Courtesy of www.strangemaps.wordpress.com and in memory of beer's re-legalization.

Temperance not only is one of the four Cardinal Virtues of Catholicism (and one of the five Precepts of Buddhism), it’s also the name of a specific movement gathering steam throughout the 19th century, mainly in anglophone countries, aiming to reduce the consumption of alcohol.

In the US, much of the Temperance Movement was religiously inspired (although by Protestantism rather than Catholicism or Buddhism), and much of it was led by women (such as the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873 and still around today).

I finally started brewing today - picked up a kit at MLHBS and brewed a California Imperial Pale kit with a friend. Looking forward to getting the process down so that I can work outside of ingredient kits. Aside from a small boil-over, everything else went smoothly. Of course I will need to change things around next time to streamline the process. Also have a few questions that I plan to bring up at the next meeting. I didn't realize that I needed to take a sample for the hydrometer and ended up actually putting it into the carboy after racking to take a measurement. Does anyone have tips on how best to take that measurement going forward. Also - is it dangerous to have left the hydrometer in the racked wort during the fermentation process?

hey guys - here is an article i came across on mead in Slate Magazine today. Check it out: http://www.slate.com/id/2184361/nav/ais/  

A Taste of HoneyIs mead poised for a comeback?

By Nicholas Day
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2008, at 7:02 AM ET

I ran into a guy named Jonathan Cadoux a couple of days ago. He is the founder and president of Peak Organic Brewing Co. in Portland, ME. They recently started distributing their product here and he was in the Whole Foods on P st. giving out samples of their Nut Brown, Pale Ale and Amber Ale. Anyway, he said that they only commercialized their product in 2004 and that he was an avid homebrewer beforehand. He is in the area every few months and said that he would be happy to come to one of the meetings to talk about the benefits of organic brewing. Maybe we can speak with him to set something up.