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Joined
24/6/22
Messages
24
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6
Location
Mandurah WA
Fellow homebrewers I am looking forward to continuing my brews down under and happy to have joined what appears to be a great forum.
A little back story.
I had a nice little brew setup in Arizona and was doing extracts and all-grain brews - mostly IPA's. I have about 50 batches under my belt and quickly learned how expensive this could get with all the equipment. To help offset the costs I created a business offshoot selling merch under the new brand called Ale-By-I.

In late 2019 we decided to retire and move to Baja Sur. Sold the equipment and home and made the drive with dogs in tow. It didn't take long before I learned brewing beer down here was far too expensive given the 30% import tax. Plus no local beer supply stores. Needless to say, I was very disappointed - should have done a tad more homework. After living here for 2 1/2 years the wife (Kim) and I just didn't feel a long-term connection. Kim is a true blue Aussie (we both have family and friends in AU) so it was a no-brainer in making the decision to sell and move landing near the Brisbane area. The added benefit for me of course - brewing beer again! All the materials are readily available - yeah! I'll restart AleByI as I kept some old merch I can sell locally plus I like the logo.
AleByI_Base_Logo_flatten.jpg

I had a bit of fun designing and creating it. The end result represents a few things.
  • Ale-By-I is an anagram of my last name Bailey.
  • Ale-By-I “is” Ale that I brew By Eye – adding and experimenting with different hops, styles, and additions.
  • The eye in the logo is “The Eye of Horus” or the all-seeing eye. There are different meanings for the eye but the one that caught ‘my eye’ was “safety and health of the bearer and to provide wisdom and prosperity”. The Eye of Horus was believed to have healing and protective power as well.
Nuf gas-baggin' - glad to be part of this community.
Cheers
Bill
 
Hey Bill,

Good to have you on board.

We have a home brew club here in Toowoomba called Toowoomba Society of Beer Appreciation (TOOSOBA).

If you're interested in coming along you can reach out to the club email [email protected] or join the Facebook group and message admin.
Too SOBA (Toowoomba Society of Beer Appreciation) | Facebook

P.s the forum is a great resource as well to maintain a presence in.

Cheers,

Ben
 
Hope you checked your dogs at the border :) you can get into all sorts of trouble.
I like your graphic, love playing around with words that have multiple meanings "retort" is a good
Mark
 
Hello Bill, welcome. How's brewing now in AU?
 
Hope you checked your dogs at the border :) you can get into all sorts of trouble.
I like your graphic, love playing around with words that have multiple meanings "retort" is a good
Mark
thx!
I respect the fact Australia is tight on bringing animals into the county. For our 3 little dogs, all up it'll cost a little over $20K. Plus I had to drive up to California for a special blood test which demands a min. 6 month wait. Once we leave the poor guys will be separated and isolated for 2 weeks.
 
From the advance party: welcome.

Where were you in Baja? The thought occurs to me that most things other than brewstuff would be
cheaper there than in the US or Australia. La Paz might be the exception, what with expats bidding up property. I haven't been to Mexico for years

If you are into chiles, note that the variety of 'chillies' (fresh, dried, seeds) available here has greatly improved in the last decade., though they're not as much fun as browsing en el mercado,
 
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In Los Cerritos actually - nice little beachfront surfing community near El Pescadero about 45 min north of Cabo. Since no brew suppliers in the area everything has to ordered from the states which get hit with tax and fees of about 30%. Not to mention takes about 2 weeks to get stuff.
All the big stores carry various brands and even some smaller Mercado's with the exception of the corner stores. Tourism is driving the craft beer scene and after the pandemic and with tourism returning the demand is growing by leaps and bounds. I've never seen a local drinking craft beer.
You can buy a six-pack of Corona for about 88 pesos ($4.20us) but craft is about $3-$6us per bottle.
The most popular micro-brewery is Baja Brewing Co. - founded and managed by a couple of Americans.
https://www.bajabrewingcompany.com/beers
chilies in the brew - hmm....

ps - lower Baja Sur is fed by tourism - while you can find your $1 tacos prices are not that much cheaper (other than medical).
 
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