If you’ve been keeping up with my BJCP class posts, you’ve seen Les White’s name tossed around quite a bit. Les is the president of the Free State Homebrewer’s Guild, and leads the BJCP study course in the Baltimore area. He also recently started a catering business. Having tasted some of the food he prepared for the “Guess That Beer” party I attended at his house, I can accurately say that pretty much anything he whips up for a party is going to be excellent. Les is incredibly helpful, knowledgeable, and willing to give his time to those of us with less experience.
I designed the questions below to learn a bit more about how someone with so much brewing, and beer tasting experience got his start, and also to ask some questions that I think a lot of young brewers would like to be able to ask their respective beer gurus.
Enjoy:
What was the first beer you really remember drinking, and how do you think this affected your formation as a zymurgist?
I remember drinking domestic swill on occasion in college but I can’t say it was “memorable”. So in college and the couple years after I mostly drank mixed drinks and wine coolers. I became quite the mixologist crafting my own drink recipes and even making homemade wine coolers in a 5 gallon beverage dispenser some of us 5-fingered from the dining hall.One of my first memories of craft beer was Oxford Class, a British amber ale brewed by Maryland’s first post-prohibition microbrewery. It had flavor and body – unlike most beer I had tasted before. In the early 90’s there were few choices for craft beer and my friend Glenn mentioned brewing my own. He invited me to another friend’s house to help him bottle his latest batch. I remember being quite excited about learning to make beer and how to bottle it. While I still enjoy brewing beer, the novelty of bottling wore off after the first 4 or 5 batches! (more…)