Stage 1: Mr. Beer

The fascination with beer grew into the next stage; how do they do that? I started Christmas 2008; Santa brought me a Mr. Beer. That’s right, beer in a box with a 2 1/2 gallon beer barrel shaped container and cans of malt extract. I jumped right in and I learned my first lesson. Good beer takes time. By nature I am not patient, I didn’t like that the wort and hops I boiled had to ferment for 1-2 weeks then condition 2-4 weeks more. I had to learn patience; ugh! After about three months I tried my own recipe, a raspberry blonde. Wow it turned out great, pretty cool. From there I started buying hops, then it went to steeping grains with Mr Beer extracts. Finally I said good bye to Mr Beer and hello to extract brewing. Still working from the kitchen, the wife was getting tired of the mess and the smell. It was time to start looking for somewhere else to brew.

Principle #1, at Mill Road Craft Brewing, all beer will be aged a minimum of 6 weeks. Up next.. To the Garage and All Grain Brewing.