Homebrewing: The Adventure Begins in June

Tyler tends to his Scotch ale.

Last Saturday — Rapture Day (at least until the new, revised Rapture Day) — I spent in a parking lot enjoying the warm sunshine, some smoked chicken, and a homebrewing demonstration. It seemed like a good way to witness the beginning of the end of the world.

Jason and Tyler, the owners of Adventures in Homebrewing, a supply store in Taylor well known to area hobbyists, are working to open their new Jackson Rd. location here in town. It's long overdue and, as I told them, they're going to make a lot of people in and around Ann Arbor very happy when they finally open in mid or late June.

"We're waiting for the new floor to be installed, which should be done by June 1," said Jason. "After that, all the other stuff that needs to be done should go pretty quickly."

And there's still a lot of other stuff: enlarging the store entrance, installing the sales counter, finishing the bathroom, setting up the shelves, and, of course, stocking the inventory. However, some key things are already done, such as installation of the geothermal heating and cooling systems, and Jason expects all to proceed according to schedule. (Certain bureaucratic requirements, such as bringing down a dead tree, demolishing and rebuilding a wall, and planting 18 trees where there's no place to put them, have longer deadlines and shouldn't hold up the opening.)

I don't know the square footage, but the place, which was a former Rave Associates warehouse, is absolutely huge and, once stocked, will look like The Homebrewers Depot. Jason and Tyler will also fulfill Internet orders from this space, including for their popular starter kits, kegging systems, and recipe packages, many of which are designed to help homebrewers create "clone" beers similar to their favorite commercial ones.

In fact, the beer being brewed by Tyler on Not-Rapture Day was a Scotch ale, a recipe he is working on for the many people who have requested a kit for making a clone of Founders' Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale.

Who knows? Once they open for business, I may be inspired to take up brewing again myself.

The Ann Arbor Adventures in Homebrewing is, or will be, located at 6071 Jackson Rd., just west of Zeeb, past the Meijer's. Heading west, take the first "Michigan left" after passing Lowe's and drive straight in.