a friend tried one of my homebrews...

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flushdrew42

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so, once i started talking about homebrewing, my friends all were making requests for what i should brew, as well as begging for bottles to try.

so, this week, 3 months after starting this hobby, i sent a couple bottles home with two coworkers.

i'm pretty pleased with the results of my porter - in fact, i picked up a 6 pack of New Belgium's 1554, which tastes nearly identical. (made me proud!)

anyway. i should keep in mind these guys are BMC drinkers (and are all infatuated with the new Bud Light Platinum)... but... i was not prepared for this text...

"keeping in mind it's an early brew of yours, it was pretty rough..."


ouch.
anyone else experience this?

i've been really impressed with it myself, it's malty, hoppy, has an almost roasty quality to it. black as the ace of spades, but clear when you shine a light thru it. decent head, good carb, leaves nice lacing on the glass...

makes me nervous about sharing... (oh well more for me!)
 
Naw, no biggie. Trying to introduce bmc drinkers to homebrew with a porter is a daunting task. I'm sure your beer is good, it's their palettes that are lacking!
 
Don't be discouraged. If you like it, that's really all you need. Take it to your homebrew shop or people who generally understand different styles - they'll be able to give you better feedback.

Your experience is VERY typical of homebrewers with BMC friends. It's different than what they're used to.
 
If they aren't craft brew drinkers in the first place, I wouldn't worry about it one iota. I really only care about the reviews of other homebrewers myself, as they know what goes into the beer and what should be the final result, and will usually give honest feedback.

Asking your BMC buddies what they think of your craft brew is like asking Obama what he thinks about your Flat Tax plan.
 
Don't be discouraged. If you like it, that's really all you need. Take it to your homebrew shop or people who generally understand different styles - they'll be able to give you better feedback.

Your experience is VERY typical of homebrewers with BMC friends. It's different than what they're used to.

Yes do this^^^, asking coworker who's pallets are not accustomed to anything but American light lagers is most likely not going to get you any good constructive criticism.
 
mike, ty, bad67z, and topher...
thanks. a ton.

i also gave a bottle to my homebrewer coworker, and he's going to let it sit in his fridge about a week, said he prefers that timeline for refrigeration.

i'm actually nervous about his opinion. b/c i've tried his beers and they are incredible. he has been brewing for 12 years, i've been brewing 12 weeks. but, he's been incredibly helpful, and has offered to let me brew on his self built "Top Tier" system. we'll split the grist and he'll give me 5 gallons and he'll keep 5.

i should have realized a BMC guy isn't a good critic.
i've never been a BMC guy, and i love porters, stouts and Rye beers. (not saying i don't drink coors every now and again)
 
It's fine. I'm sure the porter is great, and they just don't have the pallete to appreciate the style of beer you're brewing. I've encountered the same thing with my family. I unveiled my wildflower honey black ale at our annual family New Years Eve party and it went over like a lead balloon.

I was the only one drinking it by the end of the evening. It's malty with belgian yeast and wildflower honey backnotes with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. They all panned it in favor of coors and mic ultra. It's what they've been conditioned into believing beer should taste like. I don't hold it against them. It just means more for me!
 
Absolutely agreed with TyTanium and bad67z. Another suggestion: if you can, find a local homebrew club. You can get some honest and accurate feedback there, as well as some suggestions on how to correct stuff IF stuff actually needs correcting! Plus, a bunch of cool folks to brew with, which is always a plus.

I've got several co-workers with various tastes that I've shared brews with, and so far I've only had one real surprise response like you've described - and that in itself I've found surprising!
 
I once took a 6 of Deception Cream Stout to the in-laws. I found out later that SIL "had to put salt in it to make it drinkable" - !! Yikes!

You just gotta shrug those things off. SWMBO and I both love Deception, so I'll keep making it. I found other brews that they like, so everyone is happy.
 
i've got an APA going, and an amber and golden/blonde-ish that are just about ready to drink. i think giving him/them a lighter colored beer might make a huge difference.

there's a homebrew club 45 miles away, and they only meet quarterly. but i'm going to try to make their march meeting.
 
Back when I was a BMC drinker I would have thought a robust porter tasted "rough" as well as I was not accustomed to beer with actual taste. I would not describe BMC as "Malty", "Hoppy" or "tasty" at all.
 
i also gave a bottle to my homebrewer coworker, and he's going to let it sit in his fridge about a week, said he prefers that timeline for refrigeration.

i'm actually nervous about his opinion. b/c i've tried his beers and they are incredible. he has been brewing for 12 years, i've been brewing 12 weeks. but, he's been incredibly helpful, and has offered to let me brew on his self built "Top Tier" system. we'll split the grist and he'll give me 5 gallons and he'll keep 5.

i should have realized a BMC guy isn't a good critic.
i've never been a BMC guy, and i love porters, stouts and Rye beers. (not saying i don't drink coors every now and again)

This sound like the person that could give you some excellent feedback and drastically reduce your learning curve. Congrats on your brewing successes to come.
 
When people find out I brew, they some times ask for a bottle. I look at them and ask, have you ever had a real beer before?, because if your idea of beer is BMC your probably not going to like this.
 
I wouldn't be worried about that feedback one bit. Given their choice of beers, they would have said the same thing about Guinness and other well respected stouts/porters probably... Its like giving someone who loves justin bieber a black sabbath cd for xmas.

Pretty much everyone I hang around hates stouts and porters and any beer that resembles a meal. I may try a small batch (2gal) of Oatmeal stout or something though.
I don't mind Mill St Coffeee Porter we have here at a local brew pub. Very tasty. I love the Erdinger Dunkel.
 
I do love me some 1554. Do you mind sharing the recipe?

i seriously don't mind! (keep in mind this is a 1.5gal recipe)

four deuce homebrews - big bluff porter
partial grain

1/4 lb chocolate malt
1/2 lb crystal 60 (BIAB - 60 min @ 155)
i do this in a 3qt pot on stove top w/ grain bag

BOIL - 60 min
1 1/2lb NB Dark Malt Extract syrup
1/4 lb Dark Brown sugar.

1/4 oz "C" hops 60
1/4 oz "C" hops 30
1/4 oz "C" hops 5
1tsp irish moss 5
bakers yeast (as yeast nutrient) 5
i'm sure you can use whichever of the C hops you want, i use cascade for 60, and centennial for 30 and 5.
irish ale yeast

two weeks primary, one week secondary.
OG 1.058-61
FG on my first run was 1.009



thanks again for all the encouragement.
 
I have found that almost everyone loves an American Pale Ale. If done right it is light enough that it drinks like a light beer, has enough maltiness to please the sweet beer lovers and enough hoppy flavor to please those who like taste. My wife actually thinks the Sierra Nevada tastes like Yuengling lager, haha. I sometimes wonder about her. ;)
 
Don't worry about it. I'm sure while they were drinking it they were saying, "I don't like dark beers" or "this stuff is too thick"

I've had BMC drinkers say all sorts of weird and borderline insulting things about my beers. I brewed an 90 IBU IPA in which a BMC drinker described as tasting like Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss.
 
now the hilarity comes out!

he just walked in here....

i also gave him a bottle of the MrB kit - my very first beer... which i don't think is very good. and i told him so.

he drank it last night. said "it wasn't flashy, but i could drink that one again"

so. i'm going to pawn the rest of my batch on him.
i should now, officially, consider that no longer a good source of critique.
 
What did rough mean? A good non bitter beer should taste good to most anyone. Was it bottle conditioned? How much bottle trub? Did you tell them to let it sit a week in the fridge before drinking? I'm sure the travel to and from work, shook up all the trub. Did you teach them the homebrew pour? If not, they most likely drank it out of bottle. My guess it might have tasted rough.
 
he didn't drink it from the bottle.
i taught him the homebrew pour.
he sent me a pic of it in his pint glass.

it looked awesome to me.

it was bottle conditioned. 4 weeks now. i gave it to him monday or tuesday, he refrigerated it until last night about 8pm.
 
What did rough mean? A good non bitter beer should taste good to most anyone. Was it bottle conditioned? How much bottle trub? Did you tell them to let it sit a week in the fridge before drinking? I'm sure the travel to and from work, shook up all the trub. Did you teach them the homebrew pour? If not, they most likely drank it out of bottle. My guess it might have tasted rough.

good point...if that is the case, that second drink from the bottle, with all the sediment rising to the top from the carbonation, was probably a bit chewy.
 
I was happily surprised by some folks who joined me for our Super Bowl party which was the 'official' tasting of my first batch. Pretty varied group of folks, including some major BMC drinkers, but a lot who appreciate micro and craft brews.

The response was positive, but it's a different gig altogether. But the interest by a couple guys was hearty enough that they may want to brew themselves and they're coming over tonight for brweing night at my place.
 
I just started brewing again and my wife doesnt like ipa' s so the first beer i made was a double ipa and she said it tasted like throw up....i take that as a compliment coming from her ;-)
 
If you give your beer to someone to try and they choose to share a critique, they should be prepared to suggest adjustments to remedy their comments. If they can't articulate adjustments they probably aren't qualified to critique.

I have opinions about 747 designs. Doesn't mean I am qualified to provide my insight in to the Boeing Design team.
 
I have opinions about 747 designs. Doesn't mean I am qualified to provide my insight in to the Boeing Design team.

+1 to this... i completely agree. if i didn't like something, i need to give reason.

for example.
i don't like corned beef and cabbage. (heresy i know, i'm irish...)
but i have reasons why. the soggy, boiled cabbage tastes like snot to me.


i don't like miller lite. why? because it tastes like an extremely watered down IPA. trying to be hoppy, but just too much water.


i would have appreciated a "why i didn't like this"
 
Keep in mind your first beer. The first time we every had ANY beer, at age 14, 15,16...21, it was pretty terrible. Beer itself is an acquired taste. Most of us just drank it to get the job done. It's not until later years where you had a terrible day at work and just say "F this , I need a beer" do you begin enjoying them.

It takes years to even enjoy a watered down crap beer for the first time. Advancing on to good beers and homebrews is the same process again. I know my brother started before I did, and I thought all his fancy beers were garbage. It took me a few years to start appreciating them, and looking forward to them.
 
i would have appreciated a "why i didn't like this"

Really? Why? Not to be a jerk but the Bud Lite Platinum drinker is unqualified. He will probably say because it was dark in color or something else lame that will not help you brew better.
Brew for yourself. If you want to brew for others (which is fine, I do it too as evidenced by my sig line)- then make a Blue Moon clone or some blonde ale. It will kill. and they can drink it because it is light in color and flavor.

good luck.
 
paniller- true. i do remember thinking "this sucks" when i first had a bud heavy... wait. i still think that.

midfielder5, thanks for the perspective. i am currently brewing two APA's and will be brewing a blonde after that.
 
Cool. Please don't get all fancyyy with the blonde if it is to be made for the crowd. Just make it simple and focus on the craft: aeration, proper amount of yeast to pitch, fermentation temps, etc. Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde is a good start (look in recipe section on here).
> Save the grain/hop/spice experiments for your brews
 
the blonde will be singly hopped, and essentially based from Biermuncher's recipe. cut down to my 1.5 gal batch size.

thanks again everyone!
 
I just started brewing again and my wife doesnt like ipa' s so the first beer i made was a double ipa and she said it tasted like throw up....i take that as a compliment coming from her ;-)

My wife and I used to both not like IPA's but now I can't imagine drinking anything with less hops than them. They are amazing, and we are blessed to live in NorCal where we have easy access to a bunch of great ones.
 
Fifty bucks says he put it in the fridge and then proceeded to drink it as cold as the pee water he usually drinks... I have taken a porter and had someone taste it lager cold, they hated it. Warm it up to the appropriate temp and they said "hey this is pretty good".
 
I have a few frieds that drink Bud lite or Coors Lite. They keep asking to try my homebrew but I keep telling them that they would not like what I brew. I am not giving beer to someone that would ot appreciate it.

On the other hand I do have a lot of friends that like craft brews. My neighbor that loves a good craft brew, after tasting a few of my beers said " you are my new best friend".

Consider the sounce of the critique.
 
smokey- good point!

i told him to leave it out and give it a bit...
i'm not going to worry about it now. just going to move forward and keep brewing what tastes good to me, and what works for my tiny little brewkitchen. thanks!


beergolf - i do need to consider the audience!
 
I have a few frieds that drink Bud lite or Coors Lite. They keep asking to try my homebrew but I keep telling them that they would not like what I brew. I am not giving beer to someone that would ot appreciate it.

On the other hand I do have a lot of friends that like craft brews. My neighbor that loves a good craft brew, after tasting a few of my beers said " you are my new best friend".

Consider the sounce of the critique.

We need a "like" button like Facebook.

***THIS^^^^^
 
Don't be offended. Asking a regular BMC drinker for an opinion on a beer is like seeking advice on good restaurants from someone who eats at McDonald's every day. I say that to make a point, but the comparisons are not that far apart. If your BMC friends don't like it you are probably on the right track.

Welcome to the hobby!!!
 
Taking a bud light platinum drinker's opinion as anything but drivel is like giving out samples of beluga caviar at wal-mart and taking the response seriously. Take it to a hbc meeting or lhbs for some real feedback.
 
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