Home Brewing with Drew Beechum – BeerSmith Podcast #346

Brewing author Drew Beechum joins me this week to discuss homebrewing, his homebrew story, Homebrewcon in Asheville, and the American Homebrewer’s Association.

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Topics in This Week’s Episode (42:45)

This week I welcome back Drew Beechum. Drew is the author of Experimental Homebrewing, The Everything Homebrewing Book and Homebrewers Journal (all Amazon affiliate links). Drew joins us to talk about homebrewing topics.
We start with a discussion of the major American Homebrewer’s Association (AHA) spin-off into an independent entity separate from the Brewer’s Association.
Drew shares some of his projects the last 18 months including his involvement with the AHA.
We first discuss the rich history of beer brewing and making beer at home which dates back many thousands of years. As homebrewer’s we are the guardians of brewing and also the training grounds for many thousands of professional brewers.
Drew shares a bit of his story, having started brewing in 1992, and again with a renewed passion in 1999 in Los Angeles.
He explains how home brewing promotes mental wellness and can be good for the soul.
Drew talks about “Defensive Brewing” and how it is still very relevant even in the age of craft brewing because there are still only a small set of beer styles that are commercially viable.
We discuss the homebrewing community, AHA, local clubs and the critical role they play in promoting the hobby.
I ask about the loss of many social gatherings in general post-COVID, and we talk about bringing people back together through homebrew.
Drew talks about how to make brewing less quirky, less technical and more approchable.
He shares his closing thoughts.