Author: Marshall Schott

We’re just about halfway through the year, which in addition to being a reminder of how fast time flies, means it’s time to start collecting data for our annual General Homebrewer Survey. We’ve had a busy year, so I figured I’d take this opportunity to fill everyone in on what we’ve got going on as well. But first and foremost…

2019 General Homebrewer Survey

We’ve committed to collecting data via annual surveys, the results of which are shared publicly with the hope that it’s used to bolster this great hobby. It’s our belief that knowledge of certain trends in homebrewing, from brewer demographics to brewing processes, will allow for more pointed focus on strengths and weaknesses. We’d like to ask that everyone follow the link below and complete the survey as honestly as possible. Please be sure to share the survey will all your brewing friends as well!

Note: our aim with this survey is to capture as much information about the modern homebrewer as possible in hopes of shining a light on under-represented groups, the ultimate goal being to encourage inclusiveness in the hobby. As such, certain questions address topics that may be sensitive to some, please feel free to skip any that make you uncomfortable.

The survey will be open through May 30, 2019, after which the data will be analyzed and shared. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to help us learn more about modern homebrewers!

Click Here To View 2018 Survey Results

| What’s Brewing At Brülosophy? |

New Contributors

Every week, we publish 2 articles and a podcast episode, which requires a good amount of effort to keep up with. With a couple original contributors taking a step back for various reasons, it became apparent rather quickly that we needed to grow the crew if we wanted to maintain our current pace. Lucky for me, a couple great folks were not only willing and able to jump on board, but excited to contribute to our version of brewing science, and I’m stoked to introduce them to you.

Paul Amico has been brewing beers for The Hop Chronicles for the last few months and recently agreed to manage the project on his own. I first met Paul about 5 years ago while throwing a few back at House of Pendragon Brewing. In addition to sharing many similar ideas about beer and brewing, we live a block away from each other, so we end up seeing each other and sharing beers often.

If the name Cade Jobe is familiar, it may be because he’s had a couple articles published on Brülosophy as a part of The Brü Club xBmt Series, which is how we were first introduced. Then I found out Cade would be attending the BYO Boot Camp in Asheville, NC, where he was organizing a Brü Club meet-up. After hours of discussing regional accents, sipping tasty overpriced cocktails, and talking a bit of shop, I proposed the idea of Cade joining the crew as a regular contributor, which he accepted.

I am stoked to have both Paul and Cade on board, as their contributions will allow us to keep up with our current publishing schedule and perhaps introduce a some new projects in the future!

The Brülosophy Podcast

It’s been over 2 years since we started The Brülosophy Podcast, with weekly episodes hitting the airwaves for over a year. As we quickly approach our 100th episode, I can’t help but think back at all the work that’s gone into producing this show, from the time invested by each contributor/co-host to the incredible amount of support we’ve received from our listeners and sponsors. We have no plans to slow down and look forward to continuing talking about this stuff we love so much!

From the moment we announced The Brülosophy Podcast would be a thing, people began asking about its presence on Spotify. As an Apple Podcast user myself, I didn’t realize just how popular Spotify is and admittedly drug my feet a bit when it came to getting the podcast on that platform. Well, I’m happy to announce that The Brülosophy Podcast is now available on Spotify!

The Brü Club

Approaching 900 members, many of whom regularly compete and take home hardware with their beers, The Brü Club has established itself as a fantastic place for those who may not have a local club or just want a group of critical thinkers to chat with.

While TBC is managed by an independent crew of dedicated homebrewers, we collaborate with them on a fun project where members have the opportunity to have their own exBEERiment published on Brulosophy.com. If this sounds up your alley, head over to TheBruClub.com to learn more about becoming a member!

Doppelgänger xBmt Series

When I proposed the Doppelgänger idea back in January, the response was immediate and clear– do it! We’ve since published a whopping one article from this series (thanks to Bell’s Brewery for working with us on that), and while that article was very well received, garnering over 12,000 views in the 2 weeks it’s been out, we’re at a bit of an impasse with this series.

Truth is, coordinating with breweries in a way that ensures the best data is collected requires a lot of effort, certainly more than it may seem like. In addition to accurately scaling recipes to homebrew sized batches then brewing them up, it’s important to us that the commercial example be of similar freshness as the homebrewed version, which works best if it comes directly from the brewery. Of course, since we’re not just comparing these beers side-by-side, but rather relying on a triangle test, we need enough to serve to a bare minimum of 15 participants. In essence, the article you ultimately spend 10 minutes reading is the end result of a lot of coordination between the brewery and Brülosophy.

That said, we’re definitely game to keep the project going, in fact I’d love to make it once monthly series. If this sounds like something you’d like too, there’s something you can do to help! For any commercial brewers out there who might be reading this, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly to inquire about a collaboration. If you’re a homebrewer who has been itching to brew a batch of a favorite commercial beer, or perhaps you have friends in the industry, let them know about this project and put them in touch with us. We’ll be making some contacts as well, but there’s only so much we can do on our own between all the other stuff we’ve got going on.

Brülosophy Merchandise

I’m contacted multiple times per week by folks asking about where they can find Brülosophy glasses, hats, t-shirts, and other merch. Unfortunately, we’ve still yet to settle on a good solution that doesn’t involve my wife spending hours a day packing and shipping boxes. Rest assured, we are continually looking at options and definitely plan to offer more stuff in the future. If you have any ideas, please don’t hesitate to let us know.

Until then, we still have some rad t-shirts available at Yakima Valley Hops, get them now before they’re all gone!

The HopBeat Newsletter

If you haven’t already, make sure to sign up for our newsletter, The HopBeat, which goes out 2-3 times per month and provides an overview of what we’ve been up to. This is also how we let people know about exclusive Brülosophy deals and other cool things that might be going on.

We promise to never give away or sell your information, your email is safe with us.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The season for brewing and beer events is upon us and we’ve got some stuff planned we’d like you to know about about!

Hop Harvest in Yakima, WA | September – October, 2019

As a brewer, there are few things as rad as the experience of walking through a hop yard with a bunch of other brewers and rubbing some freshly picked cones then heading to a local watering hole where even more brewers have gathered to imbibe while shooting the shit. This is hop harvest in Yakima, WA, and it is quickly approaching. For anyone who has been thinking about visiting Yakima during harvest this year, I strongly recommend attending the Yakima Valley Hops Fresh Hop Party, which will be held on the evening of October 5, 2019. So. Much. Fun. Unfortunately, we won’t be to attend the Fresh Hop Party this year due to a conflicted event, but we’re definitely looking into heading up to hang with our YVH friends at some point during harvest. Haven’t settled on dates yet, but we’ll be sure to announce it when we do.

BrewCon 2019 in Dublin, Ireland | October 5, 2019

The reason we won’t be able to make it to the Fresh Hop Party is because it’s over the same weekend as BrewCon 2019 in Dublin, IR, which I’m excited to say I’ll be presenting at this year. I’ve talked with a few friends who have had the opportunity to attend BrewCon in previous years, all who say it is a fantastic event. If you’re in the area, I’d love to spend the day hanging out with you! Click here to learn more about BrewCon 2019.

You Support Brü, Brü Rewards You

Vinnie Cilurzo. John Palmer. Stan Hieronymus. John Kimmich. Michael Tonsmeire. Annie Johnson. Gordon Strong. Scott Janish. Lars Marius Garshol.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, most if not all of these names should ring a bell, as they’re all well known brewers, authors, bloggers, and subject matter experts who have had an undeniable influence on the way we think about beer. What’s super cool is that some Patrons of Brülosophy have had the opportunity to interact with each of these incredible people during live Q&A sessions. This is just one of the many rewards we offer in exchange for your support.

Contribution levels range from $1 to $25 per month with the most popular being the $5 level, which qualifies you for a killer monthly discount at Yakima Valley Hops in addition to an invite to the previously mentioned live Q&A session, access to the Brü Crew private forum, and a never-before-published contributor recipe. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for our supporters, so huge thanks to all of our Patrons!

For more details on all of the rewards you can get for helping us out, head over to Patreon.com/Brulosophy.

Thanks again to all of our readers and listeners, if you have any thoughts about what was discussed in this article, don’t hesitate to drop us a note in the comments section below!

Support Brülosophy In Style!

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