Beer
Calico - how did you miss this. Today is the anniversary of when the 1st can of beer was sold.
Here's to you!
mona And news: Starbucks is going to be experimenting selling beer & wine at their stores in select states. 6-packs for $5.99. Whoops, sorry, I meant $5.99 PER BOTTLE. lol
JeffersonRepub 
Sorry mona, back at you though. It wasn't on my list. Happy anniversary 1st can of beer sale! Woo hoo! My favorite canned beer is Coors Original (The Banquet Beer). Yum.
Calico696 If beer keeps going up I might have to start making my own... is it worth it, I don't know I have never tried it. I'm not a sam adams guy, the less expensive the better. Maybe a keg-a-rator is the answer I don't know. All I know is I like my vitamin "B"
fitterMaking it yourself is a little cheaper. My total cost to make a pint of beer is about $1.25 for a "normal" beer. (Making 5 gallon batches from extract). For 'bigger' beers (more alcohol, body) you need to add more ingredients, which ups the cost to $1.50 to $1.75 per pint. I'm upgrading to 10 gallon batches made with all grain, which is the equivalent of brewing 'from scratch'. It will cut my cost nearly in half. The downside is it will add a few hours of work to my brew day, which normally takes about 4 hours from setup through cleanup. Cleanup is the the most time consuming and labor intensive part of the process. Might sound like a lot of beer, but when you have friends and family drinking it, goes pretty fast!
Bruin coors banquet - good choice
early canned beer? true story:
when i was a kid, we went up to vermont to see uncle Hutch on his mountain top farm. My dad bought a six pack in cans. We got there and Dad offers Hutch a beer. Uncle Hutch reaches into his pocket for his ever present can opener. Dad says to Hutch, "You don't need to use it because these cans have that new 'pop-top' on them". Uncle Hutch says "Show me". So Dad takes a can and shows Hutch the ring on the top and then slowly pulls it open.
"Well golly gee" says old Hutch, "what will they think of next?"
He had never seen a pop-top can before. (they were new that year, around 1964 i think)
true story from my youth.
BrotherDog Bruin -
how can i get started easy brewing my own beer ?
total nube, no exp what-so-ever, but it is on my bucket list to make a bucket of beer
On the subject of Coors (the Canoe beer) and pop-tops: first Coors cans I remember had a funny opening system: two little dimples on the top that you pressed in with your thumb to open, drink from big hole, air goes in the little hole. (Of course, I may have hallucinated that.)
BroDog, my wife got me a Mr. Beer kit for Christmas two years ago. You can order the kits online from Mr. Beer. It's a good way to start without investing a lot in equipment. If you don't cheap out and make the "basic" recipes, you can make some real nice beer with that kit. Only makes 2 gallons, or 8 liter sized "bumpers", but once you make a few batches of good beer all by yourself, you'll want to upgrade to a 5 gallon kit like I did. Also, I'm a member of a good homebrew club called NJHOPZ and we meet every month in Hackettstown! You can find info about us at the NJHOPZ website.
I used to brew my own beer...ALOT. I would steer clear of the "Mr Beer" outfit and brew it just like the breweries do... which can be done in your kitchen, easily. Buy the ingredients online, just google "home brewing supplies". While you're at it, get a book for beginners. It's easy & fun. If you think the Mr. beer stuff is ok, you'll LOVE making it from "scratch".
Only reason I stopped doing it is because I simply got involved in other things, and lost interest. I still have all the gear, and have been wanting to get back into it tho.
Caged Animal mrcharlie,
u r not hullicinating, i remember the the two dot cans, and coors had them for awhile.
they were cool cans, you pushed two buttons and the little one was really little, just for air so you could drink.
haven't seen them in about 30 years now
Slade That could actually be fun Slade. I'd be in on that. Just have to dig up my old recipe book...
There used to be a great place in Morristown (then it moved to Lebanon NJ) called the Hop & Vine, where I got all my beer making stuff. They have been out of business for years (the homebrewing bubble burst) , and I would much rather find a local place to get my extract, malt, hops, and yeast... but don't know of anywhere (haven't looked in years, either.)
This company seems to have the best prices for homebrewing equipment and ingredients:
http://www.midwestsupplies.com/homebrewing-equipment/equipment-kits/compare-all-kits.html
jjmonth4 The Wine Rack in Flanders (is it still there?) has home brewing stuff. At least they did the last the last time I was there a few years ago.
jrsemom I don't think I could home brew. I don't want to work, I want to drink. ;-)
My husband would probably want to try it, the cheap redneck that he is.
It's more about the joy of creating and drinking your own brew than saving money. Jefferson, the Mr. Beer route is like crack for homebrewers. It's painfully easy, and simplified. Had I decided to start with a 5 gallon kit, maybe I would have been overwhelmed. As you well know, there is endless info out there on homebrewing, and I tend to research things to death before I do them.
BTW, there's a brand new homebrew supply shop on Main St in Boonton called the Cask and Kettle. Real nice guy named Joe owns it. It is set up so you can brew on premises if you want. This way, you learn to brew and see if you like it before you buy a stitch of equipment, because you use theirs! Their setup is top notch, the whole shop is built just to be a homebrew shop and brew on premises kitchen.
As far as the Wine Rack, I wouldn't recommend going there. Although they do carry a few items for home wine/beer making, unless you know what you need there is nobody there to help you.
thanks for the good discussion, i will look into making a small batch from scratch with stuff i have laying around the house, and then decide if i want to buy 'equipment'
any links you guys have to a easy to follow guide and recipe ?
i just love what has happend to beer in the last 20 years with all of the 'crafter' stuff.
what was the name of the beer on the drew cary show? any recipes for that one?
how about the old (orginal recipe) saturday night live beer 'Spud"; any recipes for that?
Get yourself "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" by Charlie Papazian, an excellent book to start reading on the subject, and is written so the total noob can understand everything.
thanks Bruin;
i just requested from the library "Homebrewing for dummies"
here's the summary of this book -
Summary
Have you ever had a microbrew beer and wondered how it was made? Ever think you could do better? Like homemade apple, homebrewed beer is a personal, distinctive treat that is delightfully gratifying to make, consume, and share with friends and family! Homebrewing is a hobby shared by approximately 1.5 million people in the United States alone. A tradition originating in ancient civilizations, modern technology has made the process easier than ever before.
Homebrewing For Dummies is for everyone who has ever considered homebrewing , but thought it might be too hard or complicated. Or if you've tried homebrewing without great success, you'll find guidelines, recipes, and equipment advice to help you improve your brew. Even if you're already a successful homebrewer, you'll find useful tips for making your beer competition quality. Find authoritative material to answer such questions about:
Beeraphernalia
Malts, hops, and grains
Additives and preservatives
Finings and clarifiers
Sanitizing and bottling
Troubleshooting
Go ahead and feel confident about buying the equipment, setting up shop, cooking the right mix of ingredients, and bottling your brew with personalized labels! You can choose from dozens of ale, lager, and mixed-style recipes (all with standard pounds, gallons, and ounce measurements) or craft your own recipe. Homebrewing For Dummies helps you get your first batch underway in just two hours with accessible information on:
Equipment for beginning, intermediate, and advanced brewers
The four primary ingredients in beer
The nuts-and-bolts of beer
Beer evaluation
Getting involved in competitions
Gadgets, gizmos, and must-haves
No other guide can offer the same convenient cheat sheets, friendly, hands-on advice, and step-by-step directions for making award-winning recipes. Whether a serious, future member of the American Homebrewers Association or a curious hobbyist, you'll find everything you need to be drinking homemade beer in about three weeks.
3 weeks is a bit quick! I recommend 2 weeks in the fermenter, 2 weeks in the bottle to carbonate, then 2 weeks to condition. Ya can't rush quality! (That's for ales).
The Charlie Papazian book above is like the BIBLE for homebrewers.
Thanks for the info on the new store in Boonton! Will have to check it out!
Here's a link to my favorite podcast. In this episode, he does a pretty good job of explaining the whole process. Do not be put-off by the "survivalist" appearance of this site - the content is excellent and he covers a wide range of topics.
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/episode-675-building-the-home-brewers-kit-and-understanding-beer
A home brewing store opened up recently in North Brunswick. Love2brew. I have to stop by and check it out. It's very close to work, on Livingston Avenue.
MeisterNJ Thought this might be of interest to the beer lovers. What your style of beer says about you.
http://www.sadanduseless.com/image.php?n=2305
Nosila 
Lori...since '73 What's the name of it Lori? Have to check it out when I'm in the area. Just put a sorachi saison in the fermenter, and have an Oktoberfest that needs another couple weeks of fermentation. I've been brewing for little more than a year. They come out great.
BTW, there is a 'Calling all Hophead's thread....
ianimal I couldn't find a website for Homebrew University, but did find an article in the Warren Reporter from back in July.
http://www.nj.com/warrenreporter/index.ssf/2013/07/fresh_local_hops_and_award_win.html
Oh, cool. I tasted a bit of the saison this morning because it had blown through the airlock on the fermenter. Pretty darn tasty! Might be because I put too much hops in to start.
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