What's All the Brew-ha-ha?
F YOU'RE A BEER LOVER WHO'S dabbled in home brewing, you can relate to the cry of a novice: "Help! It's my first batch, and it smells terrible!"
Kirt Williams had his first "sour dough" batch six years ago. "You get a real bad skunky smell," says Williams, a grad student at the U. of California, Berkeley.
Not to worry. That first batch of home brew should be thought of as a sacrificial offering. It's part of the process — and do-it-yourselfers say it can be used for shampoo or as an ingredient in the world's best pizza crust.
TASTE
"Not all of the beers you make are good, but you can always use them to marinade," Williams says.
Home brewing is growing by leaps and hops, and college campuses have a new crowd of drinking companions. These beer lovers go for the taste gusto.
Williams digs the experimental aspect of doing it yourself.
Mark Castleman, a grad student at the U. of Colorado, Denver began brewing when his palate outgrew the traditional cheap brew synonymous with keg parties.
"I started when I became more interested in quality than quantity," Castleman says.
blackberries. "It turned out great," he says.
With home brewing, you don't need to fly to Munich for an awesome pint, and you don't need to be 21, as long as you keep things quiet. Brew stores are popping up everywhere — some major department stores even carry brewing kits. And there's always mail order.
"I was our picking blackberries by my house, and I said, 'Hey, that might be interesting.'" Using a recipe from another fruit beer, Williams modified it with the
The initial investment costs about $70 and yields more than two cases of beer. After the set-up setback, you can brew for as little as 32 cents for a 12-ounce bottle. Of course, the real nectar of the gods can cost a buck a bottle.
Variety, quality and individuality ignite the fever in the home brewer's soul. Mass-market breweries can't afford to produce, market and distribute the quality of brewski dedicated beer nuts can brew.
Clean hair, good pizza and aphrodisias — what else could a college student want? Maybe a frosty blackberry stout to top it off?
"My all-time favorite is mead," says Brian Butenschoen, a junior at the U. of Portland, Ore. The main fermenting ingredient in mead is honey, not the barley malt common in most beers.
"Let me just say that it's a really strong aphrodisiac," Butenschoen confides.
Tricia Laine, Assistant Editor/Jay Huggins, Colorado State U., contributed to this story/Photo by Chad Weihrauch, Penn State U.
Bizarre Homes & Gardens
WANTED: ECLECTIC AND aesthetically pleasing living arrangement that
scoffs at traditional establishments such as dorms and Greek fun houses.
So, living in the dorm is dimming your karma, and you want to walk on the wild side of student housing? You're not alone. Meet a few students who have taken steps to ensure they're living on the edge.
Nestled in thick gardens and curtained by trees is Baggin's End, a place
ETC.
Russell Watts deems magical. The Domes, as it's known by locals, is a cooperative student community of 14 dome-shaped buildings at the U. of California, Davis, Watts, a '95 graduate, moved there three years ago.
"It has the air of freedom to do whatever you want, be whoever you are," Watts says.
Designed and built by students in the 70s, the domes are molded in fiberglass and polyurethane foam. Two people live in each structure, which measures about 25 feet wide at the base and 15 feet high and is equipped with a bathroom and a kitchen.
The community includes a chicken coop, vegetable garden and recycling center. "Whenever I've had a really tough time, during midterms and finals, I've done yard work for meditation," Watts says.
Don't plan on meditating in the Red House, at Syracuse U. The party began 25 years ago when an alumnus purchased an empty house to rent to students who would share the responsibility of running it.
Painted red by the original 20 residents, the house is part of campus lore. With a '50s Oldsmobile as the fireplace mantle, a doorbell that plays 25 tunes and a reputation for wild parties, the Red House usually attracts students in arts fields.
"We look for someone who will jibe with us," says Victor Vitale, a graduate student in architecture.
At Ohio State U., Elvis is the similar interest that induces students to find a new place to dwell.
"He's the King — what more can you say?" says Ohio State senior Scott Klein. Klein and the others have invested countless dollars decorating their place with Elvis lamps, posters and velvet paintings.
"It got started our freshman year when we were still living in the dorms," says Ohio State senior Brent Horner. "We knew this guy [who] was a huge Elvis fan. He's the one who made us the fans we are."
These fans believe that what they started, like Elvis, will never die.
"We've had plenty of different people living in this apartment, and before they left, they were all Elvis fans," Klein says. "This will go on."
Robert Moll, Syracuse U./David Fong Ohio State U., contributed to this story/ Photo by Aaron Burg, U. of Calif., Davis
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