With the holiday season drawing near, it’s about time to start gift hunting for your friends, family and loved ones. If you have a wine aficionado on your list, then we can make your life a little easier by recommending a few gifts for wine lovers of every stripe. Check out our top 10 gift ideas for wine lovers! Read the rest of this entry »

The United States of America — land of the free, home of the brave, and brewery capital of the world. That’s right: although China beats us in beer production by volume, America holds the title for most breweries in one country. What’s more, one source credits the US as having the most craft breweries of any country, fueled by the microbrewing explosion in the late 1970s.

Our readers will find it pretty obvious that Americans love brewing and drinking beer (and why wouldn’t they?). But you might not know all the ins and outs of beer’s history here. The brewing industry has gone through a few booms and busts over the years, and we came pretty close to losing it all together. Let’s all be grateful that didn’t happen.

Kick back, grab a cold one, and let us take you on a little trip through the annals of beer history. Read the rest of this entry »

While you might consider white wine a beverage reserved only for housewives and yacht owners, it’s actually something everyone can enjoy. Especially in the warmer summer months, white wine is the perfect drink to serve at cook-outs and to enjoy in the evening sitting outside on your patio. It’s light, refreshing, and because it comes in many varieties, there’s a white wine out there for everyone.

Check out our guide below to learn more about the different types of white wine. Once you’ve figured out which style of wine sounds most appealing to you, check out our different ingredient kits to get started on making your own wine. Read the rest of this entry »

With spring well under way and summer not far off, it’s time for all beer lovers of the Midwest to come out of hibernation and have a few pints. In fact, Indiana on Tap hosted their inaugural Craft Beer Week at the end of April, a celebration intended to get Hoosiers interested in everything local brewers have to offer.

Don’t fret if you missed it, as it was only the beginning of the Indiana summer beer festivals, and the summer is set to be jam-packed with events! We’ve picked out eight to highlight in this post, many of which are in the greater Indianapolis area, to give you a good sampling of your options. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking for a reason to visit new breweries and taste different local craft beers? Struggling to find a unique and refreshing experience for your crew to try? The solution to your problem is a brew tour in Indianapolis! Each brewery stop offers you the opportunity to expand your beer tasting pallet and learn something in the process. Even better, many brew tours provide transportation on a tremendously cool party bus! See the Top 5 Reasons to Book a Brewery Tour »

Ask any beer-lover about their favorite holiday, and they probably have a St. Patrick’s Day story up their sleeve. Traditionally, St. Patrick’s Day celebrated the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and is celebrated on the day the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, died in 461 AD.

Today, however, the holiday has evolved into a celebration of Irish culture and heritage all over the world — especially here in the United States, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, and of course, Ireland. Lucky for us, beer-making (and drinking) have a deep-seated history in Ireland, and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations bring out the best of both.

If you’re as excited for St. Patrick’s Day as we are, we thought you’d be interested checking out these 10 ways to celebrate one of our favorite holidays. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s no secret that we’re major beer aficionados here at Great Fermentations. But what you might not realize is that we also love wine and the art of home winemaking. If you enjoyed our post on the top 10 reasons you should brew your own beer, we think you’ll find our argument (this is a friendly argument, of course) on why you should make your own wine just as convincing.

Take a look at these top 10 reasons to make your own wine and let us know how we can help you get started. Leave a comment at the end of this post with your questions about making wine and share your own reasons why home winemaking is the best hobby ever invented! Read the rest of this entry »

While the art of brewing beer has been around for centuries, homebrewing is a relatively new phenomenon. For us in the USA, it all began in 1979 when President Jimmy Carter signed the bill that made homebrewing legal for the first time ever. (Side note: we’re really glad that happened).

Today, with the craft beer industry growing at an exponential rate and thousands of new folks jumping onto the homebrewing wagon every year, getting started in brewing your own beer has NEVER been easier.

Whether you’ve long been dreaming of whipping up your own IPA, or you’re a seasoned homebrew vet, here are 10 reasons you should brew your own beer. Read the rest of this entry »

Since the summer of 2014, the Blichmann BrewEasy all-grain brewing system has taken the homebrewing world by storm. With its elegant design, small footprint, technological components, and great price (compared to similar systems), the BrewEasy has raised the bar in homebrew turnkey system design. With a new system though, comes some new challenges with the brewing process. Thankfully, the homebrew community is all about giving back, and that’s exactly what our customer, Dana (@danam404), has done with his writeup below. In the writeup, Dana provides what tricks work for him to get the most out the BrewEasy system. He also included a really awesome video as well! Enjoy :) Read the rest of this entry »

Fall always marks the unofficial start of brewing and wine making season! Click Here » to checkout our Fall 2014 newsletter and learn about all the great things going on here at Great Fermentations.