On any given weekend — or Wednesday night — patrons at the bars on Court Street guzzle pitchers upon pitchers of beer.
Most likely, those bargoers are drinking Bud Light, Coors Light or Miller Lite, according to a Grocery Headquarters and IRI report about sales of domestic beer from 2015 to 2016. Eric Hedin has made beers similar to those and others with ingredients like Count Chocula or Fruity Pebbles cereals, and he does so in nothing more than a pot warmed with a propane burner.
Hedin, 57, is the owner and operator of the Athens Do It Yourself Shop, 16060 Canaanville Road, a store that he describes as “10 percent antiques and 90 percent beer.”
Hedin has operated the DIY Shop for nine years, but he has been brewing for 25 years and drinking for longer.
“I invented opening a beer with a BIC lighter,” Hedin said with a grin.
The Athens DIY Shop is a small brick building just off Route 50, about 10 minutes from Uptown Athens. Inside, white barrels, full of various 50-pound bags of malted barley, line the right-hand wall. A variety of clean, empty beer bottles — some in bins, some on racks, some placed haphazardly onto a table — fill the store with color. Behind the brewing equipment, a shelf overflows with books, most with titles such as How to Brew and Radical Brewing.
When Hedin gets down to brewing, it’s clear how functional the shop is. Hedin starts the process with a recipe-making computer program, Strangebrew, or with prepared blends, which he calls “cake mix for beer.”
Hedin started brewing after helping some of his friends who brewed.
“It makes it a lot easier if you have a brew buddy,” he said.
One such “brew buddy” is Jody Grenert. Grenert is a communications specialist at Ohio University’s Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, as well as an avid homebrewer of nine years and the president of the Athens Homebrew Club.
Grenert described Athens as “a beer destination” and said many people like locally made products.
“Everybody likes the idea of growing (ingredients) yourself or it being made or grown nearby,” Grenert said.
For Grenert, brewing is becoming more than just a simple hobby. Hoppin’ Frog Brewery in Akron recently purchased one of his recipes, a beer named “King Gose Home.”
“It’s a sour, salty, wheat-based beer,” Grenert said.
Grenert called Hedin, who is also a member of the Athens Homebrew Club, “the local source for all beer-making.”
Hedin and Grenert are just two of an estimated 1.2 million homebrewers in the United States, according to the American Homebrewers Association.
Melissa Kuchta, a freshman studying chemical engineering, is not a homebrewer, but she is interested in the subject. Kuchta’s grandfather, Frederick Dely, a German immigrant, made his own beer a handful of times. Dely started brewing after receiving a kit for Christmas, and he made beer for his family.
“It was kind of cool,” Kuchta said. “In the future, it’d be cool to do it myself.”
Hedin deals with many similar customers who come into his store with no experience but a desire to make beer. He reminds them that price is no obstacle, as the basic starter kit that he sells is $85, not including ingredients.
Prices can rise as homebrewers brew more — the average homebrewer spends $800 annually, according to the American Homebrewers Association.
Hedin adjusted the measurements in a recipe for a Guinness-style stout beer and smiles.
“It’s OK to have a little more alcohol, right?”
