Welcome to my new blog! I recently started brewing again after a long hiatus and I am excited to share my experiences with the world; or at least the part of the world that cares about good beer, has a computer, and feels like sitting around wasting time reading this!
What's With The Whacky Name? Great question! A little personal information here. I am a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot. For the last 20 years or so I have had the priviledge to serve with America's finest young men and women flying an incredible aircraft, the CH-46E. This helicopter as been the workhorse of the Marine Corps assault transport fleet since 1967. It has served our nation in every conflict from Vietnam, to Grenada, Beirut and Desert Storm all the way up through Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond. The aircraft was nicknamed the 'phrog' long ago by some unknown Marine and the name has stuck across the decades. My first squadron was Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 364 (HMM-364), the World Famous Purple Foxes. You can check out our illustrious history here: As I thought about what I could name my homebrewry, I tried to come up with something clever that expressed a "quaint old world pub" feel to it, but still incorporated the names and images of this great aircraft and squadron. From my many travels on deployments across the globe I was always amazed at how every city in the world has an Irish Pub with names remeniscent of the old world. After some brainstorming and soliciting ideas from friends and fellow brewers, The Fox and The Phrog was born! Who knows, maybe one day you will see the name on an actual brew pub somewhere on your travels. If you do, be sure and stop in for a pint or two and tell 'em you know the real story!
Brewing History: I first started brewing my own beer in 1995. I had just finished flight training and was living in Pensacola, FL. I had a few weeks to kill before reporting to my new unit so I decided to take up the hobby. A good friend of mine's father used to make his own beer and wine when we were in high school so I knew it could be done, and I thought it would be a great time. Well, I found a local homebrew shop in the area and I bought a kit that day. My first ever batch was an extract recipe for a mild brown ale flavored with orange peel and corriander seed. Sound familiar? Well it tasted great and I was hooked! I bought some more equipment over the next few years and made a batch every few months or so. Over the years I also moved two or three times, deployed two or three times, and managed to meet my wife and have three wonderful kids. The family started taking up more and more of my free time and I was brewing less and less. But I was still dragging all that equipment back and forth across the country every time we moved. Finally, in 2010 my loving and patient wife had had enough. As we were packing our things for yet another move across this great nation, she stood in the garage and asked me "Honey, you're not seriously going to make me haul all this crap across the country again are you? I mean really, when is the last time you actually brewed any beer?" Well all of you sitting and reading this in your man cave can certainly understand what happend next. You guessed it, I gave all the equipment to a friend of mine who wanted to get started making his own beer! It was a win-win! So fast forward a few years and I was once again deployed to a far off land with the Marines. One of the guys I was working with on that tour of duty was an avid homebrewer, a BJCP judge, and a great resource. He loaned me a couple books on the subject and I quickly realized that the hobby, and indeed the entire home brewing industry had come a long way since I last boiled a batch of sweet wort. I got the itch again and started building my equipment base yet again. This time however, I was able to really upgrade to some higher quality parts and ingredients. I was ready to go! I brewed my first batch within two weeks of getting home from that overseas tour. Like I said, my wife is very patient. It was even better than I remembered and I was off and running. I couldn't wait to try more and different taste combinations; and more and better brewing tchniques. Since then I have steadily improved my brewing prowess, and even entered a few contests. There is so much excitement around the craft brewing industry these days that it is really enjoyable to get to know new people, new techniques, and new ingredients. Over the course of this blog I hope to share these with all of you. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to let me know!
Cheers!
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