[HBF] brewing

[Alan McKay]

Here in Canada our brewers at wort.ca list seems to be one of the
exceptions.  The Australian list is dead now.  I've noticed HBD is as
well.  And this is the first HBF message I have gotten in I am not
sure how long.

One of the reasons I think our list in Canada is so successful is
because we encourage off-topic posts as long as they have "OT: " in
the subject line so that those who do not want them can filter them
out.   Just talking about beer is pretty one-dimensional and as a
result the people on the other end of the emails are not like real
people.  When you allow and even encourage off-topic, it rounds the
people out and allows you to become more like friends rather than just
someone on the other end of a mailing list.  One thing we've found out
is that an awful lot of brewers share a love for good home made food,
so there is a strong cross section of people who do home coffee
roasting, home canning, smoking their own meats, making cheese, bread
and all sorts of similar things.  All of these are discussed
regularly, and in a way they are all on topic because what goes better
with good beer, than good food?   Only an alcoholic has just beer -
the rest of us enjoy it along with a good meal!

Another thing we do is have regular events in different parts of the
country for getting together and sharing our love of beer,   Big brews
serveral times a year and that sort of thing.  This year in Ottawa we
all got together at the Oktoberfest celebration of a local
micro-brewery, and had a brew day where visitors to the Oktoberfest
could see first hand how beer can be made at home.   These sorts of
things bind us together and keep the list active.

cheers,
-Alan


-- 
“Don't eat anything you've ever seen advertised on TV”
         - Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food"