![]() ![]() ![]() New Orleans left an impression on me– Always be ready for a party. I built an all-grain stainless steel homebrew system with the help of welders in the club, and most importantly, learned how to take advantage of it. (Just like Detroit is Motown and Nashville is Music City.) The proximity allowed me to make many meetings with CCAR, and a 25+ year relationship began. They were named after Gainesville’s status as the number one chicken processor in the country. Later I was cold contacted by the Chicken City Ale Raisers out of Gainesville, GA by phone. ![]() I gave them an application but my sign-up information was never processed. I first went to an annual party hosted by the largest and oldest homebrew club in the state. The Brews Brothers provided a list of their members’ names to several homebrew clubs in the area. My original homebrew club, The Brews Brothers, set off a series of unlikely events that made the entire rubber chicken traveling circus possible. I was able to learn a lot speaking to the experts when they had some downtime and pitching in at a brewery to make the downtime sooner.īy the time I finally was able to schedule a day off to make a brew club meeting, the club disbanded. I could now bring beer I had made and get critiques and pointers. I met pioneers in the craft beer world before they became household names. It had always been a priority for me to plan my trips and layovers around brew pubs, beer festivals, and beer dinners in the 80s, but by 1995, it was routine. Flying for 2 different jobs in 2 different cities made making it to meetings impossible the first year. I joined a homebrew club in Cumming, GA based out of the homebrew shop where my wife bought my Christmas present. My wife wasted no time buying me a full set of pots and buckets at the local homebrew shop that first Christmas, ensuring that before Santa finished post flighting his sled, I would be in the kitchen brewing my first solo batch of homebrew. When we moved to Georgia in 1994, I finally had a basement to let the beer properly ferment undisturbed. I would visit with the brewers at breweries that often were small enough to fit in my garage. It primed me to always try things I had never tasted before. Flying around the country and overseas exposed me to beer experiences I would never have had if I worked 9-5 at one location in the USA. Starting in the early 80s, the number of craft brewers started to grow, and I tasted things I had never experienced before. I was always drawn to the more unusual flavors that small regional breweries and imported beers had. I helped someone homebrew once in Arizona in 1984 and helped several people brew in their kitchens in Myrtle Beach and New Orleans, however it was clear to me I had a lot to learn. I left active duty with the Air Force in 1987, was hired by Delta Air Lines, joined the AF Reserve, and settled in New Orleans to work both jobs. ![]() The Beer Bug bit me long before Craft Beer was a major “thing” and before I ever homebrewed. I was also a military and commercial pilot. Hi, my name is Phil Farrell and I will forever be a homebrewer. Part 3 will be a trip report covering my 2022 adventure. Part 2 will be my Alaska journeys, especially the ones in January to the Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival through 2020. This week is Part 1 that will get you briefed up on The Rubber Chicken. Did I mention beer was involved? There are so many reasons this happened the way that it did that I realized to tell the story properly I needed to start at the beginning. I flew to Alaska last week to drink beer with many old friends. Part 1: A Brief History of The Rubber Chicken that Flew Around the Beer World ![]()
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