When the Alabama Symphony Orchestra offered cellist Peter Garrett a fulltime gig in 2015, he thought he had it made. That is, until his nascent relationship with the New England IPA soured by way of long distance problems. It was love at first sip when he first tried Heady Topper, the flagship double IPA of famed Vermont brewery, The Alchemist. And Garrett wanted to make it work, even in Alabama.
“There’s a cleanliness to the flavor that creates a very round hop profile. In New England IPAs, the hop is able to express itself without being muddied by other factors,” says Garrett, who believes the bona fide style is the paragon of beer craftsmanship.
Sensitive to “hop burn,” an acidic aftertaste popularized by Boston’s Trillium Brewing Company—and found in local imitations—Garrett resorted to costly trades with local beer enthusiasts to get his smooth-finish fix.
“There’s nothing wrong with the beers in Birmingham. But I’d just had a case of Heady Topper, and I couldn’t find anything like it here,” says the self-described style purist.
Tired of shelling out hundreds on beer swaps, Garrett’s quest for the perfect New England IPA took an unexpected turn in January 2016 when fellow cellist Andrew Dunn invited him over for a homebrewing experiment—which would have been illegal in Alabama just four years prior. For the experiment, Dunn decided to move from extract to all-grain brewing, a switch akin to making a meal from scratch instead of using prepackaged ingredients. To his astonishment, the pilot beer proved more than palatable. It was really, really good. Motivated by the potential savings, Garrett bit the bullet and invested in his own homebrew setup.
Ironically, the cost-cutting tactic evolved into a pricey pastime trying to develop the perfect recipe. But fortunately for Garrett, beer lovers don’t have to troubleshoot alone in Birmingham. The city’s burgeoning craft brewery scene boils down to humbler aspirations shared by many in town. Impressed by local homebrewers’ “out-of-this-world” offerings, Garrett joined two clubs dedicated to the craft, Birmingham Brewmasters and Carboy Junkies, the former of which Kim
Thomson hosts at AlaBrew, his homebrew shop in Pelham. During each club’s monthly meeting, members can pick the brains of homebrewing veterans, receive constructive feedback, and sample others’ creations.
Birmingham Brewmasters offers its due-paying members a structured, educational experience, with each meeting centered on a particular beer style. The host venue, AlaBrew, is a godsend for budding hobbyists and experts alike, boasting the recipes and ingredients for more than 700 commercial beers, as well as the equipment with which to brew it.
“AlaBrew is a fantastic resource. I’ve saved a lot of money on shipping, and Kim, the owner, has 20 years of experience. He can steer you in the right direction to brew good beer without much expenditure financially or time-wise,” says Garrett, who keeps his supply stocked via weekly pilgrimages to the shop.
Calling themselves “classic enablers,” The Carboy Junkies’ approach is more laid-back. Its 60 or so members take turns hosting the monthly hangouts. From IPAs to Shakesperian-era concoctions, the Sunday potlucks abound with a variety of fresh beers and ideas. A few times a year, the group shares its talents at events like Good People’s Heart of Dixie Open, Moss Rock Festival, and Emerald Coast Beer Festival in Pensacola.
A credit to his overlapping support networks, Garrett remains undeterred in his pursuit of hoppiness, fifty recipes later. Difficult to brew without the proper equipment (due to its finicky relationship with oxygen), the hop-forward New England IPA is a challenge on a homebrew scale. But through taking club members’ advice and tag teaming the project with a friend, Garrett finally settled on a recipe. The consensus is that his earthy, balanced brew rivals its inspiration.
“I want to give a shout-out to the homebrew groups in town, because they have been so helpful. There are some amazing brewers who have been at it for a long time, and there are some who are just getting into it. I would love to see our homebrewing community here expand and push our local breweries to just get better and better,” Garrett says.
Representing a variety of age groups, personality types, and political beliefs, the individual homebrewers may not have much in common. But their mutual fascination with the art of beer is enough to warrant a monthly meeting of the minds—and taste buds. Just six years into their hobby’s legalization—thanks to grassroots lobbying from Free the Hops and Right to Brew—Birmingham’s homebrewing community is already cheersing its success, and rightfully so.
Details
Find out more about Birmingham Brewmasters at alabrew.com.
This story appears in Birmingham magazine’s June 2019 issue. Subscribe today!