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Beer business busted THE WEEKEND OUTLOOK Friday February il Page My dad and I were bottling legal homebrew in the old family kitchen on a bright Sabbath ning when the Salvation Army knocked on the door Pandemonium broke loose in the bottling works The brew like sap running in a spring bush had reached it peak so the copper boiler was brought up from the darkened cellar to be bottled Mom wasn t too pleased She liked the Army and would invite them in for a cup of tea but the natural fermentation period of hops and brewers yeast had tern taken over her one part of the house where she ruled supreme While the Army pounded on the door my father pleaded with my mother to tell them the kitchen door was stuck and would they mind going around to the front door When you re fiveyearsold you know when mothers are displeas While the war of words raged on between my parents I sat with the siphon tube clenched between my first teeth Dad had placed to tube in the copper boiler of home made suds then sucked on the tube to get the beer flowing to fill the clear bottles When he wanted to stop the flow he would pinch the end of the syphon tube and tell me not to let go As my fingers tired I stuck the tube between my teeth Every once in a while as my jaws tired from my grip I would relax my bite and for the first time in my young life I sampled some of Dads homebrew To me it was better than cocoa and cookies It was depression times Back in those days you could get a permit issued to make homebrew but it had to be for home consumption If you didn have the fee who did you could come under suspicion for selling moonshine My dad s hobby was com parable to the home wine makers of today Why even the mini breweries today will sell you everything you need to the mash and the brew master himself will reveal the secrets of producing your own homebrew Dad had the knack He also possessed all the tools A copper boiler was paramount to the pro cess of fermentation of the hops and brewers yeast A dark cool cellar was a must As kids we couldn t jump on the floors because the vibration could inter rupt the brewing process Lack of money for a permit didn t dampen the enthusiasm for those who loved being com plimented by friends on the taste the color and especially the aroma Why that smell has stayed with me all my life I willing to bet you if you had a miniature brewery going m your cellar and I dropped in to say hello I could sniff the scent of homebrew faster than those police dogs at airports sniffing for drugs Dad had one old gentleman friend who used to love to drop over for a brew and would bring his concertino His name was Bob and to me he was the Lawrence and Myron Florin of the accor dian all rolled into one The music just passed out of him as Dad poured him another brew WERE YOUR INSURANCE BROKERS WE UNDERSTAND fa Stones by W Steamer John he would say this brew is your best yet It may have been illegal but it was always an entertaining time for me and the family when Bob dropped by There been times in a fancy dining room an attentive waiter has placed the cork of a fine wine beside my fingers with a flourish for me to sniff the bouquet and nod my approval Do you know what To me the homey clinging aroma of good old fashioned homebrew was all I could smell TK waiter might leave the table for a moment thinking he had suggested the perfect wine but deep down he had only corked that childhood smell that never left me Mother let the Army in the front door and took them into the living room then proceeded to make a cup tea aghast at the condition of her kitchen These visits by the Salvation Army usually ended with mother PAUL ARMSTRONG INSURANCE LID 143 MILL ST Hills Ontario 877