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SkewedBrewing

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Greetings, similar to recent poster @timmay1966, I have spent the last 5 years of my life in Qatar and, sadly, most of those years have been spent away from good beer and homebrewing (I say most because I've gotten to travel quite a bit). I've been a longtime member and supporter of this site for over a decade, but I was forced into hibernation since taking my job in Qatar.

I can say, as of today, that I have just signed for a job in San Francisco and this was the first place I wanted to announce this, honestly because I'm so damn excited to get back to brewing again. I've been lurking on this site for the entire time I've been away, daydreaming of getting my kegerator and apartment all-grain setup out of storage. Well, I finally can.

I just wanted to re-introduce myself as I see that HBT has evolved quite a bit in my absence. If there are any Bay Area brewers on here, I'd love to hear recommendations for homebrewshops, good bars and bottle shops, homebrewing groups and anything else you can think.

Cheers :mug:
 
Glad you can get one with your brewing hobby! :)

I'm a bit further south so my recommendations for HB stores won't help you, but we just dealt with a nice shop in Dublin called Hoptech Homebrewing - well that's the website store anyway, they do have a storefront there. Look up their website and you can get the info. They offer a military discount too if you're active military.

Welcome back!
 
If you like a good beer once in a while, especially with food, traveling to certain Arab countries can be tough. In another life, I spent a few years in and out of Iraq, Kuwait, and sometimes Bahrain. It was a totally different environment than some of the European countries where the social and religious rules were more to my liking. I was never fond of Islamic law or the Army's General Order Number One, but if you wanted to get paid, you were willing to abide by the rules. In that situation there was always a trade-off and to me, the pay was a good incentive.
Coming home, though, it was always like Christmas.
Welcome back, and Prosit!
 
If you like a good beer once in a while, especially with food, traveling to certain Arab countries can be tough. In another life, I spent a few years in and out of Iraq, Kuwait, and sometimes Bahrain. It was a totally different environment than some of the European countries where the social and religious rules were more to my liking. I was never fond of Islamic law or the Army's General Order Number One, but if you wanted to get paid, you were willing to abide by the rules. In that situation there was always a trade-off and to me, the pay was a good incentive.
Coming home, though, it was always like Christmas.
Welcome back, and Prosit!

Ya, this pretty much sums it up. Bahrain's a little less conservative now, though, so it was a fun place to visit. :mug:
 
One of my hangouts in Manama after the sun went down was Hard Rock Cafe.
I'd go there on Friday nights, eat, and have two Guinness stouts after dinner. The whole place was staffed and run by Pilipinos who'd gather up to sing and dance to "YMCA" just before closing. In Kuwait, it was NA beer in a can and way less fun. The Baghdad Airport had a good business selling alcohol in duty free for a while, but after the elections, it pretty much got shut down to eliminate black market smuggling to Kuwait. I spent 2004-2007 in Iraq, then took a vacation. Went back from 2008-2010 then figured enough was enough.
 
One of my hangouts in Manama after the sun went down was Hard Rock Cafe.
I'd go there on Friday nights, eat, and have two Guinness stouts after dinner. The whole place was staffed and run by Pilipinos who'd gather up to sing and dance to "YMCA" just before closing. In Kuwait, it was NA beer in a can and way less fun. The Baghdad Airport had a good business selling alcohol in duty free for a while, but after the elections, it pretty much got shut down to eliminate black market smuggling to Kuwait. I spent 2004-2007 in Iraq, then took a vacation. Went back from 2008-2010 then figured enough was enough.

My in laws were in Kuwait while you were there. They didn't like it much and moved to Qatar. My five years over here is enough for me.
 
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