HB-51 Beer Reviews

Jump for joy, hallelujah and praise the Lord.  Home brewing is now a legal pastime in Utah. I’m betting (which is not a legal pastime in Utah) that just because home brewing is now legal, homebrew is not going taste any better than it did before the law was changed, which was not very good in my humble opinion.  In fact, I firmly believe that good old illegal homebrew will probably taste better than the new and improved legal stuff.  Home brewing was more exciting when it was illegal.  It had that secret ingredient of risk that seemed to enhance all the good flavors and slightly mask all the bad ones.  The thrill of getting away with mixing up a batch of flat, sour, nasty tasting “brew” when it was against the law somehow made it taste better.  It was sort of a rebellious hobby then.  Now it just doesn’t seem to have that edge-of-your-seat excitement.  You know the thought in the back of your mind while boiling away your brew in the kitchen that, at any minute, the beer police would come swooping down in their black helicopters, smash through your windows, and throw your bootlegging ass in the slammer?  That nervous, intense paranoia of getting busted really seemed to be the secret ingredient in homebrew that somehow made it taste palatable.   Now that it’s legal, it seems like, well, just mixing up a batch of beer-flavored Jell-O for the company picnic (If somebody ever makes such a flavor, I’ll definitely start eating Jell-O again!).  In my opinion, the last few batches of home brew that acquaintances have forced, I mean, let me taste, have been the worst ever.  I’m going to start a new slogan or two—“I like illegal homebrew” or, “illegal homebrew is better.”  How about, “legal homebrew is for wussies?”

That brings me to my main point about brewing.  Let the pros do it.  Several of Utah’s great craft breweries have collaborated on a special beer called HB51, named after the bill that legalized home brewing.  This delicious collaboration ale is an amber colored, American-style pale ale that can be found at Red Rock, Hoppers, Desert Edge, the Brewers Co-op and Squatters Brewpub.  It is currently available only on draft at the above locations.  Who knows, if it has strong sales, it could be bottled and sold at local grocery stores around the state.  All of these breweries were allowed to enhance the basic recipe any way they desired.  This means that the several variations of HB51 Ale will taste different at each brewery.  See if you can detect each of their signature flavors.  That is, every brewery has a distinctive characteristic all their own.  Many beer drinkers can tell a brewery’s product brand without having to look at the label.  So go try this “homebrew” at each of Utah’s participating breweries and see if you can taste the difference between each variation and see if that difference matches the brewery’s signature style. Don’t you wish all your homework was this fun?

Now don’t get me wrong, I love home brewing.  It’s how I got started in the brewing business and I’m confident in saying that that’s how most commercial brewers get their start. I strongly recommend that if you enjoy drinking good beer and plan on trying to make a career out of it, you start home brewing immediately. The best and only way, in my opinion, to learn a new trade is to get out there and do it.  Just remember, however, that it’s now perfectly legal to brew beer in your home.  That heart pumping anxiety of hearing explosions in your basement (because you thought you’d make your homebrew extra strong by adding extra sugar to the bottles) and thinking it’s the beer police coming to get you, will be gone.  From now on, it’s just going to be a plain, old, boring, legal mess to clean up.  If America’s alcohol policy continues to be shaped and written by prohibitionist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), homebrew might be the only alcohol available to any of us in this country very soon.