Matt Waters- Cedar Falls, IA
Its funny what you can stumble across when you move into a new place. From old furniture to questionable stains Matt Waters thought he had seen it all. Until that one fateful day in New Albany, Indiana when he was rooting around his new roommates garage. Finding a chopped up old keg, Matt naively asked “What you doin with this old sumbitch?”
And so began a journey that would turn Matt Waters into the Legend of Muddy Waters. A young man aged but 24 years is now a weathered beer veteran with 11 years of homebrewing experience under his belt.
This fella has concocted roughly 40 beers. Which beers you might ask?
How about Not the Mazda,Two Flys F#$*^ing, Smokin Wheat and Oops I did it again just to name a few. If that doesn’t sound interesting your interesting meter is probably busted. Read on to learn more about Muddy and his quest to make the perfect brew.
The Early Days
The First Beer
At this point in the journey Matt is intrigued by this homebrewing business and decides to make his first beer. It takes a few weeks to get the ingredients together but they settle on making a batch of Orange Zest Wheat. In his own words:
“We bottled it and let it carbonate for a few weeks. I get impatient and crack a bottle and holy santa claus crap was it delicious!“
I’m not sure exactly how that tastes but Wiscobrews will take Mr. Water’s word for it.
In all its glory, the tasty Orange Zest Wheat is pictured below.
On to the Next One
If there’s one thing I have learned about Mr. Waters over the last couple years its that he is not a man to settle. If Orange Zest Wheat was as good as excrement from a gift bearing fat man imagine what he could brew next.
With that horrifying thought the transformation began. The skies over Matt’s beer lab darkened. Nobody saw him for weeks. And when he finally emerged he had not only a new beer but a new persona. He had become the Homebrewer Muddy Waters.
Out of his lab was born a Bourbon Barrel Stout at 16% ABV.
Muddy says that this beer, called Not The Mazda was one of the fullest bodied and best tasting beers he had ever tried. Not bad for your second at bat considering the exact recipe is still one of his old standbys some 30+ tries later
Stay Tuned for Part 2
See below for additional photos and preview images for part 2. Be sure to comment in the forum and check out our new Subforum Homebrewers Hangout.