In the last few years there has been an explosion in the world of home beer making and brewing. More recently, there has been a lot of talk about micro-brewing. However, those exclusive specialty beers are very expensive to purchase. If you have an affinity for the robust flavor of this type of beer, why not try your hand at making it yourself?

Brewing or micro-brewing your own beer at home is relatively easy, cost-effective and will more than likely produce a product that is far superior to anything you can purchase.

There are a couple of ways to begin - you can either start from scratch or you buy a kit.

• If you want to buy a kit, a great place to start researching is your local Yellow Pages under "Beer Brewing." There will be a list of suppliers that will have books, equipment and kits for beginning your beer making and brewing journey.
• Type in "beer making kits" in your favorite search engine to get a list of suppliers offering start-up kits on the Internet.

The start-up costs will vary depending on how much you want to spend, but the eventual savings in premium beer will more than pay for the initial investment.

• Barley Wine - One of the strongest and intense beers. The flavor can be described as sweet, bittersweet or fruity with an amber to dark brown coloring.
• Bitters - These styles of beer were created by brewers who wanted to stand out from other mild ales. The colors vary from a golden to a copper color. Most are have a distinctive fruit taste and aroma.
• Bock - This type of beer is usually stronger than a typical lager and requires months of cold storage to smooth out the flavor. It has an intense malt character and usually is a dark amber color.
• Brown Ales - This type of beer has a mild sweet character. The colors can range from a reddish to a dark brown. Some versions have fruity while others a nutty aroma.

• California Common/Steam - A completely unique American-Style lager. Brewed with a special strain of lager yeast dating back to the 1800’s. Has a malty, mild fruity character with a strong hop bitterness.
• Fruit / Vegetable - Brewed with fruit, vegetables or syrups to emulate a particular flavor. The malt is disguised to let the fruit or vegetable dominate the taste.
• Herbed / Spiced - This style of beer takes on a character all its own depending what herb or spice is utilized in the brewing process. Just about anything goes - from nutmeg to cinnamon and ginger to hot peppers - the sky is the limit. Brewing this type of beer requires an active imagination while sampling requires an open mind.
• Smoked - Smoked malt is the ingredient used in this type of beer which causes it be an extremely robust and sometimes overpowering beer.