There are so many festivals and festivities that it's hard for this old beer braud to keep up...let me try to explain. From what I can tell, this home brewing hobby is probably the most time consuming, science plus artisan exploration, that I'm quite sure I'll never get bored. When I moved to Austin 17 years ago this past August, I moved here from a horrid divorce in Dallas, where I left my ex-husband of 7 years, a Frenchman. During our marriage we shared a bottle or two of wine nearly every night. When I took my first teaching job I met a lovely young lady who invited me to be part of the "Austin Lady Winos" club. Every other Thursday we met at a member's house, with wine assignment and our own fancy goblet. A little over a year into this fabulous club of nearly 80 women, I began to notice my absence at work on Fridays and it wasn't a mere wine hangover, but serious sickness. I went to the doctor and was told that I had developed an allergy to wine, probably the sulfites within the bottles. So, I quit the group and went back to margaritas and other cocktails. Still not a fan of the watery slosh most prevalent at picnics and parties.
Enter love of my life, a beer enthusiast and soon to be home brewer. Now some 14 years later I'm finding myself an empty nester and someone in need of going out to leave the hubby home alone to finish his dissertation without distraction. It is absolutely impossible to not have a beer related event, happy hour, anniversary, release party, club meeting etc. every single night of the week.
This old gal is beat.
Would I trade it for a more somber evening by the TV (we don't own one) or with a great book...well maybe the great book with a beer in hand, but then that would spoil the point of developing my palate and learning from the phenomenal group of learned beer aficionados here in Austin, Texas.
Here's this weeks agenda: Monday night attending the Black Star Coop's member's extravaganza I was beside myself to meet fellow home brewers and home brew celebrities who I found out used to live on my street...the Dewberrys. The Dewberrys have won the Black Star Home Brew contest, an honor that bestows upon the recipient the pleasure of having the brewery name and make that beer to sell on tap! Dan is also the techy in charge of a group that I have recently joined and tonight, will attend my first Happy Hour/release party event! Dan's been a member of the Austin Zealots for over a decade and he and his lovely wife Jolene have graciously accepted my invitation to interview them and hang out with them during their next brew day! And to think, I almost didn't go!
Last night I attended a new group for me as well, something I stumbled upon while cruising my Facebook wall from the group Bitch Beer. Reading their book this summer turned me onto our current 52 in 52 challenge. The group is Beer Necessities, a ladies "Meet Up" something I, being a solo dork most of the time, had never heard of. The meeting was a ladies beer forum at Craft Pride, again, a new place for me to attend on the stylish and popular Rainey Street area of downtown. I was the oldest person there, I'm sure of it. Friday night is Bitch Beer's "Time of the Month" Happy Hour at Hi-Hat. Followed Saturday afternoon at Fiesta Gardens, the yearly Texas Craft Beer Festival, featuring all 55 craft breweries in Texas. Of course we have tickets.
See what I mean?
The thing is that, at each and every one of these events, I learn something new...something that I need to test out on my next batch and it's making me nervous about the outcome of my 25 gallons that are fermenting...now. I almost want to toss it all out and start again...but wait...it's beer! No can do.
All this time, I've been looking at other beer blogs and seeing the snazzy looks of the younger generation's technical capabilities and their already-done up to the minute useful information such as every single event at every single bar/brewery/brew pub in the Central Texas area. Which leaves me wondering...what do I have to offer? And, let's face it...if you don't ask yourself this question as a writer/artist...blogger(?) then you are most likely just intellectually masturbating out into the blogosphere...unnecessarily so.
That being said, what I am hoping to accomplish with this modest blog, is nearly the same thing I did with my other blogging endeavors...use this tool as a journal to document my adventures and discoveries while sharing with folks a bit of what going out on a limb, meeting new folks out and about town and inviting oneself into the homes and minds of homebrewers here and now, in what has become, my home town.
I can't wait to meet the Austin Zealots (Zymurgic Enthusiasts of Austin Loosely Organized Through Suds!)
Happy Home Brewing
&
Cheers!!!
~Cheryl
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