Brew Buddies

In March of 2017, our great brew bud, Gerry (aka "Jay Dubb") Wendling (look at a close up of his t-shirt) and his wife, Aggie,moved down to Florida. When they came back to Michigan in July, we had a K-Hill brew day on July 8, 2017 to honor their arrival back to the fair state. London, their German Shepard, tagged along and managed a peace with the many K-Hill barn cats.

Tommie brewed his favorite Fortune Teller Stout, Scott brewed a dunkelweissen (you can always count on Scott to get creative!) with his single infusion cooler mash tun, and Craig brewed a favorite: Milagro de Mexico (a Negra Modelo clone).

Jeff Nehr arrived with brew in hand, and he and Craig spent some time with a little two piano riffing - Jeff taking the lead on some great tunes on the Steinway and Craig backing him up with some noodling on the Yamaha. A real treat!

Lance had beautifully set the stage with some fantastic jazz tunes that filtered through the open window to the deck brew area. And brew day wouldn't quite be brew day without Ronnie Hammond. Although Ronnie didn't brew, he brought some good beer and great conversation to share and he told us he was committed to cleaning out his old fermenters and getting his brew gear back in shape. He also provided the pic at left that he called "Relaxing Retirees".

Corbin and Wendy invited me to their place to brew with Wendy's Belgian "cousin" Manu (husband of Wendy's first cousin once removed). It was a delight to meet him and his wife Susie.

While brewing, Manu and Susie treated us to tastings of wonderful pairings of Belgian beers and cheeses. I now understand that heaven is very close to a cracker painted with a thin layer of French butter topped with a dollop of authentic Brie cheese all washed down with a mouthful of Chimay Red Trappist ale (drunk from a Chimay goblet no less)!

In honor of Manu's heritage, both Corbin and I brewed a Belgian beer. I chose a Chimay Blue clone that I've called Mischievous Monk. Note Manu was active in the brew process and even donned an official BottomlessBrew T-shirt as Corbin and I sported BrewBuddies T-shirts. It is gratifying to know that we now have the European branch of the BottomlessBrew family firmly established!

Manu and Susie also gave me a run down of "must see" places in Brussels and beyond for the summer 2012 trip to Europe that Kristin and I took. Although the official relationship is too complex for my mind to fathom, I have adopted Manu and Susie as my cousins as well. New family, great beer, Belgian cheese - what could be better?

The day before Easter, 2012. After a chilly 27 degree start with Corbin at 7:00am, when the afternoon rolled around we were up around 62. Absolutely perfect brewing weather. My brother Kevin dropped by a little later and added to the frivolity.

Our good buddy Ronnie Hammond (second from left) joined the fray of our motley crew in 2012. From this very first experience he expressed a resistant to accumulate all the clutter necessary to brew, though he certainly seemed to have a good time on brew day. Recognizing this resistance, my strategy was a slow-burn influence of reeling him into the brewing boat.

March 30, 2013 - our second annual "day before Easter" extravaganza - and an unseasonably warm and beautiful day. This was the largest brew gathering thus far at the Wagner brewery. Present, but not in the picture were Dan Harteau and Scott Crockett (piano friends). Importantly, this was the day we snagged Ronnie into homebrewing. I knew it was simply a matter of time.

We did a side-by-side compare of Founder's Breakfast Stout with Detroit Sunrise Breakfast stout, and Fuller's ESB to Lumbago Joy Juice ESB. Jim brought Raging Bitch IPA - wonderful hoppy! Dub so liked Lumbago Joy Juice that he said he would expand his brew portolio from 3 to 4 beers to accomodate it. Yes!

We sampled a number of brews including Dub's Alaskan Amber, Tom's Fortune Teller Stout, the Belgian Blonde and Bavarian Dunkel that Corbin and I brewed, some Sam Adams Alpine Spring from Ronnie and a couple of dark delights that I brewed (Montreal Midnight Cherry Chocolate Stout and Sheriff John Waddell's Goderich Wee Heavy Ale). We also bottled Ronnie's Jungfernreise. Beer heaven!

June 29, 2013 brought a beautiful brew day. We had a good turnout with (L-R) Tom, Corbin, Stan, Ronnie, Gerry, Craig, Scott and Chester (the dog). Tom was barista making lattes with raspberry, Monin Spicy Chocolate syrup and nutmeg. Yes !

March 1, 2014, we land Ronnie! Convincing Ronnie to be an active brewer was by far the most difficult

sell I've ever made on behalf of home brewing. After brewing with us many times he eventually decided to enter beer brewing through the back door of amped up consumption (not a bad idea).

He bought a two-tap kegerator and I helped him brew beer to fill it up. Experiencing the joys of draft beer on tap at home was exciting for him. It was the pain of having empty kegs that finally tipped him to purchase his brewing gear in early 2014. This was his first brew on his own equipment and it was in Tommie's heated garage (pic at left), the day Tommie learned he passed his nursing certification exam (Congrats Tommie!).

Ronnie jumped in with gusto, choosing to brew two batches at once on his maiden voyage (though he said afterwards that he wouldn't do that again).

I've known Dan Harteau (R) through his exquisite talent as a piano technician and later simply as a good friend. Dan is the man who brought together many interesting piano people into a group that has been called the "D-Boys" (since many have Steinway Model Ds). The D-Boys visit each others homes and listen to each other play. Dan has the unique talent of being able to squeeze every ounce of beauty out of great pianos, especially Steinways. From Dan's efforts I was inspired to make Perfection's Pursuit a beer dedicated to Dan, his search for an ever-better piano sound and the piano lovers group he started.

I first met Dan's son Matt (L) when I went to their home to see progress on my piano that Dan had there. It was a real treat for me to brew with Matt and Dan after helping Dan acquire the necessary equipment to all-grain brew.

After torrential rains the night before, June 13, 2013 brought sunshine and a beautiful brew day - a good omen. I sense this duo might have that magical ability to attract great brew weather akin to my brother Corbin. They brought over a wonderful "appreciation" six-pack of brews to try (as thanks for aid in acquiring their brew gear) and we had fun brewing two wheat ales. They brewed Titania's Revenge and I brewed Night Kitchen White Ale. A delightful day!

Tess, and her friend, Debayan joined the fun of brew day on June 14, 2014. Debayan is no stranger to K-Hill brewing. But this is the first picture I managed to snap of him while brewing. We've known Debayan for years since he and Tess went to the Steiner school together since kindergarten.

Kristin has a great story of trying to teach Debayan to knit when he was in first grade or there abouts. Something about a big knot of yarn that was soon exhausting for Debayan. But get the full story from Kristin. Debayan is one of those great guys to have on brew day since I have yet to see him turn down my offer of beer. You can also count on him to come up with quirky perspectives on a wide variety of topics from music to cognitive psychology.

Further, to fulfill his role as brew buddy, he has sampled a wide variety of beer (motivated, I'm sure, by his interest in primary research). From this grounding he always has great ideas on the next brews we just have to try, including wanting to try a beer spiced with cumin (you have to love that creativity and total disregard for convention!)