Two years and 29 days.

I brewed today for the first time in a long while. Brewing is one of those skills, that once you acquire it, its like riding a bike. You know exactly what to do.

I dove into the boxes like an IRS agent looking for fraud. Cataloging all the glassware, identifying the pieces I needed to sanitize, raveling in the brilliant sparkle of glass adorned with graduates and symbols. Once the items of interest were isolated, it was down to one simple last task. Open a beer.

I admired in my brew-memory as I ignited the burner, and set the wort into motion. For I am not cooking a meal, I am making beer!

Tender care through the first boil, waiting for the hot-break... Done. 55 minutes bittering... This is the time where you contemplate the world. The calm before the storm... The little time you have to relax while brewing, because you know the rush is coming. 5 minute aroma hops, and its crash cool, airate, and clean.

I hadn't brewed a beer in a long time. Without spelling it out, I'm assured you know how long, but its one of those things. The smell of iodophor and boiling hops. Sweet wort and propane. Its a smell that sticks with you like the smell of the first stripper you fell in love with, yet couldn't take home to mom. It gets in your blood.

Brewing is a labor of love that you should expect, most won't understand; yet will gladly reap the benefits.

Yeast and sweet wort. God does love us doesn't he?