Are you still buying commercial beer?

I have 8 batches at various stages of conditioning and have not purchased any store bought beer for a couple of weeks now.

Is this common or do brewers also buy beer from a store often?

One reason I am now brewing is to avoid recycling bottles.

I still buy beer at the store, but now its always from a microbrew for the shear purpose of recycling the bottles. That and widening my pallete with different beers gives me a better spectrum to judge my own beers on. Furthermore it gives me better ideas to improve my beer quality.

I hombrew as well(as if that needs to be stated), but I'm not about to order a $12 pack of 12 bottles, pay the shipping, and not be able to drink out of it. Pfft. I'll pay the +$1 - 3 to get my drink on and have bottles for later.

I still buy singles of seasonal or harder to find commercial beers. I'd probably buy less if I brewed more, but not being able to keg right now and limited bottles are holding me back.

I'll buy an assorted six-pack every once in a while to try out different micro-brews in the area, but I haven't bought a case of beer in a few years.

I had to break down and buy 2 cases when my supply ran low a few weeks ago.....other than that, a 6-pack about once a month to try new stuff, and/or if I'm going to a friend's house and don't want to be bothered with bottling any up.

I buy microbrews when going to a social event where I know I will have to drink from the bottle. That's the only time I prefer filtered beers over bottle conditioned.

Like most others have mentioned here, I still buy craft brewery beers or certain imports (usually Belgian or German). As a beginner homebrewer, one major reason for me buying these is to aspire to reach the level of the great taste of these brews.

The most 'commercial' beers I've recently bought were Sierra Nevada Pale Ales and Guiness. Both were purchases at Costco. The Sierra Nevada is for neighbors who don't 'get' homebrews/craft beers (unless its a hefeweizen) and I cannot in good conscience, have them drink BMC.

The Guiness is for me. I just like the stuff and it's one of the first beers I'd fallen in love with long before I developed a palate for good beers.

Only if I run out of homebrew - or occasionally just to try something different.

There are two large beer supply stores in my neck of the woods (Weschester county NY) but their selection of micro-brewed beer is very small. I don't think this stuff moves so they are reluctant to carry it. Dido for micro-brewed tap beer sold at bars.

In NJ when my parents had a package store, the state required that beer was to be paid for by the retailer in cash or check upon delievery. ..another reason to not want to carry slow-moving inventory???

Anyway, ...the watered-down yellow pis$ beer is more popular than ever.....

I constnatly buy craft beer. When ever I am going for a new style, I get a selection of commercial beer to drink while brewing, and I save one for comparison tasting. I use the bottles for home brew. If they have a screwtop, chances are I won't buy it (sorry Goose Island, sorry Lagunitas. I also don't like bottles that are painted on (sorry Stone). I bought Stone a few times to taste. Excellent beer. I love Sierra Neveda bottles for homebrew.

eanmcnulty said:

I use the bottles for home brew. If they have a screwtop, chances are I won't buy it (sorry Goose Island, sorry Lagunitas. I also don't like bottles that are painted on (sorry Stone). I bought Stone a few times to taste. Excellent beer. I love Sierra Neveda bottles for homebrew.

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You know you're a true homebrewer when the style of bottle affects your decision on which beer to buy, hahaha. I love Stone but I find myself buying their beer less and less now because it's a PITA to reuse their bottles.

I still buy beer pretty regularly, just not in large quantities at any one time. There are too many good beers in this world to drink only mine.

BrookdaleBrew said:

You know you're a true homebrewer when the style of bottle affects your decision on which beer to buy, hahaha. I love Stone but I find myself buying their beer less and less now because it's a PITA to reuse their bottles.

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I love Sierra Necessary beer too, not just the bottles. I'm not crazy. Thanks for calling me a true homebrewer. After 29 batches I feel like it.

Yes, yes I do.

Im not married to my beer. I like a variety in life.

I get disappointed too often when buying craft brew, so I don't bother much any more. If my pipeline gets bust, then I'll buy some BMC and ***** about it. At least it's not costing me a fortune. Much of the craft brew is over hyped and over priced IMO

Yup. Just bought a 4 pack of DogFish Head 90, and a sixer of Sierra Nevada Kelerwiess yesterday. $26 bucks.
I am running low on homebrew.

i still buy commercial just not nearly as often for obvious reasons.

I still really enjoy commercial beers. Especially to try new things or to drink beers you dont care to have 5 - 10 gallons of

I still do, but once I am able to get my kegging going it will slow way down. I like how many commercial craft beers taste, but would not want 5 gal of it so I by a 6er.

I still buy lots of commercial beers. I love Hop Czar IPA, so I always have that on hand. I am building a pipeline too, so i need the bottles. I also usually keep a case of Coors light on hand for when friends come over, drinking games, etc.

We still buy store bought beers. I still like to try the different ones and see if I want to brew it.

Actually I bought a "Brew Free or Die IPA" from 21st Amendment last night. It was pretty good if I do say so myself. I told my wife that she has to try the Watermelon Wheat and see if she enjoys it. She loves sweet beer and that's it. I'm the only hop head in the house.

until my wife put a kibosh on me for spending too damn much money, i would buy a six pack or two every week just to try stuff out. i think it's part of the research/development process!

I pick up beers when i want to try making a new style. Bought a Pelican Brewery Saison at the store (saisons seem to be hard to find!!!!!)
Pretty tasty although the head was ridiculous when i poured it into a straight-sided glass.

I'll be brewing my own Saison next!

Of course! I can't keep up with demand for my brews so I regularly supplement my fridge stash with commercial beers. I like many different styles and enjoy exploring new ones as well. New Belgium doesn't have distribution in FLA (likely due to the BS "3-tier" system in this state) so my brother recently brought me three assorted cases from NC. I really like the Skinny Dip. A nice refreshing beer for the 95*+ summer days.

Do people cook at home and still go out to eat sometimes, too? Homebrewing and drinking commercial beer are in no way mutually exclusive.

I believe this hobby requires Xerox-Parc-levels of research. I buy beer ALL THE TIME. From BMC to craft brews to imports, I'm always buying some sort of beer. I've got a little side bet going with the top brass at the Pentagon that I can spend more on commercial beer than they do on their war toys. They're winning right now, but I think I can pull out a win by the end of the year.

Costs are getting expensive for craft brews. The sweet spot these days seems to be the big brewery imports. Domestics are up in price and craft beers are WAY up in price. For example, yesterday I picked up a 12-pack of Coors Light for $11, a 12-pack of Warsteiner Oktoberfest for $14 and a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada Summer Brew for $18. To me the Warsteiner is the best beer for the money in that lot. I even see a lot of Spaten stuff like Optimator and Dunkel lately for $12-$14 per 12-pack. I haven't stopped buying craft beer by by means, but I buy a lot less of it now.

I'm a cheapskate so....I don't plan on buying much commercial beer unless I get tired of brewing.... I hate dealing with bottles and recycling.

Oh yeah, and on occaision i will bring a corney down to the local brewery (Oakshire) and have em fill it for me. $50 is pretty good for over 5gallons of really excellent beer!

i've called all the micros in the milwaukee area and none will fill corny's

Most of my buying is research to find the next thing to brew. Most of it gets drained down the sink. Last purchase was something from http://www.capturedbyporches.com/ourbeers.html?lcat=2, comes in a flip top with a $1.00 deposit so you can keep the bottle, took a few sips and trashed it. They suckered me with the bottle. I'll buy a Rogue every once in a while and have only been disappointed once with the orange wheat, otherwise everything was good.

I find most commercial stuff to either be too tame/boring or poorly handled and not all that fresh tasting. Something about $.20-$.40 per beer is also more appealing.

skx said:

Oh yeah, and on occaision i will bring a corney down to the local brewery (Oakshire) and have em fill it for me. $50 is pretty good for over 5gallons of really excellent beer!

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Damn, I miss Eugene.

Any idea if Ninkasi or Hop Valley will also fill cornys?

About half my consumption is microbrew. There are way too many great breweries around here and many, many styles that I might only want a pint or two of, not 5 gallons.

i do. just ALOT less. Plus I get tired of drinking only ales, especially lately, lagers are all commercial for me till i get a fermentation fridge.

2 big myths of homebrewing:

1. I'm going to save money

2. I'm going to stop buying/drinking commercial beer.

I was buying a ton of microbrews for awhile to get bottles. Since i Mostly keg now I buy the occasional sixer and 30 pack of High Life. Hard to beat High Life on a hot day working around the house.

I haven't bought commercial beers for like a year.
Then i got this book 1001 beers you must taste before you die, And now...I am drinking 1 beer out of the book a week. Every once in awhile i will sneak in a extra or if i am somewhere and see something in the book on tap.

But i am guilty of going down to our local brewery every week and having a beer or two or three.....

JJL said:

I still buy beer pretty regularly, just not in large quantities at any one time. There are too many good beers in this world to drink only mine.

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Exactly. There are plenty of brewers out there making better beer than me. I'd be foolish not to try what's out there.

Plus, I don't have a lagering fridge. If I want a lager, I've got to buy them.

BrookdaleBrew said:

You know you're a true homebrewer when the style of bottle affects your decision on which beer to buy, hahaha.

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Quoted for agreement. I often buy unusual 22oz-ers for the bottle and out of curiosity.

I still buy commercial brews. The local store has a build your own six pack cooler, so I do that quite a lot. They rotate through 150 or so different beers, so there's always enough good stuff to build a sixer. I also buy bombers if it's something different/interesting (Deschutes Hop in the Dark is a current fav). I've got four batches in the basement, but like trying the non-BMC commercial stuff too.

I still don't have a kegerater. That puts a damper on my kegged beer. Usually, I just fill my bottles with whatever I want to drink for the night and put them in the fridge. I don't always get around to it, though. When I get one with 4-6 taps then I'll probably quit buying commercial beer.