Are you still buying commercial beer?

I bought a cae of commercial beer last night; an assorted one from Adarondix brewers in NY.

I like the convienece of drinking from a bottle but I refuse to bottle my own. Too messy and time consuming. only cornies for me.

I have not purchased commercial beer for personal consumption at a store in 2 years. Having said that, I do still hit the pubs and pay for the pints there.

I would say I drink roughly:

40% my home brew
10% others home brew
30% draught commercial
20% packaged commercial

eanmcnulty said:

If they have a screwtop, chances are I won't buy it (sorry Goose Island, sorry Lagunitas.

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That's odd, every Lagunitas bottle I've purchased has been pop-top; in fact, they're identical to the Sierra Nevada bottles.

I balk at buying screwtop bottles for exactly the same reason as you, which is why I'm so sure that the case of Little Sumpin' Sumpin' I just got doesn't have them.

only 2-3 6 packs in the last 5 months, mainly for variety before the pipeline got going.

Now that I've got enough bottles/variety I don't buy any bottled beer. I'l occasionally have a pint at a local pub (but only 1-2 places have something I'd buy)

Not sure I'll ever move to kegging. I like have 6+ varieties in the closet, and the choice of which to put in the fridge.

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

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

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Man I agree with you too much on this forum it is scary!

I told SWMBO that I am not buying cases any more. Why? I can do 5 gallons and have it on tap for about half the price of one case. I will get sixers and 750 bottles of stuff I havent had, for a special occasion. But as far as going out and buying a case of IPA or hefe, or whatever, I am trying to see how long I can keep the pipeline up!

I will buy BMC so I can have a few after work of the mood strikes and I have nothing in the keg. Or for other occasions when I know the beer I make won't be appreciated.

I do agree a lot of craft brew is overhyped and overpriced. I usually am not disappointed with Belgians but not very impressed with a lot of the products I drink. But I am on the East coast and all everyone talks about on here is West coast beers/breweries. Beers I can't get.

Can't remember the last time I bought packaged beer... now filling my growler when I run for brewing supplies is a different story.

I buy too much beer to tell the truth. Granted I haven't brewed much this summer due to moving and extensive traveling, but even when I am brewing I still buy a lot of beer. It varies from Genesse and Black Label to Bell's, Founder's, Sierra Nevada, to expensive limited beers. My cellar is starting burgeon with 750s and bombers and I don't even want to begin thinking about the amount of money that is sitting with that. Though that's the double edge sword of working at a big homebrew and craft beer shop. I'm around this stuff 40 hours a week so it's a miracle that I walk out of here with a paycheck. Not to mention all the good beer bars and breweries around my town that I frequent quite regularly. But I'm a big beer nerd and like to try everything, besides it's all market research .

I buy yuengling when I am going to the beach or something.

rarely, and i consider it tasty research when i do. i'll buy a 6-pack of a style i'm thinking about brewing, and decide if i should brew it or not

I like that...tasty research. For me it's usually to try something new. Something from one of the Scandinavian or UK breweries or a special run of something. I sometimes look through the 100-odd brews at the grocery store and think "hmmmm....nahh...nothing special here". It's then that I realize I am well and truly spoiled! The exception of course is if I'm running low on homebrew, in which case I might pick up a quality sixer. Trying to stick with homebrew, though, whenever possible...

My commercial purchases have actually gotten out of control. With a Total Wine near me I have access to hundreds of beers, many available in singles. I ran the numbers today and without including my brewing costs I'm spending about $100 on beer a month. I can't keep that pace up so I'm on a commercial beer hiatus for a while.

I buy new commercial beer to try and clone it. Being from tax crazy Ontario, craft beer is way too expensive. I still take a side trip to buy a couple of cans of Fullers London Pride. Still my favourite beer.

Only when I go out to dinner.

Pat

I still buy commercial beers for sure. I like trying new beers that I haven't had, and I enjoy drinking some of my old standbys with the new appreciation I've gained for their craftsmanship. I also love checking out new combinations of ingredients and I can ALWAYS use a few more 22ozers come bottling time!

VERRRRRRY Rarely.

Brewing is not a cheap hobby, so I need to get money from somewhere. It's too expensive for me to do both.

I have a lot of respect for craft brewers. I will go out of my way to buy their product that is unavailable in our local, pathetic beer stores. It is usually a day trip with the wife and that way, sort of a mini-holiday.

Yeah I've got half a pantry full of random bits i've bought, from standard ales/lagers/ciders to strange liquors and stuff from home-made suppliers, ciders and wines etc. heh.
still regularly spend £15 a week on beer for home and £30 or so at pubs/clubs.

eanmcnulty said:

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.

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I follow Goose Island on Facebook, they recently announced they were going to pop tops and there was much rejoicing from the home brewers that follow them. I imagine it will take a bit of time for the screw top inventory to move but after that you should see them with pop tops.

I've been drinking and brewing beer for about 40 years. What is a craft beer?

robertbartsch said:

I've been drinking and brewing beer for about 40 years. What is a craft beer?

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A beer that someone likes (generally from a brewery other than BMC.)

I still buy beer, cheap or craft depending on the situation. If it's just me and a few people I'll look around for new belgians or Marz styles and try to make a clone of it if I can find a recipe. If there are going to be a lot of people I'll just get keystone/busch since most people in my peer group don't care what they drink or are too used to light beers and don't like the heavy ones I try to brew.

Off topic, but I saw John Lennon's NYC concert last night on TV and he was drinking beer on stage and I am pretty sure it was a can of Miller. Just found that interesting.

I started brewing more often this year to avoid buying anymore overpriced, and pretty bad supermarket beer here in norway.

I have stopped buying generic supermarket beer in the lat 6 months, although I still wander off to the local wine monopoly here in Norway and buy the odd bottle of something special.

Im only now starting to brew more styles of beer, so maybe a year from now Ill not be buying so many from the "pol" either.

I still like all of it. Normally at the store, I am buying either a seasonal micro or good ole PBR, or even bud light lime! Life's too short for me to be too snobby about it. Enjoy all of it!

+1 on Reasearch
+1 on Pop tops (dominion brewery)
+1 on lagers
+1 on Bottles

I am lucky that I live near a Total Wine & More store that has a great selection of craft brew. The prices are pretty solid too! I was walking around and saw a case of SN Pale Ale for $27, thats pretty darn good! The store also sells singles, which is where I usually spend 40 minutes of my visit ooo-ing and ahh-ing I love this hobby and the fact that I can brew 5 gallons for about $20, but I find I am buying a lot more craft brew than before! I was strictly natty light before this hobby! I know, I know...im frugal

Usually when I run out of homebrew I will buy a sixer of something to hold me over, and also get to use the bottles. I still buy my seasonal favorites or beers I have yet to try, even if I do have homebrews in the basement.

Though since I've started homebrewing, I definitely buy less microbrew beer.