Works by Eric

Posts showcasing new books, articles, features, etc. by Eric

New homebrewing article: How to Make Your Prepackaged Kits Unique!

Kits are a staple of the homebrewing scene. Put together by your local homebrew shop or the big online retailers, they are all-in-one boxes that give you everything you need to create beers that are time-tested and brewer-approved. Sometimes they are clones of popular craft brews, other times they are retailer exclusives that recreate classic styles, but either way they take the guesswork out of making a great beer. For both newbie homebrewers and veterans alike, that can be a very welcome thing indeed. But sometimes you want to throw a little twist into an old favorite. Sometimes you want to get creative but don’t know where to start. Sometimes you have a beer idea in mind, but don’t want to spend ages tinkering with…
Read more

I was a guest on the Geek*E podcast, take a listen!

If you’ve seen the ridiculous Youtube videos I’ve been doing with Tig from Nerd Out With Me, I’m sorry. It’s not my fault. And yet I’m going to go ahead and assault your senses once more – but thankfully, you won’t have to SEE me this time. Along with Tig, I was recently a guest on the Geek*E Podcast. We talked about Thomas the Tank Engine, Lite-Bright, why Red Dawn is a sequel to Dirty Dancing, and Strawberry Shortcake (the character, not the food). Plus favorite ’80s movies and TV shows you want to show to other people, ’80s toys I want to buy, and Big Trouble in Little China. So check it out. Click and listen: Geek*E: Geek Nostalgia

Check out my new article at Homebrew Talk: Growing Hops With Limited Space

Whether you’re a homebrewer, a gardener, or both, you’ll want to check out my new article at Homebrew Talk. It even has pictures of my hop plants growing all over my backyard deck! Growing hops at home is a lot easier than you probably imagine. You don’t need much real gardening experience to do it — I didn’t really have any when I first started — and once hops make themselves at home they are damn near impossible to kill. They’ll thrive all on their own without you having to do much, but they won’t take over your whole yard, either. They’re not like, say, mint. They’ll stay in their spot and do their thing each year without much help from you. They do take up a lot of space,…
Read more

NEW VIDEO: Top 5 Childhood Cartoons you’d want to experience again for the first time

Ever try to revisit a cartoon from your youth? It usually doesn’t go well. Except for classic stuff like the Warner Bros. shorts, that stuff usually does not hold up, especially if you were a child of the ’80s, when all cartoons were just long toy commercials. You can’t recapture the time and place that made it special in the first place. But if you could erase your memory and relive them for the first time, what would you choose to watch? Here’s what we said on the latest Hours in the Attic:   Also, shame on me for forgetting the Dungeons & Dragons cartoon! It was just formulaic bullshit, like all these shows were, but to my young mind it seemed pretty epic. Tiamat…
Read more