A few years ago I bought my husband a Mr. Beer home brewing kit. He had always joked about being able to brew a better beer than some of junk turned out by local microbreweries, so I figured it was time for him to put his money where his mouth was. To my surprise, that little cute plastic barrel delivered exactly what it promised.
At first he used the beer ingredient kits offered by Mr. Beer. He even made some root beer for the kids. While these kits didn't taste bad and they delivered admirably on the alcohol front, they really were no different than the beer we could purchase at the local liquor store. He decided it was time to kick his brewing habit up a notch.
We found a home brewing store nearby and ventured in. Wow, who knew there were so many kits, doo-dads and ingredients available for the relatively simple process of making beer! He was like a kid in the proverbial candy store, assuming that the candy can get you stinking drunk.
Suffice it to say that our basement is now home to an ongoing science experiment. The adorable Mr. Beer barrel still gets used on occasion, but it has been joined by plastic buckets, vapor locks, tubes and other equipment. It looks like a veritable mad scientist's lab down there.
His habit, er, I mean hobby, has even begun to take over the garden. A border bed was ripped out last year so he could begin growing his own hops. The good news is although some experiments have failed, he has yet to blow up the house.