OUR STORY
A Christmas gift, ten years of procrastination, one terrible IPA, and the realization that making good beer is a lot of work and a hell of a lot of fun.
THE BEER OF THE MONTH CLUB
Dutch Creek Brewing really started with somebody else's beer.
Years ago, my wife's coworker Andy started sending home bottles of his homebrew for a few of his favorite coworkers — his unofficial Beer of the Month Club.
Every beer she brought home was good. Really good.
Eventually I told her, “I'd like to learn how to make beer this good.”
So for Christmas, she bought me a beer-making kit.
THE RESEARCH PHASE
I loved the gift. Then I did what I normally do when I get interested in something: I started researching.
I quickly discovered that I'd need more than the kit. I needed a kettle, fermenter, temperature control, bottles, and all the other equipment that comes along with brewing.
And rather than buy the cheapest equipment just to get started, I wanted equipment I could continue using as I became a better brewer.
Apparently I needed about a decade to make that decision.
In 2023, I finally bought an Anvil Foundry 10.5-gallon all-in-one brewing system and an Anvil Crucible 7-gallon conical fermenter.
The basement brewery was ready.
BREW DAY #1
There was only one problem.
For my first brew, I decided to use that original IPA kit my wife had given me roughly ten years earlier.
The phrase “best used by” apparently meant something.
The malt extract came out of the can thick, dark, and heavy. It dropped to the bottom of the Foundry like a weight and promptly tripped the kettle's internal circuit breaker.
That pretty much established the theme for the rest of brew day.
One thing after another went wrong, but somehow I finished the brew, transferred it to the fermenter, pitched some fresh ale yeast, and eventually had beer.
THE FIRST TASTE
A couple weeks later, I cracked open my first bottle of homebrew.
It was supposed to be an IPA.
It looked like a porter.
It sort of tasted like one, too.
Ten-year-old malt extract, as it turns out, doesn't age like bourbon.
The beer wasn't very good.
I drank all of it anyway.
GETTING BETTER
That first questionable batch did exactly what it needed to do: it made me want to brew a better one.
I started learning all-grain brewing and eventually became comfortable brewing an American Amber Ale that I could make consistently well.
Every batch taught me something. There were mistakes, equipment problems, recipe changes, and plenty more research along the way.
Eventually I stopped wondering whether I could make good beer and started wondering what beer I wanted to make next.
DUTCH CREEK BREWING
More ambitious recipes followed, including what became a crowd favorite: Fuzz Lightyear Peach NEIPA.
Today, Dutch Creek Brewing is still exactly what it started as: a guy in his basement learning, experimenting, occasionally screwing something up, and making beer for friends and family.
The equipment has gotten better. The recipes have gotten better. And thankfully, so has the beer.
There's always another recipe to try, another technique to learn, and another beer to share.
EST. 2023
Well... fewer worries than that first batch...
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