A Brewer's Journey... Priceless

Round trip from Eden Prairie to Hudson, Wisconsin... 78 miles
Local craft beers from Minnesota and Wisconsin... $72.98
Packaging, shipping and lots of bubble wrap to send beers to Vermont... $60.04
Sharing local craft beer with fellow brewers from around the country... Priceless


Some of you know, some of you may not, that I have been studying with the American Brewer's Guild as part of their distance learning program. This program is just another step in my personal journey towards professional brewing. I have been following a fellow blogger's page A Brewer's Journey since its inception and it has really been a source of inspiration and motivation for me. It is in honor of his story and the many other dreamers out there that I am naming this post, a post about my own story, after his blog. Cheers, Spencer, and good luck in your new endeavor.


I suppose my story begins way back in the summer of 2000. My father has family in England, aunts and uncles and many cousins, so we have made a number of trips. The previous trips I was neither legal nor even interested in beer so on this visit the English beer culture was completely new for me. I graduated from college in 1998 and really didn't even know that beer could have different colors or flavors but my wise English uncles changed all that. My brother and I spent a lot of time throwing darts (did you know there are metal tip darts?) and drinking great English beer.


The next five years was a real growing period for me as I sought out beers most similar to the great brown ales, porters and bitters from across the pond. My palate was still very unrefined but I gravitated toward beers like Sam Adams Boston Lager (what the hell is a lager?), Summit EPA, Newcastle, Beamish, and one of my favorites from our trip, Caffrey's Irish Ale. As my palate began to refine I was able to identify different nuances in each beer. I found myself searching out even more styles and brands. I started to discover Hefeweizen, IPAs, Belgians, Imperial Stouts and more. It was then that I decided to take my love of beer to the next level.


In 2005 after many subtle and even some unintentional hints, my wife surprised me with a homebrew kit for my 30th birthday. After developing quite the passion and thirst for fine beers, I would now be making them myself. Or at least trying. They say if you can boil water you can make beer, and they are absolutely right. I was amazed at how easy it was to make beer. Was it good beer? That can be debated, and I often find, as most brewers do, that I am my own worst critic. But it was still beer. Well, that hobby exploded into an obsession. At times my wife would wonder..."What kind of monster have I created?". To her dismay, there were many trips to the local homebrew shop for kits, ingredients and worse... more equipment! Brewing at home can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it and I seemed to think I needed all the best gadgets and gizmos. I don't, but I love them just the same.


I'm a person who gets bored quickly. I have had many hobbies but I always seem to lose interest and move on to something else. The brewing fire, however, seemed to burn with a perpetual flame. It even intensified with each beer brewed and I knew I was on to something. They say if you love what you do you'll never work a day in your life. That resonated well with me so I decided I needed to learn more. I checked online for brewing education courses and let me tell you, it's pretty thin. From what I could find my choices were University of California at Davis, Siebel Institute in Chicago, Heriot-Watt University in Scotland and the American Brewers Guild (ABG) in Vermont.


Not being one to take a lot of risks, I decided the distance learning program at the ABG was just for me. I wouldn't have to quite my day job and I wouldn't have to move. I reluctantly applied for the program early in 2008. I say reluctantly because I did not have the math and science prerequisites they asked for. To my surprise and delight I was accepted. The program must be a popular one because there is a waiting list. They do two programs per year, one begins in January and the other in June. This was April of 2008 and I was accepted into the June 2009 program! I was excited, but it was hard to get too excited because it was so far away. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it gave me time to do other things before hand.


Not only did I have time to refine my skills as a homebrewer, but it gave me an opportunity to take the introductory chemistry class the Guild recommended. I was going back to school! That summer I enrolled in a chemistry class at Normandale Community College and completed it during the fall semester. This would later prove immensely helpful during the water chemistry portion and the engineering lectures of the Guild's program. And it was kinda fun to be a student again.


In January of 2009 I was fortunate enough to get into the BJCP class offered by the Minnesota Homebrewers Association. This class (which also has a waiting list) is a 14 week program that educates you on all aspects of beer tasting, appreciation and evaluation. The class included many lectures, presentations, quizzes, mock exams and, yes, tasting a lot of beer! It wasn't all fun and games. The Beer Judge Certification Program is the foremost authority on beer tasting and evaluation and the exam for which this class was to prepare us was brutal. Three hours of essay and tasting was not nearly enough time for the amount of material on this test. I took the exam in April and, while it took quite some time to get the results, I did pass. I am now officially recognized as a beer judge. Woo hoo!


That finally brings us to June 2009 and the ABG program. After over a year of waiting, it was time to begin. The chemistry class and the BJCP class both prepared me quite well for the ABG program. The program is a 23 week course in which I "attend" lectures on DVD, read text books, study online and communicate with classmates through Internet message boards and chat rooms. Although the program is basically an online school, the format for which we learned worked out well. I really felt like I was learning right along with everyone and if I needed help or had a question it was just a click away. And here were are, just finishing up week 22.


What's next? Well, the last week of the course takes place in Vermont. Ah ha, the ripoff MasterCard commercial I began with is starting to make sense. I will be heading out this weekend (Nov 13) to meet up with the rest of my class for our 'hands on' residential week. This is something I have really been looking forward to. We get to put many of the things we have learned to use. The week will take place in Middlebury, Vermont at Otter Creek Brewery.

From what I hear Middlebury is a pretty little New England town with lots of beauty and old world charm. We will be spending time at the brewery in the brewhouse, cellar and lab during the days and the evenings will be spent doing sensory evaluation training back at the hotel. At the end of the week there will be a review session followed by the final exam. The exam is the only part of the week that is making me uneasy, but even that is mild. I've faired pretty well on the exams so far so I really shouldn't be worring at all. I am sure there will be ample time for extra-curricular activities so I've sent a bunch of great local beers to my hotel and I've asked other classmates to do the same. It sounds like there will be a nice variety from around the country.

Well, I hope I haven't put you to sleep but if I've driven you to drink then I guess I'll consider that a wash. Hopefull this journey will continue positively in 2010 and I'll be able to share more with you in the coming months. I'll be spending the next ten days enjoying the best beer NYC and Vermont have to offer. And I'll raise a glass to you, my readers, cheers!

BEER THIS... DA