I just wanted to let you all know about the new homebrew shop that opened nearby, the Keg and Barrel.  The owner came in for one of our beer dinners.  Nice guy and very dedicated to good beer.

I consider myself a recovering homebrewer.  I used to be really into it.  Most professionals were at some point.  People ask me if I still homebrew and I tell them “yes, but at work!”  Back when I worked in a production brewery I still did a bit of homebrewing.  The production work taught me a lot that I never would have learned in a brewpub, but it didn’t offer a whole lot of creative satisfaction.  I had to get that at home.  Here I get to play around with all kinds of fun recipes so my weekends are now for cycling and drinking beer.

Because most of the brewing crew at Iron Hill started as homebrewers (including the owners) we keep dedicated to the hobby.  We do what we can to support and sponsor homebrew clubs and homebrew competitions.  We offer a great discount for AHA members. I do the wort giveaway every year.  And one of the benefits of working here (in any capacity, not just brewing) is free homebrew ingredients.  We’ve got four or five homebrewers on our staff right now that regularly come in and get malt, hops and yeast for their brews.  Once in a while we’ll even give yeast to some of our regular customers who homebrew.  That’s a shelf in our cold box in the picture right there.  On it is Iron Hill yeast I cropped for one of our homebrewing servers and behind it is various homebrews the staff have brought in for Jeff and I to enjoy.

Not a bad deal for our staff!  The rest of you will just have to visit Keg and Barrel.