Welcome to Wu Wei Brewing!

I brew my own beer. I do this, mind you, in a ten-foot by two-foot kitchen, and subsequently ferment it in a guest bathroom's walk-in shower roughly twenty feet away. I began doing so because of my love for craft beer, fascination with the process, and inclination towards creativity. The process is cathartic for me; the formulation of the recipe, the preparation and sanitization, the brewing process, the monitoring of yeast populations miraculously turning my unfermented wort into consumable beer. It'd be wrong of me to fail to mention, however, that one of the most rewarding parts of the process is sharing this final product with those closest to me. Brewing beer has become much more than about brewing beer.

As a result of what was fermenting deep down inside (pun intended), a few months ago, I came up with the idea of labeling my little homebrew operation - hoping to capture its essence. I envisioned a particular descriptive name and logo, reflecting the manner in which I brew. After deciding how I wanted to represent this conception, one of my best friends dedicated much of his free time to its design. Thus, Wu Wei Brewing was officially born. I like to refer to it as "a philosophy to brew by." The circular formation (two beer bottles) represents an ancient Chinese symbol depicting the principles of "yin" and "yang." The Chinese characters stand for "wu" and "wei," respectively.

In brief, allow me to explain:

Certain trends in Philosophical Taoism regard the Chinese concept of "wu-wei" (simplified, in a manner of speaking, to mean "effortless action," which is itself a reduction of "wei-wu-wei," or "the action of nonaction") as being seemingly paradoxical; actions presuppose an effort to act on part of the actor. However, a particular interpretation that I find enlightening relates this concept to the deeper, more general understanding of Philosophical Taoism: when one becomes one with the Tao, the dichotomization between the two ceases to be. In the context of "wu-wei," this indicates that there is no longer a distinction between the actor and the action; when one completely becomes an action, the sense that it is an action is lost. Thus, an "effortless action" is truly no action at all - there is no longer a duality dividing the two. In the context of brewing, the distinction between brewer and brewing ceases to exist; the ritual becomes an inner and outer expression of one's being as well. But perhaps we should delve more into this another time...

After much deliberation, I'm getting ready to brew another batch to kick off the summer; if everything pans out correctly, it will be an American Wheat with organic raspberries and blackberries. I have also started researching some ancient ("sacred") and indigenous recipes and ingredients from the "pre-hop" days in brewing; a multitude of various herbs and spices have been used throughout history to make remarkable beers and herbal remedies (the use of hops, as a standard in brewing, is really a much more modern regulation).

Organic ingredients for brewing are still pretty marginal, and hard for me to come by, but I plan on only brewing with 100% organic, and as local as possible, ingredients in the near future.

But anyway, I'm now going to keep a running tab on all things Wu Wei Brewing. So, if you're interested in keeping up with what I've got going on, go ahead and subscribe to this feed (either RSS or email, via the form near the top, right-hand corner of this page), or bookmark it and check back often.

Here's to the next batch!

Peace and Love!

A brief run-down of what I've done so far:

6/08 - American Wheat

*American Wheat

*Specific Gravity: 1.008

*ABV: 4.73%

8/08 - Dry Stout

*Dry Stout

*Specific Gravity: 1.024

*ABV: 3.15%

10/08 - A Holer-in' Brown Ale

*Brown Ale, spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, and ginger

*Specific Gravity: 1.015

*ABV: 4.73%

1/09 - Dirty Banana

*Dunkelweizen, brewed with five pounds of ripe banana

*Specific Gravity: 1.013

*ABV: 4.99%

4/09 - Serrapale Ale

*American Pale Ale, brewed with twelve serrano peppers

*Specific Gravity: 1.012

*ABV: 6.43%