Almost where I want to be

[anti-fsck]

Well, bugger me if it hasn't taken me 28 brews, and more than 12 months, to finally gain some dividends. The last two brews have been pretty bloody good. They're all made using a base of commercial mixes, but at last I'm beginning to believe that I can brew a beer that's as good as, if not better than, most of the commercial offerings out there. Out of the 28 I've had:
* Two dud brews that were entirely disappointing. Wrong sugars, poor hops, doomed from the start.
* One infected Band-Aid brew that's only good for killing snails.
* One stout bordering on quite good (chocolate malt made it).
* Many OK beers.
* A few ordinary beers.
All that said, I think I still have a fair bit to learn, and the learning so far has pretty much been trial and error. I still have no idea what others consider makes a good brew, or what other homebrewers can produce so that I can benchmark my results against theirs. On the plus side, I think I'm almost ready to start thinking about grains.
I'm going to have a beer to celebrate.

[grabman]

I'll drink to that!!!

then again at the moment I'll drink to most things!!

Grains are an altogether great experience!! I'm sitting here now with one of the last of my first all-grains, a good brew but not great! That's my challenge now, great grain brews! But no hurry, rest of my life to get it right!!