Long time no brewing

So it's been close to a year since I last wrote about beer, last did a proper beer tasting, last boiled up some stuff and rolled my own (and ultimately turfed a lot of it out in the end because it really wasn't that great...)

But what happened? Where did I go? Did I give up beer entirely?

In a nutshell:

In order: My health. Nowhere. And God no.

Long story short (you can read a longer story of events including the hilariously sub five min solution over here) I haven't had a sense of smell since the start of last year, possibly longer. 

Which effectively ruins a good part of brewing beer in the incredible smells from the grains, the rolling boil, the hops and the whole afternoon process. I used to live near the CUB Brewery in Abbotsford Victoria and on some days the biscuity waft over the river was divine. I'd get a minor memory of that each and every time I bolted some kind of amber concoction together. But since the smell side of things went, it was like trying to paint the Mona Lisa in black and white.

So I still drank the occasional beer (Hello Friday arvo beer fridge is now open sessions) but couldn't tell you what it smelt like (which would probably in turn have an effect on it's tasting too according to some people I chatted to.)

Worse still was that most alcohols were like a sneeze trigger and since I'm hardly much of a drinker, one or two beers or wines would be enough to start a massive chain succession of sneezes and have me tearing apart the nearest tissue box. So I rarely drank anything.

But things are on the up. I can smell now (seriously the hops in my freezer smell incredible after going so long not being able to smell anything) and the sneezing has slowed down a lot. Which means that once we move house again (don't ask) and I get my operation set up again I'll be relishing the opportunity to get into brewing again and tasting and all the fun I've enjoyed with this.

More reviews, more home brews - I've just effectively taken a year off on an unwanted break. Lucky me.

Anyway,  good to be back!

-Almigo