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use? (Now, of course, you don’t have to use your own farm-grown product, but you do have to go through the motions of growing it. Such is wisdom!)
    Weird laws? You bet. All 50 states have the option to regulate the sale and production of alcoholic beverages. It’s obvious that few of these regulators are homebrewers yet. But perhaps someday things will change.
    Meanwhile, there is homebrewing. Ahhhh, home sweet homebrew! The beauty of it all! The regulations are quite simple: brew it for personal consumption and don’t sell it. No label laws, no alcohol limits and no ingredient limitations. Homebrewing is a personal thing. It’s a statement about you. It is an interpretation of your priorities and an expression of the freedom you’ve been given. I don’t know of any other hobbies that express themselves as wonderfully as homebrewing.
    If you wish to make a traditional German Altbier, brew it. A potato beer—brew it. A chocolate, chili pepper beer—brew it. A Down Under light lager—brew it. An Irish stout—brew it. A kiwi-flavored ale—brew it. You need no one’s approval but your own.

    What a great advantage homebrewers have! Brew it your own way, from a kit, from extracts, from grains. With the quality of ingredients, instructions and the wonderful supply of quality brewing yeasts available, excellent beer can be made using the simplest or most sophisticated of methods. You can immerse yourself in the science and technology of small-scale brewing or masterfully hover while communing with the art. But keep in mind that science and technical knowledge is best used as a tooland not to be embraced as the final word. You can become a master of brewing only through your own experiences and awareness of the qualities of great beer at whatever level of brewing you choose to pursue.
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    PURITANICAL NUT BROWN ALE
    This nut brown ale blends aromatic malts with caramel-flavored malts, fermented as a slightly fruity ale with the subtle bite of roasted chocolate malt. It offers a mouthful of soft, smooth nutlike flavor balanced with a blend of flavors and aromatically floral hops. It will sway even the most puritanical to indulge in brown ale. This recipe can be found in About the Recipes.
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    Your homebrewery, your recipes, your process—homebrewing is about you. And there is every reason to take pride in your beer and brewing endeavors, no matter what degree of sophistication you choose to pursue. If you like your beer, that’s all that matters, isn’t it? If you already brew, you know of what I speak. If you don’t already homebrew—please do.
    The guiding principle of homebrewing is remembering that you are an individual with individual taste preferences and priorities. And don’t ever forget that homebrewing is supposed to be fun. Relax. Don’t worry. Have a homebrew.
    Sure, there’s room for serious discussion and seriously good beer (and even for enjoying beers that are commercially made), but when you lose sight of the enjoyment of homebrewing, you’ve lost the microbrew touch. You may as well be in that “puritanical state.” I thought I was there for a moment. It was a frightening experience.
    Drinking Deliberately
    I WAS IN TELLURIDE , Colorado, faced with the daunting task of picking from seven excellent brews, house-brewed by Archie Byers at the San Juan Brewing Company’s brewpub, and I was very, very thirsty.
    My new friends Ann, Melanie, Tom, and Sandy and I had just spent the better part of the day attempting to climb Wilson Peak. Telluride, tucked away in a tiny valley in southwestern Colorado, is surrounded by dozens of 14,000-foot peaks. Wilson Peak, at 14,087 feet, loomed above us in the clearmorning sunshine. It should have been a three-hour walk and scramble to the top—but wasn’t.
    By the time we had reached timberline, the billowy clouds we had seen earlier on the western horizon surrounded us. At 12,000