Ramblings from a rambling man

Well, Jake has asked me to write a blog post- 'intellectually stimulating for the beer crowd' was the charge.  After three very shoddy and schizophrenic attempts I abandoned the first few drafts and will now take Mike’s advice. Mike is the one who looks out for me despite being younger and less good looking) by tackling the most personal topic; My Brewing Philosophy or as I will now call it- MBP.  Get ready to be intellectually stunned.  

What does it mean to be a brewer in 2010?  Well, in a lot of breweries that means that beer is made by robots.  Well, not quite true and cyborgs would be way, way cooler, but the idea that beer is 'handmade' is a bit of a stretch.  In point of fact, your hands can't make beer- its mostly a technological feat involving industrial farming, railcars, pumps and augers, massive amounts of electricity and water, thousands of pounds of stainless steel, refrigeration, valves, cleansers, acids and sanitizers.  Oh, and money. A whole lotta spending money. Of course it takes time too.  A whole lot of precious time.  It really takes patience and time. That is if you want to do it right. Let me reiterate: To do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right.  And here is where I make the stunning discovery, with you as my witness, that George Harrison's "Got my mind set on You" is MBP.  And since you can't actually see me typing I just got out of an internet black hole involving George Harrison where I learn that "Got my mind set on you" is actually a cover originally recorded by James Ray in 1962.  Damn you wikipedia- you owe me 34 minutes of my life back.   

Back to beer.  And my MBP.  Brewing beer is really a reaction to drinking beer, which I've had the good fortune to do.  A lot.  I got introduced to great beer by Ballard Market in Seattle, WA. which did the great service of stocking hundreds of beers from near and far. I guess just letting myself be open to trying all kinds of beer kept my horizons broad and got me involved in a lot of beer styles without cynicism or expectations.  Its a period of my life that I really cherish and it points to the fact that sometimes just offering, as an act of generosity and sincerity, can open doors.  Thanks Ballard Market.  

And without putting too fine a point on it, Thats it too.  Being Generous, part of MBP.  Offering.  Part of MBP.  Sincerity.  Ditto.  Am I really channeling George Harrison every time I/we brew a beer?  Well, no, all that came up kind of unexpectedly during the twenty-two hours of rewrites this paltry blog post went through.  And I should point out that mostly I brew with Jake and Mike.  Its really not just me at all.  Thats part of it too.  Collaboration and Friendship.  

What the heck?  No talk of Malts? Yeasts? Mashing Schedules? Hops!? Whats up with the hops!?  This isn't at all what I thought I would write about, but there it is- My first Blog post, or MFBP, not to be confused with MBP.   I thought I'd write more about all the cool sciency stuff related to beer but its just such a huge undertaking that its probably best to not get carried away.  I promise my next blog post will have more to do with the beers we're working on right now.  Even the pineapple one.