Despite New York's gnat-size apartments, NYC homebrewers refuse to let space limitations detract them from their mission: crafting some of the city's tastiest beer. On this tour, you'll venture inside the homes of three of Brooklyn's finest amateur brewers, who will display their set-ups, discuss their craft and, most importantly, open up their stash of superlative beer.
Today's walking tour will take us to Ditmas Park and Kensington, where we'll pop into a trio of homebrewers' homes. Homebrewing maestro Sheri Lyn will be your host, escorting you to the homes of...
Carrie Soom
Carrie started brewing in 2014 with her former roommate, based on a shared interest in cooking and drinking. Over the years, she started brewing more often and experimenting with more styles/flavors, leaning toward saisons with fruit. Carrie likes to make beers inspired by the people, places, and things she loves (like a Mother's Day IPA for her hop-head mom, or a beer inspired by Ulysses S. Grant's favorite party drink). Brewing in a small space is a fun challenge (aside from the cleanup) and has forced her to be creative in brewing as well as equipment storage. Carrie thinks one of the best parts of homebrewing is sharing beer with friends who don't brew and having them look at you like you're a literal wizard.
Pia Sen and Russell Smith
The twosome started brewing in 2012 and focus on classic styles with a twistan unexpected favorite is a blonde ale based on the flavors of Indian ice cream. Russell got interested in brewing, in part, thanks to the wide selection of craft and rare brews at the dearly departed Eagle Provisions. Pia's interest was piqued by the opportunity to explore fermentation and take the creativity of cooking in a new direction. Bigger batches are brewed in a 10 gallon mash tun and kettle, smaller batches using the "brew in a bag" method. Fun fact: One of their earliest dates was a Brooklyn Homebrew class.
George and Rachel Zeiss
George and Rachel have brewed at their homebrewery, "7A," since 2014. The 7A system slowly grew from 1-gallon batches in a 5-gallon pot with mostly brew in a bag to using a 10-gallon kettle and cooler mash tun system. Rachel is the current president of the Brewminaries Homebrew Club, and George and Rachel have been members since 2015. Starting with kits, they made their way to crafting their own recipes. No style or flavors are off limits--that's the point of homebrewing! They love to play with old favorites like their Chocolate Chipotle Stout and add, say, coffee beans or a pungent dry-hop to their kölsch. When George and Rachel aren't sharing their beers with friends and family, they love to participate in every possible homebrew charity event! Beer names tend to be puns on their favorite pop-culture references, because who doesn't love good wordplay!?
