Every Renaissance man should know how to ferment sugar into alcohol. Lips topped off with homemade blueberry wine easily spill that sentence, but I genuinely believe it.

I brewed my first ale, in fall of 1998 - not that long ago in brewer’s years. As ales go, it lacked panache: estery and light on hops. A father, though, always beams with pride at his first-born.

For a few years, I brewed almost all ales and porters, and got steadily better at the craft. Later, I discovered mead. Unlike malted grain, honey brews into a potable tabula rasa of a wine. It takes almost any flavor the brewer can imagine. I’ve used ginger, ginseng, mango and even black pepper to turn out meads of differing strengths and characters.

And, with ready access to fresh Florida cane sugar, I’ve taken to sugar wines. I bottled the aforementioned blueberry wine last November. It carries the texture of a good plum wine - the kind I get in one of the local sushi bars. I may try fermenting saki next.

The point is the process: I take time out to create. Whether it’s beer to share with a friend, or bottles of mead to pass around an impromptu wassail, I create.

Plus, it’s nice to know that if I’m stranded on a tropical island, I’ll be able to enjoy a nice beverage in the sun.

PS: Kudos to the Supreme Court for overruling the states on interstate wine sales. Free the wines!