When my husband and I began homebrewing fifteen years ago, we lived in a small town and didn’t know anybody else who brewed. Friends’ reactions to the news that we were homebrewers usually were panicked gazes that plainly said: PLEASE DON’T MAKE US DRINK IT. That was back when dial-up modems were still a thing, and we had to drive three hours to get to the closest homebrew store. After having two babies back-to-back we hung up our homebrew caps for a few years, since growing babies was more of a priority than propagating yeast.
Things changed quickly. We moved to a bigger city, dial-up Internet gave way to DSL, and our kids no were no longer quite as dependent on us 24/7. So we dusted off the homebrew kit, drove fifteen minutes to the closest homebrew supply store, and got back to work. Back then we were doing extract kits (and we still do from time to time—they’re fun!) and fumbled our way around things, which wasn’t altogether bad, but it was a bit…lonely.
Soon we discovered several other friends who brewed, and most of them worked with my husband. We started getting together for brew days, and before we knew it, we were all growing as brewers and upgrading from extract kits to all-grain gravity systems (yay for high ceilings in the garage!). With the Internet bringing so much instant knowledge to our fingertips, we were able to learn new techniques and fix problems, and soon our batches became pretty good. Also, our friends no longer panic when they hear we brew—they ask when they can come hang out with our keg-o-rater. Not us, mind you. Our beer.