Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Adam @ The Brew Lounge

Over the last couple years I have put a lot of time and effort into this site. In the beginning it was just a way for me to express myself through home brewing and writing. I already had the background in tech, so I thought I should be able to share my home brewing experience through a blog. beerbits.blogspot.com was born on August 3rd, 2005.

I think one of the catalysts that launched me into this whole endeavor was when a friend of mine Jeremy started talking about home brewing. I said, "I used to brew." Well before you know it we were over at my place boiling the wort. After a few more batches together and a starter kit for Jeremy, he and his friend Gabe brewed their own batches for a sort of a brew off at Gabe's work. See it's contagious :-)

There are many people out there who would try home brewing if they thought they could do it. I know that somehow it seems like magic when turning water, malt, hops and yeast into beer. In a way it is, but, you don't have to be a magician to participate. You just have to let nature take its course. That was the reason I started this blog.

Since then a lot has happened. About a month and a half later Bryan took me up on my offer to be a contributor, nay, partner of beerbits. With that first post came a description of the St. Feuillen dinner at Monks. This was a whole new side of beer I hadn't experienced. My first Monk's dinner was to come much later, but the seed was planted.

This was a very important time for The Brew Lounge. Bryan and I would constantly be mulling over ideas for the site. Soon Bryan and I decided to get a new name for the site.Eventually we landed on a suggestion from Matt, Brew Lounge or The Brew Lounge. We registered the domain and changed the site name sometime in late October '05.

I'll stop the history lesson here. Time to fast forward through dinners, events, topic of the day, tastings, contests, video, growing hops, live video, monthly beer calendars, categories, adsense, flickr, The Session and lots more I'm too lazy to type. I'm sure there will be more of this retrospective as the two year anniversary of The Brew Lounge approaches.

So what am I getting at? Well, I've decided to move on. I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I created a blog called beerbits2 so I have a place to continue my posting & tech fiddling habits ;-)

I do know that Bryan will be continuing to man the ship from here on out. You couldn't ask for a better captain! But, I don't have to tell you. You've read his events calendars, beer bar/pub reviews, event coverage and he ain't too bad at takin' photos either ;-) Yep, that's right Bryan was the expert photographer for this snapshot.

I'm sure you'll see some comments from me from time to time. I have to keep Bryan on his toes ;-)

Here's a big CHEERS to everybody who reads this site.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

are you guys familiar with the north east tap room in reading, pa. ? this is the ultimate beer bar in my area. they have aprox. 20 micro beers on tap and dozens in bottles and serve only beer. plus a great juke box!

Anonymous said...

SO proud of you!! ;) (Know that this wasn't an easy decision.)

Lisa

Bryan Kolesar said...

It certainly has been a fast and furious two years at The Brew Lounge and it wouldn't be nearly half of what it is without Adam. It sure will be strange without him. I'm going to do my best to keep the content that you're all used to coming out on a regular basis. And I'm positive that he'll be throwing in his constructive comments along the way, as he promised! :)

As Adam mentioned, he'll be using a new space, BeerBits2, to write occasionally about his homebrewing experiences and other thoughts. So, keep an eye on that for useful homebrewing news and I'll be sure to link to it from here whenever possible.

Unlike The Sopranos ending with a Journey song, you'll have to keep Separate Ways on the shelf. Just because he and I are not maintaining the website together doesn't mean that we won't still be getting together for backyard firepit sessions, homebrewing, and beer excursions on the town! Plus, keep an eye open here for details about a 2nd Anniversary TBL gathering....of some sort....still to be determined.

Adam said...

Did I say constructive? ;-) Hehehe

BTW I still have some of that Sly Fox Saison Vos from Ommegang.

Bryan Kolesar said...

Our friend had props for you over at his site.

http://www.jackcurtin.com/liquiddiet/Archive/Jul07.htm#breakup

Dan Bengel said...

How about August 18 at 3, out here in Z-land for our Hop Special for your going away blast?

Adam said...

I'm not dead yet.

http://www.mwscomp.com/movies/grail/grail-02.htm

However I hear death by hops is not a bad way to go ;-)

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear the news but am very personally aware of the need to make and accept change - part of that great journey called life.

As for Bryan - GREAT that you can and will still maintain the site,
looking forward to continuing great contributions - Captain!

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of change, my first year hops have produced big cones. The Cascades especially. And they look cool. Gonna have a 20 ft wall of vines in the garden next year adding dimension hopefully.

Eric

Adam said...

ThirstyBear,

Thanks for the support :-)

Eric,

Sweet! Excited to hear things are going well. Ours are goin' crazy too. Well the Cascades are. The others really don't get enough sun and are just pitiful.

Jeremy said...

You guys have done a great job over the past two years. I look forward to seeing the progress of both sites and am here for you both! If you want help with the sites and/or drinking/making some beer, just let me know!

Adam said...

Which part are you helping with? The drinking? ;-)

Anonymous said...

anyway-how about the noth east tap room?

Bryan Kolesar said...

Anyway, Hipster....yes, the Tap Room. It's been about 5 years since I've been there. And, if I'm not mistaken, they've been around for quite a while, right?

I seem to remember going there back in college days, when I was home on breaks. Don't recall them, even 5 years ago having all that stellar of a beer selection. But, I do understand it's improved.

I've been thinking that it's about time for a Reading swing that includes Canal Street/Legacy, Speckled Hen, NETR....then out to Stoudt's and UBW.

Any others you could recommend in that kind of a tour?