Stephen Valand and Erica Shea are the cofounders of the Brooklyn Brew Shop. They’re also the authors of Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Beer Making Book (Clarkson Potter: 2011) and Make Some Beer: Small-Batch Recipes from Brooklyn to Bamberg (Clarkson Potter: 2014).

With all of that, you’d expect them to know a great deal about brewing. That wasn’t always true — not even close. “When we started,” Shea says, “I didn’t like beer at all.” A smile later, she adds, “It turned out I just hadn’t had good beer.”

Arguably, the Brooklyn Brew Shop was born of a present. One year, Shea says, “I found my Dad’s old equipment — he had brewed about 25 years ago, in Massachusetts — and I hauled it back to New York, slapped a bow on it, and gave it to Stephen as a gift because” she says, laughing, “I was a cheap girlfriend.”

She was a creative and attentive girlfriend. She didn’t know she was changing the course of her life. Shea and Valand’s first batch eventually developed into the Brooklyn Brew Shop’s Grapefruit Honey Ale.

As the couple’s brewing habit developed, Shea’s Dad’s old kit needed to be repaired and upgraded. “I figured I could go to the Bowery and buy replacements, and was shocked to find that there was nothing in New York City.” She had to order ingredients online, too. It was frustrating. “There wasn’t a single brew-supply store in the city,” Shea says. There was a gap in the market: good home-brew kits.

Shea fell in love with beer and beer-making. At that time, beer-making guides weren’t “written for people who made food.” Initially, Shea wanted to write something that she’d feel comfortable using in the kitchen. Later, she wanted other people to feel as easy brewing beer as they did cooking, “because it is cooking.” Even if you have a tiny New York City kitchen, you can make very good beer.

The Brooklyn Brew Shop ships all over the world – “everywhere it’s legal to ship to.” Kits can even be found in Whole Foods and Nordstrom. Shea and Valand hope to be back in the Brooklyn Flea after summer’s end, and they’ll definitely be in the Union Square Holiday Market.

All of the Brooklyn Brew Shop kits are simple to work with. Don’t worry about picking a beginner’s brew. Choose something you’d love to drink. Food-lovers will be especially excited about the Bikini Beer kit.

That kit was made in collaboration with Evil Twin Brewing, a brewery born in Denmark. Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, Evil Twin‘s founder and master brewer, has collaborated with Chicago’s The Aviary on more than a few beers. As the Aviary has one of the most renown cocktail programs in the country, it’s no shock that the Chicago hotspot has won recognition and awards. Recently, it took top honors at Tales of the Cocktail. Following that, beverage director Charles Joly went to London and won the Diageo World Class Bartender competition.

That’s the field in which Evil Twin plays. By extension, courtesy of the Brooklyn Brew Shop, you can cook up a deliciously Evil beer at home. It’s a home-brew with a culinary pedigree.

“We love everything that Jeppe’s doing,” Shea says, “and we’re really excited that people can make that beer in their kitchens.” Bikini Beer is a light but intensely flavorful beer. With a mind on summer, Shea notes that “it’s only 2.7% alcohol, so it’s a beer that you could drink all day at the beach.”

Too hot for home-brewing? Craving a pint of ale while yeast is doing slow work in a cool closet? Shea has a couple of recommendations for where to find worthy brews in the city. As you might expect from a loyal local, both are in Brooklyn.

On Atlantic Avenue, St. Gambrinus Beer Shoppe has a healthy draught list and a Renaissance backstory.

Shea also likes the Other Half Brewing Company. The tasting room is open Thursdays and Fridays from 5 to 10 PM, Saturdays from noon to 10 PM, and Sundays from noon to 6.

Photos: Brooklyn Brew Shop