Of Dad and Homebrew

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin

A few weeks ago, my wife and I spent some time with my Dad and my step-mom in their mountaintop home. We enjoyed ourselves and we soaked in the view of the beautiful So Cal mountain ranges and quaint feel of the “down town” area near their house. It was a true retreat, a chance to get away from all the stuff that clutters my mind here on the coast.

After returning to life in the city I got to thinking about the times I’ve had to spend with my dad and my step-mom over the past year and it made me sad to realize that it has been well over a year since we last visited them at their house. I mean, we see them about once a month or so but usually it’s somewhere "off the hill". These visits usually revolve around some family function like a birthday, a graduation, anniversary or, lately, funerals. We never seem to visit them just to visit them.

Well, by this point my brain was in the groove for thinking deeply about life, the universe and everything and I’m pretty sure that this is what lead me to thinking about the batch of Hefeweizen homebrewed beer my dad and I “put down” during our last visit.

To "put down" a batch of Hefeweizen homebrewed beer, as I’ve learned, involves several steps and a good amount of time. You must sterilize your equipment, boil your water and malt extract and then let it simmer with the hops. You add this, that and the other thing over time then you bring the whole concoction to a boil and then simmer it down again, removing the foam and then simmer it some more. Eventually, after a few more steps like adding the yeast and even more water (I’ve left these out to spare you), you cover the whole mix and let it sit and ferment for about two or three weeks. The beer will then need to be bottled for a further fermentation and “mellowing” process and should be ready to drink sometime in October.

As we were doing all this, I was thinking that it takes a lot of work and patience to make a good beer. You have to be committed through to the end product. You must take the work seriously because even the slightest contamination or misstep could ruin some two to three months of work (or more depending on what kind of beer you’re making). In short, shoddy work makes for shoddy beer, but give it a little TLC and you can literally taste the difference.

This whole process inspired me to think about the manner in which I approach my relationship with my dad and I drew a comparison: A good relationship, as in a good beer, is a labor of love. There are parts that are easy and totally fun to take part in. There are also parts that are tedious and less enjoyable than others. Still, in the end it’s the fruit of the labor (or, where beer is concerned, the fermentation of the labor) that makes it all worthwhile. A relationship that is cared for and tended to has much to give in return. There’s not much to say about a relationship that is neglected.

Well, Dad and I won’t be able to drink this batch of beer for a while yet, but that didn’t stop us from cracking open a few cold ones later on that day. We sat out on his deck (which I helped him build, now that I’m thinking about it) and discussed the stuff of life. Some big topics and some not so big…. The sun went down and we continued our conversation well into the evening. It was a great day and I think that this batch of homebrew is going to turn out nicely.