After homebrewing for almost two years now, I've decided to start blogging about my experiences in the world of beer... especially homebrewing, of course. Like most homebrewers, I already keep close track of each batch that I brew through pretty-meticulous notes (which is always recommended, whether it be a brand-new batch, or a favorite standby that you've already brewed 10 times). However, blogging about the process seems to be a good way to keep an even better record of it all, and if someone happens to stumble upon these posts and get interested in homebrewing, all the better.

As for my brief history with all this, I only really got into beer about 2&1/2 years ago, when my wife and I took a trip to Belgium. It was there that I finally realized how complex and tasty beer could be, and just how many different styles of beer there actually were. It didn't take long before I found out that with some reading and experience, you can brew all these types of beer at home. Living in New Brunswick, Canada, where access to great beer is definitely limited compared to a lot of other places in the world, made the decision to start homebrewing even easier.

After a couple of months of preliminary reading, I brewed my first extract batch in late November of 2009... it was an American Amber Ale, didn't turn out that bad (or that great), and I was immediately hooked, like so many others. Since then, I made the inevitable jump to all-grain brewing (after about 9 batches of extract and partial-mash), and have brewed 38 more 5-gallon batches. I have a freezer that acts as a fermentation chamber/cellar (thanks to a digital temperature controller), along with the usual equipment that goes with all-grain brewing. I bottle all my beers; oddly enough, a kegging system is the one jump I have not made yet.

I plan to brew my 40th batch, a Portsmouth Kate the Great clone, in a couple of days.