On beer and brewing and breweries and beer

So I'm currently brewing my first official batch of beer. I will admit to once brewing something like beer in a Mr. Beer kit that I bought at a second hand store, and I will also admit that that beer was an attempt to make a beer that was flavored with Old Bay. Nevermind that though. I am currently in the Mash phase of the Eggnog Milk Stout kit provided by Brooklyn Brew Shop. Brooklyn Brew Shop is a super cool website that provides homebrew equipment to the people of brooklyn, specifically, brewing equipment for those of us who live in someone's closet.

Anyway, the mash is going well. Pictures to follow. Drinking to follow, also. Right now I'm having a Utica Club.

This brings me to my next topic...

Top five breweries to work for, not necessarily in order from best to fifth-best, with no actual experience working in any brewery to base it on:

#1 F.X. Matt Brewery. If I could work at any brewery, it would be this one, and I don't know why. I've only ever driven by it once. It's the first brewery to sell beer after prohibition, and it's in the middle of nowhere, NY. I know a couple of dudes from there, and they're fine upstanding citizens, within reason. Anyway, I like this place because of the history, mostly.

#2 High Falls Brewery. Yep. All the sweet Genny Cream Ale I can drink. Too bad it's in Rochester.

#3 Boston Beer Company. Sam Adams brand beers are some of the best commercially available beers, and all started by a guy making beer in his kitchen. Just like me, except I'm not at the beginning of the microbrew revolution. Ahh well...

#4 Brooklyn Brewery. I'm reading "Beer School" right now, which was written by the guys who started the Brooklyn Brewery. While it's mostly about starting a business, it's certainly interesting, and these guys seem to have their priorities in the right place. I dig any place of business that values their employees and rewards them for hard work. Also, I live in brooklyn, so if there was ever a brewery to work for, this would be the most convenient for me, personally.

#5 Magic Hat Brewery. I stopped by this place before they remodeled it completely. I would love to live in Vermont and work at a brewery. Also, they named their place after a hat.

So I'm currently waiting for my wort to cool. I was a bit scared of this whole process going in, but it seems to be pretty easy, and there's a lot of down time for writing silly things on the interwebs. Anyway, get your own brew kit at www.brooklynbrewshop.com and start brewing. If people don't support this thing it might not get off the ground. By thing I mean beer.