so I thought it was a brew store...

[ZooBrew]

This falls in with my '12-pack analogy' that I use when people ask me about my homebrewing hobby. The question is invariably asked, "Isn't it cheaper just to go down to the store and buy the beer?"

So I explain that a 12-pack of premium beer cost $15 (with all the CRV & taxes) and there are about 4, 12-packs in a 5 gallon batch (+/-)= $60. Ingredients for homebrew cost about $30 or so. Couple that with the idea of tayloring the brew to your own taste, etc., etc.

Now if you apply this analogy to the 'brew-your-own shop' ($120 for 50-22oz), it falls just short of buying the beer at the store. However, if you factor in making the brew to your taste and not having to clean-up the mess, etc., etc., then it starts looking more attractive. I like it.

 

[AlTheGud1sRtaken]

there's a place called "u-brew" like that here in australia, but they only charge a bit above the ingredients price, it's pretty reasonable. so reasonable in fact that my landlord is confused why i bought all this equipment when i can just brew there

 

[TXCrash]

I agree that the brew on premise bit is a great idea. Hell, there's a place in portland ( 1 1/2 hrs north) that has a brew on premise thing - I almost drove there to pay extra... simply because of the initial investment, cleanup time, fear of failure, etc. Had I lived closer to a brew on premise place I would have started brewing far earlier (Notice... member for 3 years, 15 or so posts....) because it would have been the baby step I wanted.

20 days ago I finally got around to brewing my first... a heffe... If I'd had a brew on premise close by I'd probably be 3 years in by now....

 

[emoutal]

I started at a u brew place back when I lived in Vancouver. It was about $110 for a 48 litre batch (prices have gone up a little since then). It was a great way to start and was a lot of fun. The people there really love beer and it was an awesome place to spend some time on a saturday afternoon. They'll give you a couple pints of whatever they have available as you're brewing. I had no clue what I was doing the first time, but they walked me through it (I also got a lot of help from the friendly regulars). I even tried to clean up after I had a boil over, but they wouldn't let me.

They only do extract with steeping grains, but i recently read on their website that they are getting set up for an all grain option. That would be really cool.

 

[LewBrew]

Beer Evangelist...I like it

I heard our LBH is looking to offer this feature in their store too.

It is funny how the things that use to be unthinkable luxuries, over time, come closer to necessities. When I was a young buck I backpacked all over Europe, AK and the western US. The thought of an RV was blasphemy. Now as I knock on the door of 50 I kinda like the idea of a nice mattress and a hot shower. Brewing in a comfortable location, not having to step over and around kettles and fermentors in a little home might be a nice thing. I wish them well.

 

[LibertyBrewer]

The LHBS I use has a 6 week homebrew class (one night per week). I took it after I had been brewing on my own for about a year. I wanted to see what I was doing right. There were quite a difference in the experience levels of the students. Some of them had never brewed anything. Overall I'm glad I took the class.
With the amount of beer drank during the class, I think they guy that runs it must just break even. It was nice to be able to taste a lot of different styles of beer without having to buy a 6-pack of each. We brewed a partial mash/extract beer the first night, and the last night, we brewed an all grain beer.

 

[RayInUT]

IIRC at least one member of our forum owns or works in one of those brew your own shops..I wouldn't diss it, just because it's not your cup of tea. Betcha BYO shops are gateways for quite a few people to enter into our obsession...it give people a taste.

And not everyone WANTS or has the space for the gear, or is obsessed with beer as we are, and this fill the niche for those whit the income and inclination...

The way I see it, anything opening people's minds about the hobby and beer in general, is a good thing. This is another offshoot of Charlie Papazian's influence, that we have people with buisiness such as these...people living the dream of being bear evangelists...

It's also another opportunity to teach someone that all beer isn't fuzzy and yellow and filtered...

Hey, it's Thanksgiving, rather than trash a legitiment and hopefully profitable venture that exposes people to something beyond bmc and may even spread positive light on homebrewing, we should be grateful that we live in a country where they don't cut your hands off for making alcohol...or that you live in Utah, where it's still illegal..

The way I look at it, a patron of that place, or the residents in a community that has one, in one less person to think,

1)You can go blind from drinking homebrew
2) it's illegal
3) you're making meth in your garage
4) budweiser is the best and only beer in the land...

Hell, I wouldn't dis it, I'd get to know the owner and the staff, maybe bring a few beers of my own to them...You never know when they might have a hard to find hop, or specialty grain in their inventory when you need them and the lhbs is closed, or out of it...or maybe they'll let you use their bottling machine if noone is...I hear those small bottling machines for BYO shops are sweet...

Oh CRAP! I just brewed a dunkel yesterday. Please don't call the cops!