On the 2nd of May around 10 of us met up on Zoom to brew a beer in honour of National Homebrew Day – officially May 7th. The “Nation” in the title actually refers to America, where the event was made official by Congress in 1988 to celebrate the contribution of beer to America’s culture. Many of the Founding Fathers were themselves avid beer brewers, and notes describing George Washington’s Small Beer recipe from 1757 were discovered fairly recently. The day is now celebrated in many countries around the world and has now taken on the title of “International Homebrew Day” in many articles referring to the event.
The day is celebrated in very much the way you’d expect, homebrewers around the world brew a beer, while undoubtedly partaking in a few at the same time. Owing to the social distancing and lock-down rules currently in place, RAB hosted a group Zoom meet up such that we could celebrate the event as a group – chatting while making great beer – and a wide array of different beers were brewed! One such recipe brewed by a few of us was the ‘All Together IPA’ – a recipe created by New York’s ‘Other Half’ to generate money to support hospitality professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic (see link below to the recipe and full details of the project). There was also a “clone” of Jerry’s Saison recipe as entered into the recent RAB Sabro competition, with only a few changes made (significant overhauls to grain bill, hops, yeast and malt, probably water too – but it was definitely still a clone… right Daren?). We also had a Czech Dark lager, and a few IPAs, pale ales and others beginning their journey from grain to glass.
The day was a total success, and there has been a steady stream of images on the group WhatsApp chat as the beers have made their way through the fermentation process and into the glass. A fun event which we hope to replicate in person post-lockdown!
Keep Calm and Brew On.
