So how do you tell a friend?....

That the beer sample they just gave you was bad?

A coworker of mine is new to home brewing and has about 6-8 brew kit batches under his belt.

We chat a lot about how he does his thing, and how I do mine, and occasionally trade samples to taste.

One sample I got from him was a Belgian ale, which was okay.

It's not my type of beer, but this one as good for a kit and I told him so.

The last sample I got was a supposed to be a Czech Pilsner.

I was awful, could only take 4 sips.

Chemical flavor, very low carbonation - he, like me, bottle conditions, so I know when a 22oz is not ready, but the taste of this stuff was just bad.

So I know he's gonna ask how I liked it.

Do I let him down easy, or tell straight up?

What yeast did he use, and was he able to control that (low) fermentation temperature? I'd be honest. If you tell him you like it, he will only give you more.

Tell him you dropped the bottle but the dog gave it two paws up.

Of course you tell him. How is he suppose to get better? Ask him about his process and try to pinpoint any issues. And the better benefit is eventually you will be getting nice homebrews to sample.

I agree to ask him what his ferment temps were,what yeast,etc. Help him see where he made his mistakes without being insulting.

Rebottle it as yours and give it to him and see what happens? I would tell him so he can improve.

Everybody is different. Having said that I am a new brewer and would love you to be honest with me. Here is what I would love. Call me and tell me there are off flavors in my beer and to bring a couple more over. Then we both try them together and you tell me what is wrong with it when I have some in my mouth. That way I can learn what a specific off flavor actually tastes like, or at least know I have no pallete (sp?) for that taste. The worst scenario is I disagree with you, brew it again, and bring a different beer over for you. The only danger I see is that your friend gets very discouraged and stops brewing.

Honesty is best. Just don't do it in a rude or deconstructive manner.

I would want to know!

Most people in this hobby are hooked and aren't going to give up on the hobby no matter what anybody else says, so you telling him that you think that there's something wrong with his pilsner isn't going to cause him any undue stress. It will probably make him want to fix whatever he needs to fix. So be a good samaritan and tell him that you think there's something wrong with it and help him pin down the problems.

Smile and say it was fine and change the subject.

Do you tell your coworkers they have weird, ugly kids?

Coworkers can't change the characteristics of their kids, but they can change a brew process. Let him down easy but honest.


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Teromous said:

Honesty is best. Just don't do it in a rude or deconstructive manner.

Click to expand...

Couldn't have said it better myself. I've done this before. It's all in how you approach it. Of course it helps if the brewer you are talking to is looking for improvement and constructive criticism on their beers. I think approaching them with what you found off about the beer, the flavors, carbonation, etc, would do you much better than to just say, "Ugh, that beer sucked."

I know myself, I'm always open to criticism. It's the first thing out of my mouth when I present someone with a beer I have made. (Be honest, if you don't like it, tell me what you don't like about it.) My first question before serving them beer though is, "What kind of beer do you usually drink?" That gives me an idea that if I am presenting them with a wildly hopped IPA or a full bodied porter, that their reaction could be based on comparing it to BMC.

I think it is important that we help our friends who brew to make better beer. It's a tough thing to do when a person's craftsmanship or ego is on the line, but honesty would be best.

I remember taking a homebrew to one of my first club meetings and I was so proud of it. It was a pseudo-imperial IPA made with mostly simcoes, and I thought it was the best thing I'd ever made. They were very careful in telling me WHY it was not great (chlorophenolic...) and suggested places where I might improve my brewing process.

If you can offer helpful criticism, that would be best. If you can perhaps detect some stale malt extract that may have been used or a fermentation that was far too warm or underpitched, that would be far better than, "Your beer stinks" or conversely, "It was fine."

Don't tell him that it sucked and you could barely drink a few sips of it. That's not going to over well for anyone. I would tell him that you drank but noticed that there were some off-flavors in this beer that you haven't had in his others. See if he's interested in figuring out where he went wrong. He probably has no clue though since he gave you the beer.

In my opinion, if you are giving him your brews he should be able to taste that his is slightly off. Unless yours is as well. I agree with the above. Sit down with a beer or brew together and share a few examples and watch his process/give him notes. I mean, heck, this hobby is about enjoying the process, not to mention the resulting beer. Just think of it as if you were him and he was you and how you would react to it. I also find a compliment helps soothe the sting of constructive critism.

Hmm... This beer is very well balanced, though I notice a touch of banana. How do you maintain fermentation temperatures? Wanna see my swamp cooler/fermentation chamber?

Just be tactful and also if you are afraid of offending too much ask for notes you YOUR beer and what tastes wrong with them, ask him to be brutally honest because it helps you make the best beer you can. And you can even give him a flawed beer and say something like "I really like this beer, it is a shame that there is a little bandaid flavor in there, can you taste it? I guess I really need to start treating my water for chlorine/chlorimines or switch to RO"

Just think like how you would like to hear it and work from there. You are your own biggest critic because most people will lie to you. Be gentle but truthful and he may give you more (and better) eer as a result. I would ration out the thoughts a little at a time. You dont want him to be overwhelmed by saying that his beer is a phenolic, astringent, boozy mess.

How can one get better when people just keep encouraging crappy behavior/methods/beer?

Be truthful, dont be a complete dick but give honest feedback and suggestions.

Punch him in the face then kick him in the nuts, and tell him drinking his beer was like that only not as pleasant; at least that is what I would do if it was my co-worker (might even do that even if their beer was the greatest I've ever tasted ).


All joking aside tell him the truth about his beer. When I hand one of my beers to someone the only caveat I have is that they be brutally honest whith me about what they think of it. That way I can take what they have to say about it under advisment next time I brew.

I'd take a slightly different tack - be proactive. Go to him and say, "Hey, I tried that beer you gave me, I'm interested to hear what did YOU think of it?" and see if it's something he really liked, or how he perceives it.

Then I'd go with, "I did notice a couple of things about it when I tried it, are you open to some constructive criticism?" Hopefully he says yes and you can then, tactfully, offer up some suggestions for improvement. Asking some questions about his methods would let him know you're sincerely interested in helping him get better.

That's from a female perspective anyway!

Like Temptd2, when tasting anyone's homebrew, as a conversation starter, I usually ask if they're happy how it turned out. You can usually tell pretty quickly if they'd want any comments.

Print out the BJCP style guidelines for that beer and use that as a way to point out the ways in which it differed from the style.

You don't have to say the beer was bad. You can just point out where it missed the mark as a Czech Pilsner.

Remember, one beer styles off flavors are another beer styles defining characteristics in a lot of cases.

The Follow Up.

I spoke to my coworker the other day when he inquired about how I liked his beer.

I said the color was good, we both agreed that he was a little early with conditioning the 22oz and so the carb level was low, but improving.

I had heard that he gave samples to a couple of other new-to-brewing coworkers so I asked if any of them detected some off flavors.

Quite honestly he said they had, and he wanted to get my take on what might have gone wrong.

We talked about his water (which is fine), the others mentioned his yeast (he uses a smack-pack from the kit) and I questioned his brewing and fermentation temps.

All in all, he knew something was not quite right and was willing to listen.

Corrections will be made, problem solved.