Who We Are

We love beer! We love it’s versatility as a beverage. We love brewing it….the sense of self-sufficiency, the challenge of taking an idea for a beer and translating it into our glass, the creative outlet it offers us, and the acceptance we find from home brewers of all levels as we all pursue good beer. And we love the sense of community we find around fellow beer lovers.

We’ve made beer that our friends have all loved, and we’ve made beer that we had to dump in the sewer and pray we weren’t breaking an EPA law because it was so bad. But we keep at it, trying to learn more, and practicing, practicing, practicing. Drinking takes practice, and brewing takes practice. We’re into reasonable amounts of both.

This site is dedicated to sharing stories with anyone who wants to talk about beer. As a group we try to improve our skills with every batch we brew and love sharing the stories with anyone who loves craft brew as much as we do. What’s your story?

Josh: Located in Cincinnati, Josh has been brewing his own beer for 9 years, but only ‘seriously’ for the last few… “I think it’s a rule or something that when talking about homebrewing you have to put the word ‘seriously’ in quotes…..nothing should be too ‘serious’ in the homebrewing world. Like many homebrewers, I was initially drawn into the hobby by the combined appeal of its self-sufficiency and coolness as well as the prospect of maybe, just maybe, being able to dodge a few of those $5 tavern pints by creating something as good myself. So I told my pals we needed to start brewing beer together and we bought a homebrew kit. Our first batch was some sort of porter, which we called the Harney Porter, and it turned out pretty darn good. The next few batches were hit and miss, so we adopted the practice of naming the beer only after tasting the final product. As a result, we had several batches that had phrases in them like , ‘Boll-weevil…,’ ‘Butt-tasting…,’ ‘Volcano eye-poke….’ Etc. But we stuck with it and while still having a complete blast we’re making good beer.”

“My goal is to really understand what’s happening in the mash, with the water chemistry, in the fermentation, and in the brains of our little yeasty friends. The number of different factors that are in play creating the flavors and aromas and textures of beer is just incredible. I want to bend them all to my creative will. Fortunately, it doesn’t take that happening to be able to make some terrific beer lol! You should definitely brew your own beer. Find a way to have the most fun possible, spending the least amount of money possible, making the best beer possible, in the least amount of time possible. Denny Conn said something like that at a conference one time and it just stuck with me. Check him out on the web for some great ideas for maximizing your enjoyment of homebrewing and minimizing the hassle while doing it,Wort UP!”…..

Read Josh’s Interview with Wenchie from DrinkWithTheWench.com

Dave: Also located in Cincinnati, Dave started brewing beer from extract back in 2003. Inspired by his brother Josh (above) his first batch was his best (extract) batch. Setting up shop in his MSU apartment was a little less then ideal since these types of apartments aren’t known for great sanitation or an abundance of resources. To Dave’s dismay, after 2 weeks in the bottles, the simple Pale Ale didn’t carbonate at all. That night while working in the dorm cafeteria, he snagged 50 sugar packets. All packets were the same size to ensure even distribution to add to each bottle. One week later, the perfect Pale Ale was created. Even ‘non-beer-drinkers’ were drinking Dave’s beer. Dave thought to himself, ‘Man, I gotta keep doing this!’ Unfortunately the notes from the recipe were lost in the “Final 4 Party” of ’05. In recent years he has moved on to full mash brewing, studying closely under his highly skilled brother. Dave loves all things beer (brewing, talking, drinking) but, most of all, he loves the stories told around a cold one and the friends created by them. Ask him about the one with the coat hanger and a car battery…..Favorite Beer: Anything with HOPS! Lately been lovin Bells Bell’s Hopslam and Dogfish Head 120 Min IPA

Read Dave’s Interview with Wenchie from DrinkWithTheWench.com

Born and raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago, Tommy is a small town guy with big city ambition. He graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in beer drinking =) Although, Tommy has been brewing his own beer for less than a year, he has been drinking craft beer for quite some time. There is no doubt in our minds that he has what it takes to become a great brew-master. Some of his favorite beers include: Bell’s Best Brown Ale, Mickey Finn’s Q-Dog American Pale Ale, Hartsfelder Helles, and the North Coast Brewing Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout. Cheers!