Best way to earn it
Home brewing is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work and a lot of mess. You've got to get everything flawlessly sterilized, there's the inevitable spillage to mop up, and there's a slew of buckets and tubing and bottling equipment in which to get tangled. The folks at Deja Brew in Shrewsbury offer an alternative - home brew at their house, and they'll deal with the aftermath. It's easy. Just peruse the 65 ready-made recipes - from bitters and bocks to pale ales and porters - and pick the style you want. Then get to work. Portion out the ingredients. Boil the wort (water and malted barley) in your assigned kettle. Add hops for flavor and aroma, and transfer to the fermentation vessel. Toss in the live yeast and tell the little buggers to get to work. Then go home. After two weeks of bubbling and burbling in temp-controlled rooms, your beer is ready to be bottled. Depending on the recipe, 72 22-ounce bottles will run you between $100 and $125. (Bottles aren't included, but labels are gratis - you can even customize them with your own artwork.) Once the fridge is stocked with the fruits of your labor, maybe you can have the Deja Brew staff over to your house, crack a couple of cold ones, and celebrate a job well done.

Deja Brew, Route 9, Shrewsbury, (508) 842-8991; www.dejabrew.com.