HBT in today's New York Times

[brewit2it]

I love how these guys write these articles like they were the ones who discovered that people brew beer as a hobby. Also, they act like 2011 (or 2010, or 2009, or insert year article was written here) is the year of the homebrewing renaissance and that the last 30 years have been the dark ages.

I also like the picture at the top. Some guy with a massive stainless commercial-style rig. There's nothing wrong with that. I'd love to have it. But, the author acts like this is the norm.



Nonetheless, it's a positive article. But, I think it's a little heavy on the talk about laying out wads of cash for commercial grade equipment and a little light on the message you can get into the hobby for about $100, and make good beer.

I was thinking the same thing. When he said

For many people, home brewing summons visions of beat-up equipment that is stashed in a corner of a garage, dragged out only occasionally, powered by modest propane tanks normally attached to the barbecue and yielding just a few gallons. (Professional breweries measure output by the barrel — roughly 31 gallons each.)

I was like, hey that's exactly what I do, pull the stuff out of the garage (some of it 20 years old at least) and get it set up to brew. What the hell is wrong with that?

 

[boo boo]

Congrats Kal on the mention.

 

[osagedr]

I was thinking the same thing. When he said

For many people, home brewing summons visions of beat-up equipment that is stashed in a corner of a garage, dragged out only occasionally, powered by modest propane tanks normally attached to the barbecue and yielding just a few gallons. (Professional breweries measure output by the barrel — roughly 31 gallons each.)

I was like, hey that's exactly what I do, pull the stuff out of the garage (some of it 20 years old at least) and get it set up to brew. What the hell is wrong with that?

The equipment makes the brewer, dontchaknow...

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I'll keep an eye out for the letters page in the New York Times. "Is my beer infected?" ~ Worried, NJ

 

[passedpawn]

I'll keep an eye out for the letters page in the New York Times. "Is my beer infected?" ~ Worried, NJ

Bwaaaah!

 

[JJL]

You actually brought up another point I didn't think about: I bet when some non-homebrewers see the buckets and other stuff that people usually use, *that* may turn them off of trying homebrewing too. Sabco did mention that they sold about 1 setup/day in 2010 so there's definitely people out there that don't want to brew in buckets. I suppose this *is* the NYTimes afterall. Anyone paying $5K/month for a place in Manhattan isn't going to cringe at a $5-6K setup cost (not that anyone has room to brew beer in Manhattan of course).

Kal

You gotta love it, Sabco sells 1 Brewmagic a day. Granted that does mean some hobbyists are buying them, but that must mean the other 749,665 of us still drag the nasty, dirty buckets out of the corner of the garage to make our swill.

 

[kappclark]

Thx for the post - good, positive article, and congrats to HBT

 

[Teromous]

I was like, hey that's exactly what I do, pull the stuff out of the garage (some of it 20 years old at least) and get it set up to brew. What the hell is wrong with that?

I bet you're one of those strange individuals that keeps meat in freezers in your garage instead of your walk-in freezer! Weirdo...

 

[TxBrew]

It's great to see brewing articles in major publications.

 

[petey_c]

That was a good article. Thanks for posting it. Memorial day weekend, NYT had a good article about beer gardens making a resurgance in Manhattan and Brooklyn. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/29/nyregion/beer-gardens-growing-steadily-in-new-york.html
I know when I tell people I homebrew, I sometimes get that deer-in-the-headlights look. They're thinking he's; an alcoholic, making nasty tasting swill (okay, sometimes), or using Rube Goldberg's brewing set-up. (Maybe I should drop a small piece of dry ice in the fermenter). That gets worse if I tell them about Skeeter Pee...

 

[rabeb25]

I like the photo of the guy using a hydrometer and tube. We all instantly recognize what he's doing but I'd say only a tiny fraction of the rest of the Times' readers know what's happening in that photo.

That would be me!

 

[vtirish]

Great to hear, now i wont wanna get away from my radio tomorrow, any idea what time?

Sorry I didn't get to this sooner. It was on my local NPR station starting at 11 am this morning (listened to it while I drove to a meeting). It was actually a story they did last year, and it's archived here: http://onpoint.wbur.org/2011/06/24/beer

Cheers!