October 22, 2011. For Christmas 2010, my aunt got me a copy of "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing." Unfortunately I started preparing for deployment in January 2011, and wasn't able to actually brew until I returned home. I read all the books I could get my hands on, and listened to countless hours of Basic Brewing Radio. As soon as I got home, I bought a starter set and came up with a recipe for an American ESB. Was a little heavy on the hops and extract, so it ended up being a really tasty APA. 5 extract + grain brews to make sure I had a handle on the cold side, and then I went all-grain in 2012. 5 AG Batches down so far, and not a dumper in the bunch!
On the other hand, my wife thinks I brew too much.