Too Critical of the Beer you Brew?

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permo

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I have found that by and large my friends and family really enjoy my beers. I on the other hand seem overly critical of them and sometimes have a hard time just relaxing and enjoying a few. I notice the imperfections, think about what I could have done differently and basically just figuritively "tear the beer apart" . For example I brewed a red india ale with summit hops recently. Everybody loves it but I on the other hand can sense a little green onion from the young summit hops and I just can't drink it. After 60 days in the bottle it will be great by my standards, but I can't stomach it now.

Have any of you also found yourselves to just be too critical of your own beer?
 
Not too critical I guess since any flaws I find don't stop me from enjoying it all together, but I'm definitely more critical than anyone else. I think on some level it's only natural. I'm brewing because I want to make great beer, so if there's something wrong with it I want to fix it. You can't do that unless you notice the imperfections and figure out what's causing them. I also don't dwell on it with every beer in the batch I drink though. The first beer is generally a strictly analytical tasting, as is 3 or so other beers from the batch along the way, but in between I just drink and enjoy them.
 
I've never really had that problem with beer... I always enjoy my brews.

I do have that problem in other areas... such as singing, or playing guitar.... can't stand the sound of my own music.. haha
 
One of my flaws is that I am hyper-critical of anything I do, including the beer I brew. I still enjoy the stuff I drink for the most part, but even the stuff that everyone loves I still tend to focus on what I did wrong or what I need to do better next time.
 
I'm critical of everything I drink. The trick is to be critical for about 30 seconds and then shut off and enjoy the rest of the glass.

Generally speaking the people who can find what is wrong or what could be better in their own beers make the best beers. It is a good quality if you can control it and still enjoy things.
 
your not alone man, i believe that its the strive for greatness, with beer brewing or any other hobby that we all have, that tends to make us so critical.
 
There's another thread on this in the Critique forum, and the consensus is, send some beer to some competitions. Its entirely possible that you're not being too critical, but that your friends are just telling you what want to hear.
 
Yeah I think I'm too critical of the beer I brew. My first batch I thought sucked and was undrinkable, yet 3 people said it wasn't bad at all. My second batch I thought was a bit too bitter, yet everyone loved it unanimously across the board. My cousin asked for another bottle and my mom even asked me to brew her a batch of it personally for her birthday.
 
Yeah, I'm like this with pretty much everything I do too. But I'm an engineer... I can't help it.
 
It's not a good idea to be too critical when serving your beer to others. I have done this, saying things like, "You might not like this." This scares people, usually unnecessarily. Of course, there are situations when you should warn people, like when you are serving a double IIPA to someone who thinks that Stella is cutting edge. But try not to run yourself down to others.
 
I am too critical of my beers as well. I feel that I definitely rip my beers apart. But recently I did reach a high point. I found a beer that I would make again with no drastic changes to the original recipe. I consider that beer to be my best yet and would even consider it for a "house" beer.
 
I do still enjoy my beers, but I am definitely alot more critical on them then any of my friends who drink them are. Its human nature to be critical of your own creations Im sure
 
One of my flaws is that I am hyper-critical of anything I do, including the beer I brew...

Same here... Waaaaaaaaaaaay too critical of the stuff I brew and do. But that same quality is what keeps me on the path of constant improvement. The people I share my stuff with rave about it and even bug me to make more and I am always like "really? you LIKED that one?!?".

The flip side of that coin is that every single beer I've made that I hated turned out great (even by my own critical standards) after a little more time aging. That's where the brewing pipeline comes in. Now that I brew at a faster rate than I can drink or give away, my newer brews end up aging for more like 3 months rather than the rule-of-thumb 3 weeks. They are mighty good by then...

-Tripod
 
I'm pretty critical of all beers, even the ones I like! Not in a bad way, but as a critic. Think of it as a movie critic, or a food critic. You always have the "this is good, but......" but of the critic. I can always find something that I'd like to see tweaked.

It's funny seeing everybody here saying how critical they are. I've judged some competitions where brewers are shocked to get a under 40 score (which is actually really good!) because they think their beers are so much better than they actually are. I actually think most people think their beers are better than they really are.
 
I actually think most people think their beers are better than they really are.

Man, I am not in this camp. Wish I was. I am enjoying a few of my brews right now, and I am appreciating a few on them...but it is just so tough for me to ignore what i see as imperfections.

Maybe for me, it is just the recent "hypereducation" I recieved when I took up brewing. I am also super critical of all beers now and can point out flaws and recognize ingrediants quite quickly.

It has actually got to the point where it is very tough for me to order a beer when we go out to eat....I can't stand most of the garbage passed off for beer.
 
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