I...is...a home brewer

Have you ever done this? You sign up for something--say...Blogger--on the Internet and then forget about it, only to realize you're a member when trying to post a comment on somebody's blog one day, six months later? I'm sure we've all done it.

Well I did it just today. I was over at Good Beer and Country Boys, a terrific blog, and a steady influence on my beer tendencies, and when I went to post a comment, lo-and-behold, I saw my name. It said I was already signed in and ready to go! So I decided to finally get this show on the road, and thus "Brew me a river" "The Beer Geek" is born. Welcome.

Yes, beer people, it's the start of my blog, prompted by and dedicated to great craft beer, and all that goes with it. Or most of what goes with it anyway. (Note to self: good topic for future post)

You got to nose when you hold 'em

So to kick it off, I'll introduce myself.

My name's Mark, and I live in Tokyo, Japan, in the neighborhood of Tsukiji. You may have heard of the famous Tsukiji fish market. Well I can literally smell that place from my house. No kidding. I can. Funky! And the resident-to-sushi shop ratio is insane too, like 1:2 I think. Yes, that's correct.

I'll skip all the boring stuff about what I'm doing in Tokyo. I'm sure you don't want to hear about yet another white guy trafficking human organs in wacky ol' Tokyo!

Kidding. I'm a teacher. But more importantly, I...

...am a home brewer. (music swells, fades out, cue back story)

I grew up in Alaska, which gave me a good sense of roguish independence, and a full beard by age 4. Spent a year as an exchange student in Holland in high school, getting most of my schooling at the local pubs (not the weed friendly ones so much--those they call 'cafes'). It was there that I learned about Belgian beers, or 'monk beer' as I called it. Duvel was my mainstay. I'd choke down a Heineken or a Grolsch if that was all they had, but...Actually I liked the skunky aroma of those beers, and sucked 'em down like a fiend. I think a lot of the beers I had didn't even have labels, just 'Hey, this one is a [insert name of monastery].' That was a trip, thinking that full-time hardcore religious cats made their living in such a rad way. Made me think about converting once, briefly, after I'd had several bottles of Duvel (which means 'devil', by the way. Effin' cool monks).

I went to art school in Portland, Oregon, USA. That was in 1991, when the micro-brew thing was first getting some steam going. I always had the impression it was a local thing, so it was kind of a shock to go to non-Pacific Northwest places and see 'such-and-such maibock' on the menu or whatever. I worked at a brewpub, one of the only ones at that time, of Widmer brewing. It was cool and I learned a lot about microbrews at that time (now referred to as craft brews I guess), and gained a real appreciation, indeed, arrogance about it. At the same time, it was such a part of the local culture that I just took great beer for granted. Beer = microbrew, instead of microbrew = great beer. I mean, there was yellow beer around, for sure, but basically in Portland, you drank micros, and if you drank yellow beers you were kinda clueless. Funny cuz all the cool people drink PBR now. Go figga.

So anyway, about the time 1998 rolls around I decide I've had enough of this free-wheeling, microbrew guzzling, decadent Northwest slacker lifestyle, and it's time to get out there and see the world, earn my fortune, and try to make something of myself. Art wasn't working out too well, so I got into teaching; next best thing. Also I'd kept hearing about Japan, the misty crags of Mt. Fuji, the noble sport of Sumo, the time-honored traditions of the proud people, such as barfing one's guts out all over the crowded evening train, and all that, and said let's do it, 'anchors aweigh!'

So blah blah blah, I'm still here, having risen to the dizzying heights of corporate English instructor, and having a pretty good time still.

But back to beer. After I got here it was kind of a relief not to have to make a choice about the beer you want to drink, but at the same time know that you're gonna get a pretty refreshing glass of icy cold suds. Japanese mass produced beer ain't all that, but it sure beats its American counterparts, in my humble IMHO. I'd say it's still the staple of my beer diet, and my craft beer intake is more moderate. It's so damn expensive, that's one thing, but I'll save that topic for later.

So I didn't miss the tasty elixirs from back home for quite a while, pretty much until a year or two ago, when I started to get a real hankering for some REAL beer. One day last year I was at work doing my usual tooling around the Internet, and I ran across a little How-to Wiki on home brewing. Now, my lil bro' John used to home brew, and I'd known people who'd done it before, sure, plenty. But it never crossed my mind until then that I too, would like to try that. But when it did it was just like somebody flipped on a switch-Zap. Pow. I'm a home brewer! I got the bug.

That started a really great little life adventure, a voyage of discovery, if you will. Brewing just has so many great things about it, that I'm now pretty stoked about starting this blog and sharing my experiences and of course, my beer-fueled opinions on this, that and what-have-you.

In my next post I'll give you a lil run-down of what I've brewed so far, and share a video or two with you. Stay tuned, and read on.