Wife and I started fermenting our own ciders and wines 4 years ago. What prompted it for me, was reading about the "Beer Purity Law" that was created 500 years ago and essentially ended local, wild-crafted brews, and forced every beer to contain hops. Hops are a sedative and pacifier, whereas the "gruit" ferments were more invigorating and consciousness-expanding.
I used to LOVE beer, but I don't miss it at all. Right now, I'm drinking a zucchini wine that is absolutely awful, but I wouldn't trade it for any commercial beer.
It made it okay for us to start fermenting without buying a lot of equipment. You don't need grapes! Almost any fruit can give you a good to great wine. Some of our greatest successes have been from just harvesting whatever berries and/or fruit we have available and combining them all in a carboy to ferment. We've made wine from nothing but birch sap and yeast. Most of our brews cost about $1 per liter/quart. That's 1/20th the cost of commercial booze.
Also, if you're in a cold climate you can turn apple cider into apple jack. It's the result of freezing the cider and draining off the boozy component. Depending on the flavour of the cider, it can produce a hard liquor that is absolutely delicious.
Wife and I started fermenting our own ciders and wines 4 years ago. What prompted it for me, was reading about the "Beer Purity Law" that was created 500 years ago and essentially ended local, wild-crafted brews, and forced every beer to contain hops. Hops are a sedative and pacifier, whereas the "gruit" ferments were more invigorating and consciousness-expanding.
I used to LOVE beer, but I don't miss it at all. Right now, I'm drinking a zucchini wine that is absolutely awful, but I wouldn't trade it for any commercial beer.
What got us started was this book: https://www.amazon.ca/Sacred-Herbal-Healing-Beers-Fermentation/dp/0937381667/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2OTZAU1KIAGLN&keywords=sacred+brews+and+healing&qid=1681254213&sprefix=sacred+brews+and+healing%2Caps%2C290&sr=8-2
It made it okay for us to start fermenting without buying a lot of equipment. You don't need grapes! Almost any fruit can give you a good to great wine. Some of our greatest successes have been from just harvesting whatever berries and/or fruit we have available and combining them all in a carboy to ferment. We've made wine from nothing but birch sap and yeast. Most of our brews cost about $1 per liter/quart. That's 1/20th the cost of commercial booze.
Also, if you're in a cold climate you can turn apple cider into apple jack. It's the result of freezing the cider and draining off the boozy component. Depending on the flavour of the cider, it can produce a hard liquor that is absolutely delicious.
Real honey would be worth its weight in gold. We are toying with the idea but it's a challenge in our climate.