Bootleggers Breaks Out Home Brews at Mo Fest Brew Fest for Charity: VIDEO

Beer and wine lovers' cups overflowed May 1 as they turned out in force for Mo Fest Brew Fest, a celebration of home-brewed wine and beer at Bootleggers Beer and Wine Home Brewing Supplies on Oakfield Drive in Brandon.

The drinks were all the sweeter – or bitter, if that’s your taste – with proceeds and beer earmarked for charity.

For a $5 donation, visitors got a taste of homemade wine and beer and learned how best to match food with drink. also threw in a 10 percent discount.

The event was part of the Momentum Festival, which also includes contests for adults and youngsters. And just like those events, proceeds from the Brew Fest went to the Brandon Family YMCA’s campaign to send a child to summer camp.

“It’s was just something we wanted to do to give back to the community,” said Carol Faessler, co-owner of Bootleggers.

Faessler and her friend, Darcy Hermada, will celebrate two years supplying the area’s home brewers in September. The store stocks everything the home brewer needs; Faessler can even supply everything you need to brew soda. The store also has fermentation containers for those who are just starting out and who may need a hand.

“I was home brewing wine for 18 years before we opened. I would brew it and Darcy would drink it,” joked Faessler.

Frustrated with having to drive long distances — or take a chance and order online for her home brew supplies — the pair decided to open a home brew supply store.

“It’s just kept growing and growing from there,” Faessler said.

Beer brewed at the event will is earmarked for an outdoor charity fundraiser at O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Brandon in October. Proceeds from the event will go to the family of Dan Sweet, who died recently without life insurance. Sweet is survived by his wife and a teenage son and daughter.

“Dan played rugby and was a pillar of health,” said Shaun Goeckner, Sweet’s neighbor who was busily brewing beer at the Bootleggers’ event. “He died from undiagnosed high blood pressure because he hadn’t seen a doctor in 10 years. It’s a lesson to all of us.”

Goeckner, co-chair of the Brandon Boot Leggers Home Brew Club with Don Veasey, is helping coordinate the fundraiser for Sweet’s family and will make sure there is no shortage of brew for the event.

As a young man Goeckner had no interest in beer.

“I was always the designated driver when I went out.” Then, a friend introduced him to extract brewing 20 years ago and he was hooked. A few years later on a trip to Scotland he learned about all-grain brewing, his method of choice today.

“Extract brewing is how you learn to brew but with all-grain brewing you have much more control.”  

Your taste buds will thank you if you show up at O’Brien’s next month for the Dan Sweet fundraiser, Goeckner said.

“What’s the difference between American beer and sitting in a canoe?” he asked with a smile. "They are both close to water.” said Goeckner.

 Visit the Brandon Boot Leggers Home Brew Club web site for details or call (813) 380-6179.

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