Walker

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I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist with some things and will beat myself up over small things that I find to be not "just right". One of the places where this personality trait is most prominent is in my brewing. I always get hung up on tiny flaws that I detect in my beers. SWMBO always says that I am crazy and the flaws I think I detect are not really there.

Last night I got a bit of an eye opener.

I was hanging at my house out with some friends, drinking a mix of commercial beers, my own homebrew, and some homebrews that were given to me by other local people. A friend got up to get himself another beer and I handed him my glass and asked him to get me one, too. I told him I didn't care what it was, just bring me back a full glass.

He came back with a glass of beer that looked darker than anything I had on tap, so I thought he had grabbed a commercial beer or one of the homebrews not brewed by me.

The beer was good. Really REALLY good. So, I asked him what he had poured for me. His response was:

"Whatever you have on the tap on the right."

Eh?! I guess SWMBO is right. I was given one of my own beers, not knowing it was mine, and my opinion of the beer was MUCH more favorable.

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Ground Fault Brewing Co.

BrewCityBeerBuffs

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Very cool, and i would say your not alone in many respects, it does take some rewiring to be able to stand back from something you create, and look at it from different perspectives. I'm just getting into brewing and I'm sure I will have the same fears, and outlook. But I have done graphic design work for many years, and used to run into the same type of thinking. The I could have done this better, or if I just would of tweaked this, but yet the clients loved what I had done. I would take this experience, as a sign to stop getting hung up on the flaws and realize what you are brewing is damn good stuff.

Walker

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I hear ya. I have the perfectionist thing creeping into any artistic thing I do, be it drawing, playing guitar, etc, etc. I think that's why I went into technology as a creer. If the thing I am trying to create functionally does what it is supposed to do, then I don't go crazy with thoughts of what to change to make it better.

At any rate....

if any of you can figure out a way to get a blind taste of your own beer, I suggest you try it and see what you think.

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Ground Fault Brewing Co.

Hammy71

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It's like home improvement. You notice every flaw in the drywall or paint because you did it. No one else SEES it!!! My beers are the same. Some are down right awesome, but I'll still find something to $%tch about!!

Shooter

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Walker, being that I am only acquainted with you through these interwebz, I think the important thing to do here is get my unbiased opinion. I will PM you with my address and you can bundle up a keg of something and send it my way for evaluation.

P.S. Don't bother with the CO2. I'm going to go ahead and bite the bullet here and use my own tank. For this service and use of said gas, I will charge you a nominal fee. This fee is barely worth mentioning as it doesn't even begin to cover my time and effort...and yes, you're welcome!

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Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. - C. S. Lewis, English essayist & juvenile novelist (1898 - 1963)

Walker

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Sure. I'll throw in a couple of $'s for the hassle of having to deal with one of those pesky corny kegs, too. I know they take up quite a bit of space and are require refrigeration, so I would feel bad if I didn't compensate you for the inconvenience.

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Ground Fault Brewing Co.

Zen_Brew

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I hear you Walker. I have similiar experiences with my homebrew and my cooking. For me the problem is expectations. In cooking and brewing you often know exactly what you are looking for in the finished product. You don't always nail the exact flavor, and in your mind it is always a flaw. Then someone comes along to eat your food or drink your beer and they do not have any expectations, except that it will hopefully taste good. So they experience all the flavors in a very zen sort of way having no expectation of the taste.

I can't tell you how many times, especially with cooking, I have served food with an apology that I didn't quite get this flavor or that flavor where I wanted it, only to have my guests tell me quite genuinely that the dish was wonderful. Same thing with some of my beer.

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Primary: German Hef, Belgian IPA, Scottish 80, Belgian Dubbel
On Tap: Oatmeal Stout, Vanilla Oatmeal Stout, Belgian Dark Strong, Munich Dunkel, Dunkel Weizen, Oktoberfest, Bock, IPA, Black IPA, English IPA, Pale Ale

Using the mind to look for reality is delusion. Using your senses to look for reality is awareness.

"One time I was so desperate for a beer I snuck into the football stadium and ate the dirt under the bleachers." Homer Simpson

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hoppiness

chs9

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Or like when you apologize to your housemates for not making the chili spicy enough, but it's so hot they can't eat it?

Or wait, I think that's different...

arturo7

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Everyone likes my beer but me.



EDIT: of course they could be jivin' me

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Hey, knock that shvt off. We're drinkin' here.

Reelale

Recipes 

It's the opposite for me. People say my beer tastes really bad. I love it. And I dismiss their opinions as uninformed.