Brewing Up Some Homemade Fun

February 2012--

Even off the clock, Larry Shields, owner of Shields Dental Lab in Whitehall, MI, likes to keep his hands busy. Making things comes naturally to Shields, so about 12 years ago when his wife bought him a home-brew beer kit for Christmas, the brewing bug stuck. "Once I started, I never looked back," he admits.

Since his first beer, an English Bitter, Shields has wet the whistles of family and friends with all kinds of different brews. He likes to experiment with recipes: a light, wheat beer during the summer; a dark porter for the cold winter months; and he even pulled ingredients from several different recipes to mix up his own American Ale. All his beer is brewed in five-gallon kegs and served fresh from a refrigerator with an attached beer tap.

Brewing, like his lab, is a one-man operation. Often times, the magic happens mid-week or after work and gives Shields a creative outlet away from the bench--an important break, since he works over 60 hours...