Area Beer Makers Hooked on Home Brews

When it comes to favorite holiday drinks, Santa Claus loves milk and cookies. But Alex Taylor prefers beer — specifically, his own brew.

The 34-year-old Trumbull resident, who works in Stamford as a photographer for Vinyard Vines, started home brewing about a year and a half ago, and now he's hooked.

"I started with a kit, then moved on to making my own recipes," Taylor said. "Here we are a year and a half later, making my own beer on the weekends."

The process of making beer isn't difficult — in fact, many who have done it say it's as easy as boiling a big vat of water, following a recipe and then waiting a couple of weeks (two weeks for fermenting, and another for carbonating the beer.) Of course, beer makers can't use dirty pots or containers, which would sour the beer, or over-spice a holiday-inspired brew.

With all that in mind, Taylor said it takes "a little practice" to achieve the desired style and carbonation intensity. After a few tries, he was good to go.

"We had people over for Thanksgiving and brewed up two batches," Taylor said. "It went very quickly, so I guess I am doing something right."

For Christmas, Taylor brewed a German-style ale called Kölsch, which he bottled and gave as gifts to friends. 

"My father-in-law and his brothers usually drink Heineken so this is as close as I can get to a Heineken style," Taylor said.

Because his son is almost 4 and his daughter is just 2-and-a-half, Taylor said he prefers to make beer at night after the kids go to bed, usually outdoors so he doesn't make a mess in the kitchen.

Taylor is among plenty of good company in Fairfield County.

On the Saturday before Christmas, Monroe-based Maltose Express, a retailer of beer- and wine-making kits, was packed with customers loading up on first-timer "Bass Ale" kits, raw hops, packets of yeast and other necessary ingredients. 

At the outlet, shoppers can select from more than 400 beer-ingredient kits, which run about $110 a piece, said Tess Szamatulski, who owns the store with her husband Mark.

"We do notice a surge around the holidays because it makes a great gift," Tess Szamatulski said. "If you're gonna get your father, your husband, your boyfriend something, you don't just wanna get him a tie or a shirt. It's a hobby that's a great hobby, it allows for creativity, and it's something you can build on. If you can boil water, you can make beer. It's very easy."

For those with a little more experience, Maltose Express offers a array of spices —like vanilla bean, pumpkin pin, bitter or sweet orange, anise and cardamon — to give basic brews a touch of holiday sweetness. Raw ingredients cost $40 to $70, and the four essential ingredients are water, yeast, malted barley and hops (the latter three are included in the kits).

For seasoned beer makers who want to brew up a nice, post-holiday treat — or start practicing for Christmas 2011 — Tess Szamatulski recommends the "Affligem Noël" Christmas beer, which is included in the couple's "Beer Captured" recipe book for home brewers. The book is available on site and through select online retailers, such as Amazon.com.

Mark Szamatulski told Patch beer-making has become more popular since the economy went sour in 2008.

"People don't go out as much, so they wanted a hobby," Mark Szamatulski said. "Nowadays if you find a beer you like you can make it."

And sometimes those who get kits as presents go on to become more than serious hobbyists.

Wilton native Patrick Crawford, 28, wasn't over-the-moon about beer until he brewed his own in college. Today, he lives in Denver and is putting the finishing touches on a new brewery business. In May, he hopes to open the Denver Brewing Company (though he admits the name might change before then).

Crawford said he is a fan of adding spruce tips and spices like cardamom to homemade holiday beers, but first-timers might want to nail down the basics before getting into the spices.

"The process of taking four raw ingredients and making whatever flavors, plus measuring the temperatures and all that is fun," said Crawford, a former engineer. "It's almost identical to baking in terms of how you mix the ingredients and the temperatures."