"Huh?" Ted stammered.

"I said, why don't you pick the next thing we brew?" His uncle was staring off towards the sunrise. He had a distant look in his eyes, like he was looking back through time itself.

"I heard you, I just...do you really want me to decide something that important?" Ted asked.

His uncle smiled, and his eyes seemed to snap back to the present as he turned and looked at Ted. "Important? It's just alcohol kiddo. Pretty hard to screw up."

"I mean...it's just...well, you see...with...I mean, you..."

His uncle gently placed his hand on Ted's shoulder as he raised an eyebrow. "Settle down. If you don't want to pick something, you don't have to. Just figured you'd like a chance to be in charge."

"It's not that I don't want to. I mean...where would I even start?" Ted said. "I might...it could all...if...if..."

His mind raced. After all, what did he know about brewing? All he had done was help his uncle out. He'd done what was asked of him. He never made any big decisions himself. What if he messed things up? How could he handle this pressure?

His mind drifted back to the storm drains. He couldn't lead then; he could hardly be helpful as the water threw his friends towards their doom. His body started to shake as his mind began to spiral.

Then, he felt strange. It was like warmth started to radiate from his chest, and with it came comfort and reassurances. He started to calm down as his thoughts veered off of their downward spiral.

Ted blinked and looked up. His uncle had wrapped him in a tight hug.

"Sorry," Ted murmured as he felt a deep shame wash over him for freaking out.

His uncle shook his head before he looked down at Ted with a smile. He squeezed his nephew tighter for just a brief moment before he let him go. "You've got nothing to be sorry about nephew. Happens to the best of us."

"What?" Ted grumbled. "Panicking over nothing?"

His uncle nodded. "Well sure, I mean if you really think about it, panicking at all is over nothing. Doesn't mean you shouldn't or won't do it." He let out a small chuckle. It was strange, like the laugh itself was tired, but still forced itself to keep working. "We all think and do stuff that doesn't make any sense. Just another part of life, and there's nothing wrong with that."

Ted just sighed. His uncle had a tendency to say stuff like that. It always sounded good enough, but it never really resonated with him.

"Right, right. Let's try something else then, shall we? Maybe narrow down the choice paralysis a bit?" HIs uncle suggested. "What's a soda you like?"

"A soda?"

His uncle just nodded.

"Well..." Ted thought a moment. There were a lot of flavors he liked, but one seemed to spring forward in his mind. "Grapefruit."

"Hmm? Interesting choice." His uncle said with a smile. He looked down at Ted and rubbed his chin. "Let me guess," he added, "your grandpa?"

Ted nodded.

His uncle smiled and let out a small chuckle. "Ah, I'm glad he was nice to his grandkids at least. Old guy got softer in his old age. What'd you kids use to call it again? Grampa pop or something like that?"

Ted's heart ached as he thought about his grandpa. It had been so long, and yet it felt like the wound on his heart was still fresh.

His uncle put his arm around Ted and started to pull him away. "Well, as luck would have it, I already have some grapefruits since I was trying to eat a bit healthier. So, we can get started right away!"

"Started on what? Grapefruit wine?" Ted asked.

His uncle smiled. "Nah, that'd be too obvious! I was thinking more of a grapefruit beer."

"Beer?"

"Well, probably more of an IPA kinda drink if I'm being honest with myself, but yeah."

Ted scrunched up his face. "But I thought you weren't a fan of IPAs?"

His uncle shook his head. "It's not for me, that's for sure. A beer crammed full of way too many hops? Works to preserve it, but for flavor? Eh, yeah not great beer generally."

"Then, why make an IPA now?"

"Well, I said an IPA kind of drink, didn't I?" his uncle said with a wink. "The grapefruit will add more bitterness like hops do in an IPA. It should have a much more robust flavor than a regular IPA though."

"Huh?" Ted said in confusion.

"Don't stress about it too much nephew," his uncle chuckled. "Now come on, we're going to bake some grapefruit."

His uncle had taken Ted's grapefruit suggestion and crafted a recipe around it. Well, it was closer to him adding grapefruit as an extra flavor as a step in brewing an ale.

1.6 lbs of pale malt

.1 lbs light crystal malt

.1 lbs of wheat

.3 oz of cascade hops.

He said it was the grain for a basic ale that'd form the base of the recipe.

"Alright, while I get those sorted out and crushed, why don't you handle the grapefruit?" Ted's uncle suggested.

"By myself?" Ted gulped.

"Sure." his uncle said nonchalantly. "Just peel two grapefruits and try and get off as much pith as you can. You know, the white stuff inside. But don't stress over it."

As he started to walk away, he turned around and added, "Once it's peeled. Spread the peel out on that black baking sheet. Heat the oven to two hundred and fifty degrees, and when the oven's ready, throw the sheet in on the bottom rack for about sixteen minutes, or until they're dry."

"But, how will I know if they're dry?" Ted asked.

"Oh, the peel should just start turning brown. Doesn't have to be all of them, but when some of it starts to turn, you're probably good."

Ted didn't bother clarifying anymore. His uncle surely knew a lot about this stuff, but he really didn't go big on being exact with things. So, he knew he wouldn't get much better instructions than that.

Things went fairly smoothly. They mixed the grains into a couple quarts of water that had gotten to one-hundred and sixty degrees. The temperature dropped when the grains were added, but they kept it around one-hundred and fifty for an hour.

With ten minutes left, they put a gallon of water into a new stockpot, and turned the heat up on both pots until they both reached one-hundred and seventy degrees.

After that, they put a fine strainer over a fresh pot, and poured the liquid from the grains pot out into it. It got tricky a few times as they almost overflowed the strainer since it was packed full of the grains. But, they managed to get most of the liquid into the new pot.

They poured the grains back into the original pot, and then slowly poured the gallon of water into there. They made sure to stir it around plenty, and then repeated the process with the strainer into the pot with the other liquid.

The new pot only had liquid in it, and they brought it up to a boil. When it started to foam, they lowered the heat to a slow roiling boil, and added half of the hops in. After thirty minutes, they added the other half of the hops. When it had been boiling for fifty-five minutes, they added the dried grapefruit peel.

After the grapefruit was thrown in, Ted's uncle filled a sink with cold water and ice. When the liquid had been boiling for an hour, they turned off the heat, and added a quarter cup of honey and a cup of fine sugar into the liquid. While his uncle finished preparing the sink, Ted stirred until the honey and sugar were dissolved.

Once it was dissolved, they moved the pot into the ice water in the sink. They stirred it occasionally, until it cooled down to seventy degrees. Which, was about half an hour.

With it all done, they used a fine strainer again, and poured it through a funnel into a clean carboy. His uncle poured in some yeast, about a tablespoon or so, and then held his hand against the opening. With it covered, he shook it vigorously for about three solid minutes.

Finally, they strapped on a cheap bung with an airlock on it.

"Alright, this should be good to go in a couple weeks or so." His uncle said with a smile. "Just remind me to add some more honey to the bottles to help it carbonate and reinforce that flavor."

"Right," nodded Ted. "Didn't you say that yeast basically kills most of the flavor from honey?"

His uncle nodded. "Not all of it, but yeah those things really like the sugars in things like honey. So, I like to give it a little boost after it's mostly done."

Ted smiled. It was always fun working with his uncle. Although, he didn't really feel like he was that in charge of this brew. Though, he also would be lying if he said that upset him at all. It was more of a relief than anything else.

Then, his uncle suddenly began to cough. He held his hand in front of his mouth as he doubled over. His coughs were so violent, that they sounded like his lungs were trying to leap out from inside his body.

"Hey, are you alright!" Ted rushed up to him, with a worried look on his face.

When he finally stopped coughing, his uncle smiled weakly at Ted. "Sorry, something must've gone down the wrong pipe."

Something felt wrong, and as Ted say the bits of blood on his uncle's hand the room seemed to stretch out. Everything around them seemed to fade away as Ted's eyes were frozen to the blood. It felt like something was clawing up his stomach as he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out.

"Ted. It's not your fault."