Have to let homebrewing go
In 2024, I had to pause homebrewing because I needed to move across Canada for work. I always said to myself that I will come back to it as soon as I can. That's not so easy to do anymore because the last proper homebrew supply store has permanently closed in the metro Vancouver area.
Now all that's left are shops that want people to come in to make their own wine and wine supply shops. They might sell the beer ingredients but there won't be a lot or good variety. I could order things from online stores but it gets expensive to do that compared to just buying craft beer from a liquor store. I didn't even get to break even with the cost of equipment. The cost saving I was making with every batch of beer was surprising to me. It was one of the advantages of brewing.
I also have recent health complications that mean I have to avoid alcohol for a while. It's not a life time ban on alcohol but the doctor said it is best to stay away from it for a few months. The health issue will be forever but medicine can get the symptoms to zero. Even after that period, I will have to pick my beers carefully because I will be limited to only a few per week and none of the strong ones anymore. I loved IPAs and the big barleywines.
This means that even if I could source the ingredients for brewing beer every second month, the usual batch volume is too high for my chronic health condition. The cost saving with homebrewing is also ruined if I have one so infrequently.
Buying craft beer from the local liquor store is the only sensible thing to do now unless I can find a group of other homebrewers to brew with. That's hard because the only guy I did find, dropped it too because it created too much work for him. I find it hard to move on from these unexpected changes. Homebrewing has lost another enthusiastic member. Has this happened to anyone on this subreddit before?
Cheers and farewell! 🍻