Gripes

What is the spirit of homebrewing? Isn't it about sharing the knowledge, and the love of such a great hobby? Where one can go into their kitchen, their garage, or their back yard and fire up the burners with their friends and neighbors and create something amazing tasty and, well, magical.

Today, at a community festival, I ran into the local homebrew club who were making something for the spirit of May. This was not the first time I have run into them, there have been several festivals over the past 5 years that I've attended and they have had a tent brewing and chatting it up with folks. That is everyone but me. I truly don't know what their issue is--every time I see them I get the cold shoulder, which is a crock! Today it was so bad, that the folks who were with me commented how rude the homebrewing club president was to me. What the hell did I ever do to him? Well, let me tell you: I have visited their webpage, thereby supporting them; I have talked about them to colleagues and friends saying, "hey, guess what? My town has a homebrew club;" I have read their newsletters that they publish several times a year online; I offered my condolences when one of their members passed away; and when I asked about joining their club, I was treated as if I were a second-class citizen.

I have been upset before--who hasn't? But, I have never been so incensed as I was today. I will not give them another shred of a another second of my time, and this blog entry will be the last thought that I invest in discussing anything about them--and I will not divulge the name of the club--why bother?

I'm all about supporting your local brewery/brewclub/homebrew supply store. But, when you treat people like their time and business are unwanted, then you have serious social flaws, and you should take a hard and serious look at yourself and re-evaluate your philosophy.

I'll start my own club. I'll call it, "this club is for anyone who enjoys beer and is not an asshole." All are welcome to join, even those who will remain unnamed.