Preface

Hi All,

   As I begin my first blogging experience I am going to go under the assumption that the majority all of the people reading this know me in some capacity.  That being the case I will save the unnecessary introductions of who I am, where I am from, a detailed list of my past romantic encounters, or anything of the like.  Instead I will simply introduce the purpose of this blog and give an idea of what I plan on writing* and why you should** waste your time reading my posts.
* subject to change without notice
** or shouldn't


   As the title and subsequent subtitle suggests I have some dream that I am trying to make come true, and unless I am completely illiterate and don't know how to spell 'happiness' it has something to do with...hoppy?  Yes, hoppy.  Hoppyness in this instance is referring to happiness and hops (it's a play on words).  Happiness is self explanatory. Hops, for those of you who do not know, are one of the four ingredients present in every beer ever made (more on that in future posts).  So what is this happy beer related dream?

  Before I spoil the surprise allow me to give some personal background to this whole saga.  I  have discovered over the past several years that there are two ways that I have been consistently able to make people happy, if only for a moment.  The first only comes when I am tutoring someone, specifically in Math.  The moment of happiness comes when a given person has been struggling with a new concept or problem for what feels like an eternity, and just before all hope is lost...it clicks!  That 'aha' moment.  The moment when all that was unclear makes perfect sense.  That discovery of understanding is something that I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to help many obtain.  Even if it is the understanding of something as seemingly unimportant as calculating an integral.  As you read this you are probably thinking, 'why the hell is this kid not a teacher?!'  The truth is I only recently realized how much I enjoy this aspect of teaching, and somewhere down the road I would not be surprised to find myself in front of a classroom.  But there is one other way that I have been able to put smiles on people's faces.  And I have a lot of fun doing it. This is the essence of this 'dream' I keep referring to.

   The other way I have been able to make people smile is by pouring them a pint of beer.  Not any beer, but a beer that they have never had before, and may never have again.  A beer that was made in a small two bedroom apartment on a half-sized stovetop.  A beer that fermented in a linen closet, and was bottled on the kitchen floor.  A beer that I made myself (or with the help of my esteemed partner, the one and only Christopher J Clemente).  But the joy comes not only from pouring them the beer, but also from the act of sitting down, relaxing, drinking, and talking.  The entire night of enjoying each other's company that all started with the beer that I brewed!  That is the happiness that I dream of offering to as many people as I can.  That is the happiness that I aspire to offer by opening my very own brew pub.

  So there it is.  My dream is to open a brew pub, serving beers that I have made myself, and giving people a night that leaves them smiling.

  So what exactly should you expect from this blog? As I see it now, my plan is to catalog the beers that I have made and plan on making, as well as give updates on their progress and such.  There is a lot of waiting that goes along with the brewing process, so I will probably fill time with interesting posts about brewing or reviews of new beers I have tried.  In the near future I will update you all on what I have done up to this point (for those who don't know I have been brewing for about 2 years now and have made ~15 different beers to date).

   I would love it if people shared beer/bar/pub suggestions or reviews.  And if you never read another post I write, that's cool too.

Comments are welcome, but if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.