Beer with flavour, not 'yellow fizzy water' promoted at homebrew event in Regina

Beer makers gathered in Regina to share their knowledge with novices, in a Teach a Friend to Homebrew event led by the Ale and Lager Enthusiasts of Saskatchewan.

Making quality beerat home, has become a popular hobby and club members say it has changed people's thinking about the beverage.

"In North America, we've really been deprived of flavourful craft beer," Parker Wilfong, from the club, said Saturday."All that's been available, in the last century, is just watered-down yellow fizzy water from the multinational corporations."

Wilfong said the dominance of big breweries lasted until the late 1980s and the development of craft beer has developed quickly since then.

In Saskatchewan, Wilfong says that making beer at home has really taken off in the last decade or so.

"It's just boomed. It's fantastic," he said of the current enthusiasm for craft beers. "This is what beer actually tastes like."

He added that young people, especially, are giving up the standard brand name beer and switching to craft beer.

"I think the younger demographic is more easily influenced into the craft beer scene because they haven't been drinking the same beer for 30 years, as our parents and grandparents [did]" Wilfong said. "They're more adventurous."

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He said that once people become familiar with quality craft beers, the big-name beers are hard to swallow.

"You drink it on a hot summer day. It's thirst quenching I suppose," he said of such products.

At the teaching event, Wilfong was working on a traditional smoked Norwegian juniper beer which should be ready in about a month.

The demonstration provided people with information about different beers and different methods of creating a home made product.