we left the woods and planted a wildflower meadow for the critters to hide and eat in. Fuffff em, I was here first so I will keep my MX track and toys, you don't like it? Then you MOVE!!!
Wheelchair Bob
 
oh yeah!!! My tower looks like a meth cooker and i smoke food, keep different live animals and work in a closed shop nobody can see into. The dirt bikes, 4 wheelers and other adult toys all come out and we hang around the bonfire, cook chicken and throw the bones back in the fire. All of our neighbors want a city yard in the country, we left the woods and planted a wildflower meadow for the critters to hide and eat in. Fuffff em, i was here first so i will keep my mx track and toys, you don't like it? Then you move!!!
Wheelchair bob

a++++++
 
1/2 of my neighbors can't stay away when I open the garage. The other 1/2 walk by and look but never say more than hello. After helping me brew for a while, the sheriff across the street now has 4 taps and a cold room on his back patio. :tank:

When neighbors do stop by, it's always "wow! you make your own beer?!" "wow, you have chickens?!" "Oooh, I love your garden!"
 
I wish my neighbors homebrewed too. Maybe I can get them doing it. A lot of retirees and such though so the early 30's whippersnapper may not be that effective. An to top it off I am wishing my garage pointed towards the street rather that opens out of the back of my house at the bottom of a hill.
 
Even in my urban neighborhood, people give me the stink-eye when I say I brew beer. It's really not that strange. Come on now... maybe it's because I look 18 to them.
 
I don't own a car; I bike everywhere, sometimes on a huge dorky cargo bike. I have raised vegetable beds in the front yard. I can and garden and brew, and sit on the front porch playing ukulele. And I get along famously with all my neighbors. The couple next door has lived there for 60+ years and we exchange cookies at Christmas. No black sheepery required.
 
DrunkleJon said:
I wish my neighbors homebrewed too. Maybe I can get them doing it. A lot of retirees and such though so the early 30's whippersnapper may not be that effective. An to top it off I am wishing my garage pointed towards the street rather that opens out of the back of my house at the bottom of a hill.

Man, I hear people all the time wishing they had people to brew with and I feel exactly the opposite. I value my solitude like gold, I have a house full of kids and I work 50 hours a week. If one of my neighbors heard the grain mill running and came over to BS and hang out I would be pissed. The times I've had people help brew I've drunk way too much, got distracted and missed hop additions etc. Brew days are my quiet time. I'll have people over to drink the beer.
 
I have yet to brew in my new neighborhood. I used to live in the country and now my wife and I live in suburbia. Haven't really had time to brew since before the move. I'm hoping to post up the brew equipment in the garage with the door open and brew with the off chance of finding a new brew buddy... or more than likely get deemed as the meth cooker of the neighborhood, ha ha.
 
Even in my urban neighborhood, people give me the stink-eye when I say I brew beer. It's really not that strange. Come on now... maybe it's because I look 18 to them.
I had that problem. Then I grew a beard. :rockin:
 
I live in the country, but the neighbors are pretty close like in town. I think the loud music and the fact that I walk out my back door and shoot firearms get more attention than brewing.

My closest neighbors are liberal types from Michigan. They seem to be terrified of me.

I noticed a while back, I've lived in several of the largest cities in the US, I used to hear small arms fire and would find it disconcerting (somebody is getting shot). Now I live in the country and hear constant semi-auto rifle fire and find it comforting (rednecks staying sharp).
 
Not really, the neighborhood I live in is a mix of work-a-holics and aging hippies, no one much cares how anyone else does anything. I just took my lights down this weekend and I'm still ahead of about 40% of the neighborhood. I have, however been rolled up on by the cops, so maybe that earns me a special mention. (I was picking up lawn debris at 2 am wearing a headlamp) (cops were very courteous and left me to my branch collection.)
 
We recently moved into the house that my grandfather built. People around here tend to do things like gardening and canning and such, so making your own beer seems totally normal to them.
 
My neighbors just get excited when I start pulling the equipment out in the driveway. They all want to know when it'll be ready to drink. We'll generally have a neighborhood cookout a couple of times a year, and they know to plan it three or four weeks in advance so I have time to get a couple of kegs ready to go.
 
Me and the wif moved in this past November into our first house and I have brewed a number of times so far in my garage. I'm not entirely sure how my neighbors feel about it yet, though I do know we are about half the age of most of them.

Maybe once the warm weather hits again a few neighbors will poke their head in and talk.
 
I have, however been rolled up on by the cops, so maybe that earns me a special mention. (I was picking up lawn debris at 2 am wearing a headlamp)

That happened to me once when I was digging new holes in the neighborhood graveyard at 2 am. The cops know most of my neighbors and offered to help ;)
 
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