I started brewing in July of 2006 with a Mr. Beer brewing kit, I was living in Hawaii at the time. I had tried some micro and craft brews in the early to mid-1990's and while I did like them, I didn't get into them much at all. It was just easier to buy cheap beer because at the time I was drinking it for the buzz and not much else. I made one batch of Mr. Beer mix and wanted to make more, but when I went to find replacements in Hawaii there were none. I went online to order from the Mr. Beer website, and the cost for the refills and shipping to Hawaii was outrageous.
Not wanting to give up on brewing, I went to the only homebrewing supplier on Oahu, Hawaii Style Homebrew. I bought ingredients and made a few small batches of beer in the Mr. Beer fermenter with mixed success. At the time I didn't know what I was doing, and was not paying attention to things like fermentation temperature. Some batches were OK, others were completely disgusting.
Around October of 2006 I discovered an awesome homebrewing site (Homebrewtalk), that at the time was fairly small and buried under 3 or 4 pages of google search results. I signed up and was immediately welcomed into a great community that has allowed me to meet awesome people both online and in person. In November 2006, I upgraded to 5 gallon extract batches and was off. Again, not every batch was a success as it it difficult to keep fermentation temperatures in Hawaii without dedicated equipment. Through the end of 2006 and into 2007, I brewed about ten extract batches, my last being in January of 2008. After that, the all-grain obsession began.
Coupled with my brewing hobby, I started to sample various commercial beers of various styles. I had never tried more than about ten to fifteen different beers in my entire life. I did not know what beer truly was. I never could have imagined the vast amount of flavors a beer had, and how they always seem to get better as a beer warms. Malty beers, hoppy beers, dark beers, lighter beers, and even sour beers. I look forward to trying new beer all the time, as well continuing to buy some of the great beers I have discovered.
I don't brew to save money. I brew for the comraderie involved with being able to "talk shop" with other homebrewers and commercial brewers. I brew so that I can build new equipment, refine techniques, and turn out a quality product that people besides myself like to drink. Beer is one thing that I know something about. I don't watch many sports, I don't know much about cars, engines, etc... but I know beer and it rules.
