As a new-ish father, my goal for this year is to strive to collect experiences. The beauty of this is that I don’t need to know what these experiences are right now. I don’t need to make a schedule and plan out my year of experiences. I just need to say yes when the opportunity arises.
That’s how my passion for homebrewing came about. By chance, I stumbled across a discounted beer kit at a bookstore one day. I didn’t know how to brew. All I knew was that I wanted to do it, so I said yes. Since then, I’ve built myself a brewery fit for one at my home. If you want to gain the experience of brewing your own beer or wine this year, I recommend a trip to one of these local shops:
Northern Brewmasters Craft Beer
This local U-Brew specializes in flexible and creative craft brewing. They offer a lineup of cornerstone beer recipes that are perfect for anyone wanting to take a step into the world of brewing beer. Alternatively, customers have the freedom to brew their own recipes or work with Brewmasters staff to customize the perfect recipe.
Brewmasters massive copper kettles, temperature-controlled fermentation rooms, and professional grade clarity filtration and carbonation make you feel like you’re in control of your very own nano craft brewery.
On average, a 12-gallon batch of beer at Brewmasters takes about three weeks to produce. From that, customers take home about 12 dozen 12 oz. bottles of beer at a cost significantly less than store-bought
For the homebrewers out there, Brewmasters has you covered. They stock a wide supply of base and specialty grain, liquid malt extract, base and specialty hops, and dry and liquid yeast. As a homebrewer, I’m relieved to know there’s somewhere local I can go to grab exactly what I need to brew that day.
North Vines Craft Winemaking
North Vines is your window into the world of craft wine making. It’s a one-stop-shop for making wine at home or on location in your very own personal craft winery. Their facility has state-of-the-art bottlers, corkers, stirring machines, and three temperature-controlled rooms for fermentation, cooling, and cold crashing.
North Vines specializes in high-end wines, barrel aging, and custom blends. Customers have the freedom to tinker their wines to perfection. Whether it’s the addition of hard or soft tannins, fermenting or aging tannins, whiskey or vanilla oak or even lemon peels, North Vines staff will work with you to find the perfect combination.
A batch of wine at North Vines produces about thirty 750 ml bottles at price much less than store bought. Wines can vary from six weeks to six months from start to finish. North Vines also age multiple batches of selected wines in their fleet of oak barrels throughout the year.
Hobby Brews
Hobby Brews has been a staple in the Prince George U-Brew scene for nearly three decades. Recently, the business entered a new chapter when it was purchased by the Northern Lights Estate Winery in 2018. There’s a story behind that acquisition as the Northern Lights owners crafted homemade wine as customers of Hobby Brews back in the day. It’s inspiring to think that an experience at a local U-Brew played a part in the eventual opening of an award-winning winery in Prince George.
Hobby Brews strives to introduce the creative and collective experience of U-Brewing to a new generation in Prince George. They offer everything one needs to craft their own wine and beer on location or at home. With its five-gallon batch options, Hobby Brews offers an accessible and affordable brewing experience for both the first time and experienced U-Brewer alike.
Ultimately, Hobby Brews is all about the experience that goes home with you. It just happens to be a tasty one than can be lived again and again by glassful.
Cheers to new experiences
If you’ve made it this far, I encourage you to one day pour a glass of your own homemade beer or wine and give a toast to new experiences.
