Many years ago, back before I had two young children, I was an avid beer brewer. I would brew a number of batches each year, and by the time my first daughter was born, I had become pretty good at the process. In fact, the last batch I brewed, was my best yet, and I was excited about continuing to grow my skills in this area.
Of course, as often happens, I was unprepared for the challenges of parenting, and the time commitments that would be involved with being a parent, particularly once my second daughter was born. Since that time, despite having wanted to brew, I haven’t put a batch together, and quite regularly I pass by my brew keg and gear, wishing that I was able to do some brewing.
Recently, I was presented with an interesting tool, called a PicoBrew, by a colleague. I took part in funding the company’s Kickstarter project, and today, began using it. Basically, it is an automated brewer, that allows you to still play a part in the brewing process, while drastically reducing the amount of time you need to invest yet still giving you the freedom to build your own brew and lose yourself in the process (which is one of the key things I enjoyed about brewing).
As I write this, my first batch is being brewed (a sample of 21st Amendment’s Brew Free or Die IPA). Aside from the work of cleaning and setting up, I’ve been sitting back and taking care of other things around the house while the process has gone on. And yet, the smell of the process is bringing me back to a number of years ago, when I was brewing from scratch.
It is always nice to reacquaint ourselves with work and experiences we love. It is even better when we can find a way to do this without having to give up on our other responsibilities!