Hello all!
First if I may, I have been lurking about here for some weeks and have learned far more than I was expecting to. Excellent information and a search feature that works quite well too!!!

I currently live in the Phoenix area of Arizona, born and raised in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, and spent my childhood summers in Eagle River in the northwoods of WI.

I have been an avid homebrewer for several years and have won a few medals in competitions for some of my beers, when I brew I always wear a kilt... in fact I spend a lot of time wearing a kilt. Current kilts are a black watch and a modern kilt in black denim.

I recently spent 8 hours brewing a Scottish Wee Heavy (quite heavy actually) the finished beer is 11%ABV, with nice caramel and malty notes with a hint of smoke that is currently aging in an oak whiskey barrel for the next several months, it should be ready to enjoy sometime around Christmas this year.

My family tree is kind of a mess: German, Irish, Scot, Norse, and a few others I am not really sure of. the Irish side is Tierney (O’Tighearnaigh) The Scot side is Clan Maxwell, on the German and Norse side of the coin it is quite muddled with misspelling of last names, loss of most everything in WWI, name changes through marriage, and the Americanized name given at Ellis Island.

So here I am, ready to further my kilted self on this great forum. If anyone wants to learn a bit about brewing, I just might be able to help in that department.