Close your eyes for just a minute and think about your favorite beer in the world. Fat Tire? Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA? Good People Brown? Great Divide Yeti? Whatever the beer is, and however awesome you think it is, what’s your best guess on how the brewer who created it learned his trade?
If you guessed “brewing school,” you’re almost certainly wrong. If you guessed “worked at another brewery and apprenticed under another brewmaster,” you’re still most likely wrong—although the options for that path are increasing as the number of American craft breweries continues to rise.
In reality, the most common way the brewmaster who brews your favorite beer learned his trade is by brewing at home. He started with a fivegallon carboy and a Cooper’s extract kit. He read books by Charlie Papazian, Randy Mosher and Ray Daniels. He fermented some batches too hot. He went too heavy on the early hops once or twice and made some really bad beer. Most importantly, he learned the art of brewing as a hobby, by trial-and error, brewing very small batches. It’s true of the entrepreneurs behind Sierra Nevada, Dogfish Head and Great Divide, and it’s true of every single brewer making the local Alabama brews you enjoy today. Craft brewers start out as home brewers. But we have a problem here in Alabama.
Brewing beer at home is illegal in our state. This harmless hobby that can claim credit for launching well over a thousand successful small businesses throughout the country is a crime here, another antiquated law leftover from Alabama’s sorry, Prohibitionist past. You won’t be surprised to hear we are just one of two states left that have not legalized the hobby, and you probably also won’t be surprised that Mississippi is the other state.
Home brewing is completely safe, harmless and lots of fun as I know from, um, brewing with friends in Georgia. With just a little bit of inexpensive equipment, you can start making batches with malt extract, which allows you to follow a simple recipe combining a few ingredients, boiling the mixture for an hour, cooling it with some ice, then adding yeast. The yeast consumes the malt sugars over the course of a few days producing the alcohol. Then you put it in bottles with a small amount of corn sugar for the yeast to feed on and produce natural carbonation and voila! Beer! Give it a try, um, with friends in Georgia.
Of course that’s the beginner’s outline; it can get far more complicated if you choose to dive deeper, and there are many home brewers who brew beer using precisely the same methods and very similar equipment to what the pros use, just on a much smaller scale. There is no threat to society here, no danger to the person brewing, no way to brew up anything poisonous.
Thankfully, there is a dedicated group working on reforming this asinine law, Right to Brew, and they have a website, alahomebrewing.org. And they’ve gotten a bill introduced in the legislature. HB266 has 23 bipartisan co-sponsors, and it would legalize home brewing in Alabama. This action is long overdue.
If you want to enjoy more beer from local breweries, then you need to support the legalization of home brewing. To do that, you need to call and write your state senator and representative, asking them to support HB266. The alahomebrewing.org site has a form to help automate the process, and freethehops.org/legislative will let you type in your home address and see lots of extra information on positions your senator and representative have taken on alcohol-related issues in the past. That can help you customize the message you send.
Legalizing home brewing will result in more people trying the hobby, and that will eventually produce more local commercial brewers. That means more local beer for you to enjoy at bars around town. You need to get involved in this effort, along with Free the Hops’ efforts to reform the brewpub law and the container size restriction. There is much left to be done to bring Alabama’s beer laws into the 21st century.
“Hopped Up” is a weekly brew review by Danner Kline, founder of Free the Hops and co-organizer of the annual Magic City Brewfest. Send your feedback to danner@freethehops.org
With Christmas almost here, you NFL Jonathan Vilma Jersey might be looking for some unique gift ideas. It's almost a sure thing that growing kids will need hats, pajamas, pants, NFL LaDainian Tomlinson Jersey coats, scarves, gloves, jerseys, sweaters, boots and socks. What parents remark about so frequently is the cost of children's clothing today. Despite being made in Asia or Mexico, the prices for brand name merchandise can set parents back on their heels. Yet so many will fork out the high price for a garment or item that may not be very good quality or which their child will grow out of soon. Worse still is when the child doesn't like the item.
Shoes are high on the shopping priority list, and sports shoes are right up there at number one. It only makes sense, since your kids do walk and run a great deal so good quality and well fitting shoes are a good purchase. They get good value from sports shoes since they wear them for almost every activity, including school and some social functions.
Some people speak poorly of children's appearance these days, yet kids clothes Official Tedy Bruschi Jersey have to last and a child knows their clothing is a little worn and tattered. Some kids have favorite clothes too, and they get some extra wear. In a short time the clothes and shoes look a little shoddy. If you've gotten good value out of them and the child likes them, then who's to complain? Any parent who has purchased a $100 NFL Darrelle Revis Jersey pair of shoes for their youngster always laments that "this has to last. " The child nods in agreement yet knows that they probably won't last any longer than the last pair. Beleaguered parents are always looking for relief from the yearly pain of buying kids clothing.
One money saving strategy is to buy clothing items that are durable or can do double duty. There are kids football clothing sets that can double as the child's pajamas. NFL football uniform sets for kids are designed to be comfortable and can be used as kids pajamas. Sports pajamas are very popular and you'll find sports themes from every pro sports league including the NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA, Nascar, and Soccer. These sets come with a kids NFL jersey, pants and a plastic helmet, NFL Mark Sanchez Jersey and you can purchase a set of shoulder pads so the child looks like a football player. There's a number set included too, so you can iron on their favorite player's number. That gives it the personal touch from Mom or Dad.
They can actually do triple duty since they can be used as kids Halloween costumes. Here's one great way to save money and give your child a gift they will appreciate. It's the kind of gift Dad will appreciate too and after all, if Dad likes what his children are wearing, he's going to pay more attention to them and have more fun with them.
So rather than NFL Jerricho Cotchery Jersey just being a way of covering your child's body, the clothing has an added role of improving self-esteem and making your child more likable. Now brand name clothing manufacturers know all about clothing psychology and they leverage that knowledge well, especially with teenagers. If you have teens, you're well aware of how status conscious they and yet this state is often highly unique. Teens don't always want what everyone else has. They're struggling to discover and establish their own unique identities and want items that reflect that unique identity.
If you buy clothing the child doesn't really like, they won't wear them often and it may even have a bad effect on their self-esteem. Forcing a child to wear items in colors they don't like or styles that are not in tune with their likes and dislikes can lower their mood and energy levels and degrade their performance in school.
To buy the right clothing, think about the sports that kids watch and the teams they talk about. Just by knowing which teams they like, you can avoid buying items that they won't like. If you don't know which football or baseball teams they like, just ask them and ask them what they like about particular features of shoes and jerseys they prefer. Comment on what you like and they might respond with Official Rob Gronkowski Jersey more info on what they like.
Another problem area is sizing. Clothing sizes as reported by manufacturers seem to be way off the mark. Whether it is a just error in judgment or measurement systems used by manufacturers in foreign countries like China, Mexico, or India, or just a type of cost saving strategy by producers here, you need to be sure of your child's measurements. The actual size of the shoes or jersey NFL Dustin Keller Jersey could be off one size either way. Although you might want to err on the big side to get more life out of a pair of shoes, it could cause them foot and leg problems if they wear them.
To avoid letting them know you're thinking of buying them a new pair of pajamas, you might want to measure them completely all at once and tell them you need the info just in case you find a bargain at the mall somewhere. Measuring their feet is a dead giveaway. Take a look at the current shoes and note where the toes reach and where the wear on the shoe is occurring. If there are tears in the shoe material, considering buying shoes that have leather at that particular spot or which are reinforced.
Be careful when buying shoes that use gas or air shock absorption systems. It is not uncommon for them to burst or leak, leaving your child with a shoe that doesn't work properly and which can cause serious foot and leg injuries.
Always recognize that kids see their clothing differently than adults. Young children in particular have strong imaginations and clothing can help to bring out the best in your child's mind. There's always ways to get more out of your clothing budget for your kids. Football pajamas can double as a play outfit or Halloween outfit, is just one way of getting more for your money and helping your child feel good.