When we brewed our first batch of beer in January 2021, Zack and I knew right away that this mother/son hobby was a good fit for us. We worked together seamlessly and very quickly slipped into what we now call “beer mode” – a shared flow state where we anticipate each other’s questions and instructions and communicate in half-sentences and immediately know what comes next.

In retrospect, we can point to a lot of precursors that may have indicated that we would take to homebrewing like ducks to water. The earliest harbingers may have been the toys Zack preferred as a child and our interactive play with those toys.

From a very early age, Zack enjoyed science-adjacent kits and toys, and activities with fussy and intricate instructions. One of the earliest examples was fancy paper airplanes. I bought software for the instructions (on floppy disk!) and we worked our way through the designs and tested throwing them all over the house and yard.

Some of Zack’s preferred toys were complex Lego sets, elaborate Hot Wheels tracks, kitchen science experiments, Cool Tools, backyard explorer kits, magnets, spy gear. Snap Circuits were a particular favorite.

In fact, I was drawn to similar toys back in the stone age when I was a child. I had a circuit set from Radio Shack that was the predecessor of Snap Circuits.

And so, I was more than willing to indulge Zack’s interest in these activities. I was always ready to get down on the floor and provide the enthusiastic adult supervision that many of these toys required. It was as much fun for me as it was for him.

It’s easy to see how homebrewing translates to an adult version of these hands-on project toys, and perfectly suited for our proclivities.

JMN