Now I know that this isn’t the most-popular thing to say, but I’ve never been impressed with Zymurgy, the official publication of the American Homebrewers Association. If I had a choice of a homebrew magazine I’d want on a deserted island, it would be Brew Your Own (I’m assuming this island would not be deserted of homebrewing equipment!).
This past year was my first as a member of the AHA, and it was shaping up to be my last. I thought I’d join and get all kinds of useful homebrew-related stuff, including Zymurgy. I was a fan of Brew Your Own, and had been a subscriber to that magazine for three years. I thought that the “official” homebrewers magazine had to be better. I thought that it would be chock full of useful articles that would propel me to new heights of homebrewing success.
I thought wrong. All issues of the magazine I received since joining were OK at best. I really didn’t find anything that I was interested in. Yes, it’s great to have jokes about beer, food recipes, and discussions about beer culture including the movers and shakers of the AHA. What I wanted, however, was articles that would improve my brewing.
Since I didn’t get what I wanted, I was all prepared to let my membership lapse … until the latest issue. When I opened my mailbox, I got really excited. It was all over the cover … multiple articles about yeast, including one on storage and the best article I’ve read to date on making a starter (and that’s one thing that I’ve searched high and low for). This is a great issue, people!
I’m not super stoked on the fact that my membership has bought me only one solid issue of the magazine, but I guess that combined with the email forum makes it somewhat worth the price of admission.
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