As I was chatting over lunch with a friend from work yesterday, he pulled out the grocery list his wife had given him to pick up the remaining items for Thanksgiving dinner. That led to a discussion about the rising price of food this year. We’re all feeling it, but I was reminded of the senior citizen down the road from me who is feeling it a lot harder than I am.
Coincidentally, I had given Jack a six pack sampler from my last 3 batches recently – he LOVES my brews, by the way – and THAT got me thinking about one way we homebrewers can make a real difference during these tough economic times. I figured I’d use this forum to float my idea.
Jack is in his eighties and he likes his beer. During a neighborhood chat recently he mentioned the 2 or 3 bargain beers he’d come across. He also talked about the best prices he’d found for various staples in the grocery fliers that he scours regularly. It dawned on me that, by sharing 10% of my brew (that’s what a six pack roughly equates to out of a five-gallon batch) with a friend on a fixed income I was helping him offset the rising cost of food. Instead of buying cheap beer, he’s enjoying my good stuff for free and he can spend his beer money on other groceries.
So my proposal during this season of giving is for homebrewers to consider a brewer’s tithe – simply by sharing one tenth of our beer with beer lovers we know who are on limited incomes, we are helping them afford the food they need while spreading good cheer and an appreciation of the finer things in life.
Topic: Brewer's Tithe (Read 7374 times)
