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Bobby_M

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Believe it or not, this is the first time I'm hauling my brew out to a large party. I know a few are in the know about good beer but as usual the masses of swill drinkers will also be present. I'm bringing my Munich Helles. It's still young in lager terms (brewed 5/24) but it's clean and clear and most quaffable by the masses. I can't believe I feel apprehensive about it as if I needed some validation that I know how to brew.

In anycase, I'm getting hammered tonight. Cheers!
 
I'm sure they'll love the stuff. YOU brewed it, after all. You seem to know what you're doing.

Have fun man.
 
I brought a keg of blonde ale to a party yesterday. It took awhile to convince people that it wasn't "one of those dark, heavy beers" but after a few of the BMC people tried it and gave it their approval the keg went in about 3 hours.

Have fun getting hammered, I'm nursing a hangover today.....
 
I'm sure you have nothing to worry about (but I would feel the same way). Either way I'm sure it will be blown in no time. Start a timer and let us know tomorrow how it went.
 
Last time I took some homebrew to a party (2 kegs English style ESB), I was very disappointed. By the end of the party, both kegs were empty, yet the commercial beers that were there had hardly been touched. Getting through 2 kegs in one night caused me to run out of beer for a week. :(
The worst part about it is that they expect me to do it again this year, and several people who didn't attend last years event have told me they will attend this year. I may run out of beer for more that a week if this happens. :drunk:

-a.
 
I'm always apprehensive, but then you can not please everyone and if people don't like them so be it.
I usually bring one lighter, sweeter beer with low IBU's to parties but even then they are nowhere close to the masses taste. I also bring a full bodied, high hop keg and usually "the real" beer floats first. This was with extract, I'm hoping the AG's will be even better.
Hope you have a great time, it's also kind of hard going through a DUI checkpoint with two empty kegs in the back-seat and the whole car reeks of beer even with a designate driver so be careful.
Usually I just pass out, and I mean sleep over.
 
I've never brought a full keg to a party, but I've had a few friends try it. Most of them liked it. It's hard to tell if they were being nice or sincere because they are BMC drinkers who occasionally go for stuff like Sam Adams or Blue Moon. In other words, they've had something other than American Light Lagers, but not a ton. They've asked me a few times since then to try it, so that's a good sign.

Also, probably the best confirmation was that one of their sisters told another person my beer sucked. If you knew her, you'd know that meant I was on the right track...
 
We had a party last month the BMC drinkers killed three kegs and left me stranded for a couple weeks. Now we have built up the stock again. this week i am travling and Son John is doing the brewing this weekend. It is possible to brew 10 gallons and fall behind on a good brew day.

We follow the brew books very carefully guessing at the grain bill, sanitizing everything, forgetting hoping times, calmly watching the boil overs and most important we don't worry we have a home brew.

I have an OM drinker that loves the lighter HB. But most drinkers just go from style to style with our wheat usually taking the biggest hit. It all depends upon the STYLE of friends you have. I have two different styles of friends

Type A
Drinks any thing that is free and nicely says thanks
Type B
Drinks anything that is free.


Both require a SWMBO to take them home or when i do wake up the driveway is still full of cars.

Free Advice (and worth same)
If you are not buying grain by the pick up load dont pass out the lighter styles

All comments aside It is always very nice to take a special brew to a party and have your friends comment on how they enjoyed your beer. For me thats were the real fun of home brewing is.
 
We ended up getting there about an hour late but I assessed the drinking atmosphere immediately. 10-12 couples for a total of 24ish. At least nine women were on wine already and all the guys were split between Coorslight and Yuengling cans.

I proudly and obviously set the keg setup down on the deck and threw the serving line and charger on it. I poured myself and SWMBO the first cups and the host asked me for some.

When I saw that no one was even curious, I described the Munich Helles style to a few folks ensuring them that if they had any ideas about what homebrew was, they ought to try this because it's a light quaffable beer, etc, etc..

I think maybe I got one or two converts by the end of the night but no one else showed any interest in even trying it. 2-hours in the Tequilla and yagerbombs come out.

2.5 gallons down in 4.5 hours. I think for the most part, there were 5 people drinking it regularly including myself and SWMBO so I know it's a good beer. I'd put it slightly above 30 out of 50, but it's a young lager so I'd expect it to improve (now that I have 2ish gallons left).


I'm glad I talked myself out of bringing some Rodenbach for people that might have been interested in expanding their palettes.
 
You can lead a Jeager-drinker to water, but you can't make him drink. I'm sure they have no idea what they missed.
 
Well, I guess that sucks for them, and there's more beer for you!
Most of my friends have expanded horizons where beer is concerned. That's nice when you can get fairly educated feedback on your brews, but comes at the cost of rapidly floating kegs.

And then there's always that one drunk guy who stammers on with "Y'know, ifth you market this thtuff ta th' right poeple, you can make a lot uf money..."
You know him, the guy that won't listen when you tell him that there are thousands of people across the country, all with their own really good recipies.
 
LOL @ tequila and Jager shots... not the "right" kind of party for appreciating good homebrew, it sounds like. At least you and the missus were able to enjoy it!!! :)

I'd rather take home 2.5 gals and know that the people who *did* drink it liked it and appreciated it, rather than take home an empty keg, and know that most the retards passed out in the back yard just threw up your precious HB. :mad:

@ the above discussion, there's a 3rd kind of friend that wasn't mentioned. The kind who likes free beer and thanks you for it, the kind that likes free beer but doesn't thank you for it, and the kind that demands your beer be free, specifically requests what style you should brew next, b*tches loudly when you brew something they don't like, and scoffs at the tip jar next to the kegerator. THAT kind of friend is a real PITA.
 
Ah the ever familiar.. bring your good beer to the party and no one really cares cause they love Coors light and have not a clue what a good beer is..

I limit what i bring now if it's a get together other than my home brew club meetings..

I checked out your Vids Bobby. Awesome.! Nice to see you Putting out the knowledge and helping people out on Youtube..
 
I just returned from vaction visiting family. I took bottles of home brew with me knowing that both sides of the family are big beer drinkers. I took a case each of an IPA, Amber bock, Belg wheat, honey wheat, centennial blonde, a cheap light mower ale, and Irish Red (which I had just won a 2nd place in a competition with a month earlier). None of the inlaws liked anything but the blonde and mower ales and in fact didn't even drink the whole bottle of the Irish Red. Man was I disapointed. My side of the family are more dark beer drinkers with my cousin homebrewing and his wife very supportive. They were way more into every beer. Needless to say, I will not be taking much beer to the inlaws anytime soon.
 
I have beer on tap all the time here and most like it but there are always a few that just don't like beer with body and taste. The most popular by far is the cream ale followed by Pale Ale. For those who know beer well the IPA and SNPA comes in third or forth. If they see a carboy and see the fermentation that turns off a lot of them because they do not understand what they are looking at (it looks nasty to them). They think all those chunks floating around will be in the keg. I just laugh. :)

I never take all my beer to a party as I do not want to be without so I might take a keg but thats all.
 
Wow
with 24 people i would have thought more people would have tried your beer. Probably showing up late did not help. Well everyone has there own tastes.
Keep taking your beer to party's and over time you will convert some more. You may want to bring some bottles of special stuff like a Stout, and a HG beer just for when you get into a conservation about beer you could pull out something for SAMPLING ONLY
For me it is a great feeling when you finally get a BMC guy or a lady to say (Hay give me another one of those things)
 
Same guy was at my house the other day. lol

Two more days in China drinking horse piss beer. Then me and the Kegerator are going to sit down and have a long reunion

Then I think I will get the HLT and a big cooler
 
I'm pretty new to homebrewing but I don't think I'll be bringing my beer to too many functions. First, I like mostly darker, hoppier beers (IPAs and the like) or darker, more "ordinary" beers (porters). Most people don't. Second, I've been to parties where homebrewers were displaying their wares. While I loved what they had, most didn't. I'm not willing to sacrifice a bunch of my beer just for people to say "oh, I didn't know it was going to be one of those beers."
 
More beer for you.

I wheeled my kegorator around the block a year ago for a neighborhood block party. I wasn't sure if people would go for it. Halfway through the party both Corny's were empty. i was surprised. Then I started bumming beer off people without guilt for the rest of the party.
 
I don't have any hard feelings about the situation at all. This thread was more or less a place to document the general homebrew attitude in my (my wife's) social circles. We also showed up with a ****-ton of my wife's awesome Guacamole and all we heard all night was "oh, I'll pay for that at the gym on Tuesday"...
 
pour you self a nice beer and let them try some. you will be suprized at WHO you run in to that says Say thats a nice porter it tasts better than XYZ

Our job as HB people is to spread the truth. Even if you only convert one person per year its worth the extra effort.
 
Maybe it's the freaks I tend to hang out with, but I've never heard of someone resistant to trying something as simple as a munich helles. For parties I usually brew hefe, pub bitters, mildly hopped pale ales and the like, and I've never felt like I had to "convert" people to it. In fact, the most popular party beer I've brewed was a by-the-book mild, which is something we don't even import to the states for the most part. IIPAs, saisons and lambics on the other hand...
 
Everything I've taken to a party has been killed in 2 hours or less, but I think I hang out with a good crowd. I took 15 gallons to a friend's wedding and everyone was adventurous enough to at least try it, but I stuck with very simple styles... A wit, a pale, and a brown ale.

You really just have to know what you're getting in to. I have to keep the really good beer away from my friends or people will just start drinking it. Most of the time I don't mind, but there are some things that are not house party worthy like barley wines and imperial stouts. Other than that, I brew for fun and so people can enjoy it too.
 
I made an American Red and an American Lager for my neighbors wedding. He has to supply his own alcohol and is planning to get 2 half barrels of BMC and I am going to supply my two kegs. Some of his freinds and relatives sound interested but we'll see.

I figure the kegs will either go home full, or both will be empty real quick.
 
That's a pisser, Bobby. All depends on the crowd; you get one or two people excited about it, you'll usually have everyone wanting to try it. I've always had good luck bring beer to parties, and actually have met a couple of other homebrewers this way. Last party we went to, with my wife's coworkers, got talking to a guy, he asked me


"So, uh... how much beer do you brew in a year? More than 100 gallons? ;)"
"All depends - are you just curious, or are you from the Bureau of ATF?"

Turns out, he's a homebrewer, and more interestingly is in the process of building/buying a still (for extraction of essential oils ONLY, of course!) with a couple of his friends.

And, my wife's new boss ALSO happens to be a homebrewer, so we were all chatting about it, and other people joined in, and pretty soon everyone was trying it and asking questions and just getting into it. Good times.

But, if they HADN'T been there, it well might have sat in the corner all night. Party dynamics can be really odd.
 
Next time, just say it is a "Light Lager" and be done with it.

I think that may confuse too many people, just tell them its a FREE "light beer" and they may wake up enough to try it.
I use labels like "Wheat beer", "light beer", "Raspberry red" for parties. The most detailed I have gone is "Bitter bachelor brew".
Once the beer is flowing, people ask questions, then they get very surprised it's not commercial. Who ever heard of someone making their own beer without banjo's playing in the background.
 
I think that may confuse too many people, just tell them its a FREE "light beer" and they may wake up enough to try it.
I use labels like "Wheat beer", "light beer", "Raspberry red" for parties. The most detailed I have gone is "Bitter bachelor brew".
Once the beer is flowing, people ask questions, then they get very surprised it's not commercial. Who ever heard of someone making their own beer without banjo's playing in the background.

Wait a second... you don't hear the banjos while you brew? Someone must be playing an extended prank on me.
 
Every year we have a 3 day convention for another hobby of mine the last weekend in July. This year it will be the first weekend in August but that isn't important. Most of the beer drinkers there drink Coors Light, Bud Light, etc and there is always a 15 gallon keg of some BME.

Two years ago I took 5 gallons of a simple cider recipe that is surprisingly similar to EdWort's Apfelwein. Some were adventurous and tried it. Most that did liked it.

Last year it was 3 kegs worth. A Celis Raspberry clone, Dennys' Bourban Vanillia Imperial Porter (I know not a summer beer but I had just changed to all grain and was dying to try it.), and another keg of cider only I spiced it (The SWMBO likes it better that way). The cider was gone early the second day, the Celis clone was gone late the second day, and the BVIP of course didn't get finished. I got lots of compliments but I saw quite a few unfinished beers around too.

I figure I got a few people to try homebrew and some of them liked it. The rest can continue to drink thier carbonated water. This year I am going with some more refreshing beers. The spiced cider, a cream ale (with watermelon thanks to some thread I found on here), and an irish red. I know the cider will be good and I had time to brew the cream ale and test it already. I didn't have time to test the red though I'll be racking it soon. I have faith though, I figure at the very worst I'll have to drink it all myself.

Spread the beer folks, the masses need an education!
 
I love taking my beers to parties. In fact that is where the vast majority of my HB goes. I am still very much so learning about brewing and a large party provides a huge cross section of tastes experience levels and feedback.

I think it is funny to know different kinds of people. My inlaws also can't drink anything even remotely dark, bitter, hoppy, malty, or complex. Great people, just very unadventurous palates. They still try everything, then laugh and ask how people drink all those crazy beers :) Oh well, can't win em all. I still make my FIL try every kind of beer I make and/or bring to his house, I try all different kind of stuff, but have only found 2 maybe 3 beers that he likes. It makes me laugh though, old people are exempt from having to change there minds ( most of the time anyway).
 
...or do shots of vile jet fuel.

Wait - You mean Jaeger or Bacardi 151? Which jet fuel you talkin' about? ;)

and +1 to that. If you *like* taking shots but don't even feel adventurous enough to *try* homebrew when it's offered to you... then you must be a sadist.
 
Any number of countless jet fuels that cause people to make the who farted face. Then they'll take a swig of your 6% beer that's perfectly balanced and make a similar face.
 
I've noticed that face on some people who have tried my beers. Most are those who generally drink mixed drinks and don't stray far from the BMCs. When they take a sip and make that face and ask me "what's in this?" or "what is this?", I tell them "its flavor" and they tilt their heads and say "oh yeah". People seem to forget that beer doesn't have to be tasteless.
 
Can I just say this is a great thread for any homebrewer who has stepped out of their safety zone and attempted to share the output of their hobby, labor, sweat, and excellent taste to the unwashed masses. It is good to hear from others that you just can't please everyone. Unless you bring some aged mead and then you end up crying because they drank it ALL.
 

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