Major Buzzkill

So I'm sitting out on my back porch brewing, and my neighbor looks over the fence and asks me what I'm doing. I tell him I'm brewing beer, I give him a basic rundown of the process and whatnot. He smiles and nods and then asks:

"So...what does it taste like?"

"Hold on!", I say.

I go inside and pour him a glass of my last beer and bring it out for him. I explain it's basically an IPA, so it's strong on the hops, etc etc.

He takes a sip and says "So what is it that you put too much of in this??"

At that point, I'm crestfallen. I explain IPA's again. He smiles and nods. Then says:

"Well, I've got a Budweiser waiting for me inside. I'll just chug this."



....

Talk about getting depressed about your first all-grain.
I just bought this house, but I think I'm going to have to move...

On a good note, two of my buddies were over earlier and they loved it

oh man that sucks.....what a diss

is the guy cool or is he a dick?

maybe you can sway him with your prechious homebrew

Honestly though, if you are used to Bud and that's all you drink, and you have an IPA (maybe first ever) you are going to think something is very wrong.

Got to start him off with something a little less flavorful.

yeah tell me about it i took my friend who is sort of new to beer. i ttok him to tap new york the beer festival he liked a lot of the beer but he didnt go for the complex beers. well i told him it was a good exposure to differnet style and it will show him there is more out there then the watered down stuff... but hey i bet the IPA tasted great dont get down on yourself look at the bright side theres now more for you. what he donst know is that is going to be the freshest beer he will ever have

he probably couldn't taste the deliciousness of the bud after that...lucky him

greenhornet said:

is the guy cool or is he a dick?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure anymore

Yeah, all I ever see him drink is Bud, so this was probably a lot different than what he was used to. I'm sure my face must've been priceless when he said that though. I felt like someone had just insulted my child. Ah well, screw him, more for me!

Just set aside a "special" sixpack for your new favorite neighbor next time you brew! Hopefully it won't give him the runs, that would be awful!!

No big loss if you ask me.
Some people don't like beer with flavor I've found even in my own home.
If they like Bud or the like fine with me as was said just more good beer with real flavor and buz for me and those who do have taste.

Take care not to worry.

the first time anyone tried my hb (besides my gf) was this friends friend that came over...I offered him a beer (we had some BMC in the fridge that was left over from a party) he spotted my hb asked what it was....so I told him it was the first beer that I had made...dude thought it was pretty cool and had one

he said he liked it

then he drank a whole bottle of boones farm fuzzy navel

For most people who drink BMC type beer, I think that is what they define as beer. Anything else is just crap to them.
Actually took me a while to figure out that every beer has a different taste and that because they do, they are great in their own right.
When I started brewing I tried to replicate the Labatts and Molsons beers that I was accustomed to. After reading up on the different beer styles and their perceived flavors, I quickly realized to judge a beer by taste, not by what I thought it should be.

I don't suffer from that.

I keep my beer for myself.

I would take that as a compliment d2d. I mean come on you don't expect a BMC drinker to like your IPA do ya. Do you think this guy would like Harpoon if he tasted it or maybe DFH or Victory Hop Devil? I think the answer is hell no. Don't get me wrong alot of BMC drinkers drink my homebrew, but not my IPA. That is something you really have to have a taste for. My IPA is about the only thing I can brew and be assured nobody is going to hit me up for some.

I wouldn't have liked an IPA right off the bat either. No big deal if you ask me

Some people just don't like really bitter beers....I know I don't. I'm just not a big fan of them, I stick with beers like hefeweizens and belgians, or things a little less hoppy like pale ales. Not everyone is a hop head

I think it's kinda funny the guy asked you what you "accidently" put too much of in....

greenhornet said:

I think it's kinda funny the guy asked you what you "accidently" put too much of in....

Click to expand...

I would have responded, "Well, if you're used to Bud, there is too much of everything but rice in there."

Thanks guys, I feel better now that I've had a few homebrews. It is kind of funny, and I do realize that going from Bud to IPA is a big jump....but it was the "accidently" that kind of irked me. After I had explained what an IPA was, and told him to probably expect something he wasn't used to. I guess he thought he was being funny...

Problem is, you rushed too soon to get him to like good beer.

My neighbor sees me brewing in my garage every weekend. He's always snooping, asking prodding me for a glimpse and a taste.

To this point I have him convinced that he won't like it. Not because what I brew is bad, but because he's been raised on the "Ragu" of beer. And I explain that you just can't jump from a jar of Ragu to gourmet italian red sauce.

I think I have him at the point where he won't be able to deny the goodness once he takes a sip.

You have to take the Tom Sawyer approach...you know...the white washing the fence part?

And if he doesn't like it? I'll just say...."see, I told you your tastebuds weren't ready for a craft beer...maybe BMC is all you're destined to drink the rest of your life..."

man your the dick...

greenhornet said:

man your the dick...

Click to expand...

Heh, heh...


Maybe. But I'm doing it for his own good. Would love to convert him and get him into homebrewing.

There's a big difference in reactions I get between "hey, wanna try some of my homemade beer???" and "this? why this is a craft brew...I'm following the same recipe that Arthur Guinees used back in 1,7XX when he first started brewing beer back in his home town of ______, Ireland..."

I think there are two things I'm convinced of regarding homebrewers...

1. We all think our own beer is great.
2. We all think it has to be a huge, complex recipe in order to be a "good" beer.

I recently went to my first beer competition in Irving, TX...the Bluebonnet Brew-Off. I sampled 40 to 50 HBs and I'd bet I threw out 50% of them. Now, I favor myself as more of a hop-head, and I love most IPAS, but there's really not a style that I don't like, or at least not one that I can't appreciate. However, let's be honest...some beers just taste bad, especially those with overly complex and strong flavors that really lack some kind of balance or overall plan. Yet, if I don't like it, I must be a beer neophyte!

Even if your execution of the brew was spot-on, it could be that it's just a poorly conceived recipe or a style that somebody just isn't ready for. Hell, many of us are just closet "mad-scientists"...and I'd be very hesitant to give my complex concoctions to somebody whos only alchemy experience has come at the foot of a Budweiser keg. If you really want to get people to appreciate your brews, at least give them something in the style they might like. A Bud lover will be more likely to appreciate your Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Blue Moon clone than they will an DFH IPA clone or Stout.

I've met a lot of beer "snobs" who roll their eyes back when they even THINK of somebody ordering a Corona Light...and I think we should be careful NOT to be elitists when it comes to beer. Hell, beer is like religion and politics...everybody has an opinion and nobody likes to have their beliefs attacked. If you tell me that your beer is better than the beer I like, I'm the one that might be offended.

So, I'd be careful when trying to change people's concept of what "good" beer is. Hell, a cold Budweiser on a hot day can be 100x better than some of the craft beers I've tasted from homebrewers who insisted that their beer was the "real thing."

Just my $.02!

I hear ya Jay52...

I've had quite a few Buds in my days at college and although I don't think I've had one since I left it served me well.

It was the phrasing that killed me. "accidently"...bah.

I know I definitely try not to be an elitest, I just try to get people interested in homebrewing...

BierMuncher on the other hand...EAC to the max

I would have killed to see his face after he "chugged" your IPA then opened up that cold bud and then had to double check that it was not a can of soda water.

And I would have answered back. "I accidentally added hops and malt and forgot the rice."

The only reason I let my neighbot try my IPA is because he actually knew what the acryonym means. Not that it's an indicator that he'd like it, but at least he's aware of the style at all.

D2T said:

I hear ya Jay52...

I've had quite a few Buds in my days at college and although I don't think I've had one since I left it served me well.

It was the phrasing that killed me. "accidently"...bah.

I know I definitely try not to be an elitest, I just try to get people interested in homebrewing...

BierMuncher on the other hand...EAC to the max

Click to expand...

Yeah, I wasn't accusing you of being an elitist. It's just that, before my "illumination" to "good" beer, I've been on the other side of that.

I think as afficionados, if we don't like somebody's HB, then we'll at least appreciate it in some way. But for somebody like your neighbor, he hasn't learned appreciation yet. That person used to be me...and I didn't care much for the attitiudes of my Guiness drinking friends who laughed at me because I thought Stouts tasted like crap.

I had to make a beer choice at a local Mexican restaurant tonight between Corona, Bud Light, Budweiser, and Sam Adams on tap. Thank goodness the Sammy was available, but two years ago I would have gone with the Corona...and if the Sammy wasn't on tap tonight, I WOULD have chosen the Corona. Just because I now have an expanded taste palate and can now appreciate other styles, it doesn't mean the Corona I once liked so much is now a bad beer. Heck, if my wife thought enough of me to bring a 12'er of Corona's home for me, she'd still get a thank you kiss.

Reminds me of being in Northern Saskatchewan last summer for a reunion. There was wine sharing thing we forgot to buy wine for, so we borrowed a cousins car and drove along gravel "grid road" system for 30 minutes at break neck speeds to this little town with a liqour outlet that was attached to a hotel bar. ("the" hotel).

Now the wine was sold in the outlet but beer had to be bought from the attached bar. So I walk in and there are a bunch of locals sitting at a table. One was the bar tender. Cigarette pack in the shoulder of his t-shirt. Very uh..farmer redneck looking. Though very nice and polite. Most people in Saskatchewan are. Anyway, he asks me what I wanted and I said, "Do you have any Pale Ale?" (The national beer for Saskatchewan is "Pilsner", brewed by Molson and hasn't been a real pilsner for 40 years.) So he looks up at me, kinda perplexed and says, "Pale Ale? I haven't heard of that brand." then pauses and says, "But I'll check in the back."

I said, not to bother. Besides "Pilsner" another beer company, Pacific Western Brewing makes 3 popular beers. PW Lager, PW Pilsner and PW Ale. All three look and taste the same. Like a light lager.

D2T said:

BierMuncher on the other hand...EAC to the max

Click to expand...

I heard that....

I'm cutting you outta my will.

No kegerator for you....

Pssshttt..I've got my own kegerator, thank you!

dont even bother. I have two friends that wont touch my beer. Even when I poured a glass of my Kolsch, they said....well thats better, but its not Busch thats for sure.

I completely agreed, it sure as hell aint Busch now is it! I stopped even trying with them. its easier to just let them bring their own over

hey Muncher....I was joking by the way

I think it's kinda funny how your building him up until the time is right....like holding the carrot infront of the rabitts face

The human body is a marvelous thing, it can change good beer into BMC. Handy tap at front of body for pouring straight into bottles...

greenhornet said:

hey Muncher....I was joking by the way

I think it's kinda funny how your building him up until the time is right....like holding the carrot infront of the rabitts face

Click to expand...

Yeah I know you were kidding.

Ya gotta know my neighbor. You can make a comment about how hot it is outside when it's 101 and he'll argue that "this ain't hot...you don't know hot...why where I come from...blah, blah, blah..."

Kind of a know it all.

Trust me, when my friends come over, they know to expect the HB to be flowing freely.

Oh and D2T, careful with throwing the EAC label around. Some around here ain't quite as easy goin...or mildly drunk as I am.

Plus, it just isn't very nice.

where's your neighbor from?

cuz it's hot as **** here...and it's just now may

greenhornet said:

where's your neighbor from?

cuz it's hot as **** here...and it's just now may

Click to expand...

Why don't more ppl appreciate good beer?

-- Trev

Personally I never understood the liking for BUDWEISER or other beers of that caliber. Every time I tried to drink that stuff when I was young I just got sick to my stomach, but then again I have always been a hop head or more complex beer drinker. When I started brewing a year ago I finally switched some of my other friends over to the other side of the tracks with me to "GOOD BEER" or my opinion of good beer. Technically, people in general will always have different opinions of taste so as long as you are open minded than we all can drink together and be happy.

Bagsworth said:

Personally I never understood the liking for BUDWEISER or other beers of that caliber. Every time I tried to drink that stuff when I was young I just got sick to my stomach, but then again I have always been a hop head or more complex beer drinker. When I started brewing a year ago I finally switched some of my other friends over to the other side of the tracks with me to "GOOD BEER" or my opinion of good beer. Technically, people in general will always have different opinions of taste so as long as you are open minded than we all can drink together and be happy.

Click to expand...

I also can't understand it either. In high school and college I tried the beers available (BMC and cheaper) but found them disgusting. I figured I just didn't like beer. But I do like trying different things and when I moved up to Boston and starting working with some engineers who appreciated good beer I gave it a try. Guess what I really like good beer. I still don't like getting drunk which usually limits me to 2 or 3 beers in an evening but I really enjoy trying new styles.

Craig

thedaler said:

Some people just don't like really bitter beers....I know I don't. I'm just not a big fan of them, I stick with beers like hefeweizens and belgians, or things a little less hoppy like pale ales. Not everyone is a hop head

Click to expand...

Just to expand on daler's point, just like some people have better eyesight and better hearing than others. Some people have more sensitve taste buds. Also some people just find bitterness offensive.

My wife loves the beer I brew but I cut way back on the hops for her.

Also don't forget that there is a huge emotional attachment to Bud because of the massive amount of advertising. I've done blind taste tests on my cousin who said he loves Bud but says other beers taste better when there's no label involved then he goes right back to Bud.

Don't forget that not to long back Bud and the like were the only things readily available.
So they grew up with their fathers and uncles drinking Bud. When it came time for them to get beer (leagaly or otherwise), they went for Bud.
People are afraid of change and things that are new or unfamiliar.

I'm fairly young in the grand scheme of things, but I'm sure many of you old timers came up thru the beer ranks drinkking the "swill".

Personally I never liked Bud or the likes from the start. Corona was tollerable with lime, but not quite it. Once I had a choice in what was bought for me I tried Killians and it's all been down hilll from there.


Anybody else here like PBR? I've tended to notice most BMC drinkers think PBR is crap, but the quality beer drinkers think Pabst is a decent American Golden Lager.
Stumbled across Stroh's this week (stuck in Springfield, OH. The beer scene seems dismal from every thing I've found), not to bad.

D*Bo said:

Anybody else here like PBR? I've tended to notice most BMC drinkers think PBR is crap, but the quality beer drinkers think Pabst is a decent American Golden Lager.
Stumbled across Stroh's this week (stuck in Springfield, OH. The beer scene seems dismal from every thing I've found), not to bad.

Click to expand...

I think PBR is a decent beer. Better than BMC, but not near as good as the brews those of us on this forum typically drink homebrew or commercial. I think BMC drinkers think it is crap because it actually has some flavor to it and BMC doesn't.

PBR is a good beer, but all the trendy, scene/emo asses in NYC have turned me off of it.