Beer enthusiasts attend home brewing class in Millcreek

Jim Kohler breathed in the aroma. So did his son, Max. They looked at each other, nodded their heads and smiled.

The smell of home brewing on a Saturday morning made these Millcreek Township beer enthusiasts very happy.

“Some fathers and sons go fishing, some go to football games. We brew beer,” Jim Kohler, 69, said. He and his 35-year-old son began home brewing beer in January.

The Kohlers paid $10 each to take part in a home brewing class inside Bierhaus International, 3723 W. 12th St.

Today’s four-hour session was attended by 17 people and was taught by Albion native Jason Lavery, who began home brewing in 2004 before opening Lavery Brewing Co. in Erie in 2010.

Lavery’s demonstration produced a hoppy 5-gallon batch of Australian India Pale Ale. His students for the day, ranging in age from 20s to 60s, stood in the front of Bierhaus’ warehouse, surrounded by Pyrex glassware and stainless steel vats of boiling water.

See Sunday’s Erie Times-News and GoErie.com for more coverage.