Wednesday, 17 August, 2011 12:33
by Chris Jay
Shady Grove Brewing's "El Hefe," a Bavarian-style Hefeweizen with flavors of banana, clove, and citrus.
Shreveport-Bossier is home to a thriving community of home brewers and home brewing clubs. While some of these organizations are completely unknown to the public (such as Highland's mysterious Port City Bootleggers crew), some of the larger groups have found a place to showcase the fruits of their labor at BREW, downtown Shreveport's annual beer festival. One of the groups who will be bringing a variety of hand-crafted beers to the 2011 BREW event on Saturday, October 15 is the Malt Munching Mash Monsters (MMMM), a local home-brewing community that serves as a support system for beginning brewers and a sounding-board for more advanced brewers looking to hone their craft.
I recently spoke with members of the Malt Munching Mash Monsters about how and why the home brewing movement seems to have exploded in Shreveport-Bossier, and how interested parties can get started brewing their own beer. They suggested that newcomers to home brewing sign up for their on-line discussion board and join the conversation, which typically involves peer-to-peer troubleshooting and the exchange of tips, advice, and best practices.
If you'd like to taste some of Shreveport-Bossier's finest home brews, as well as a variety of foreign, domestic, and microbrew beers, mark your calendar to attend BREW, 3:30 p.m.-7 p.m., Saturday, October 15 at Festival Plaza in downtown Shreveport. For more information, visit BREW on-line.
Lagniappe
View a slideshow of photos from BREW 2010.
"Like" BREW on Facebook to receive regular updates from organizers.