The most irritating question

Ok, am I the only one who gets this? Everytime I talk about how I make my own beer (which is almost daily, im hooked big time and brewing a porter right now) I always have that one guy ask me everything about how I do it, and then asks me "So can you make a copy of something good, like Bud?" What the deuce!!! Bud?!?! since when is that a good beer, ever! I normally tell them to pee in a bottle add corn cap and wait 3 days, but does anyone else get a question that nearly insulting or irritating? or am i just being a beer snob? (I have always hated those kinds of beers, even in my college days) Just wondering....

The best part is that you could probably try really hard and never be able to recreate Bud. All you can do with people like that is educate and hopefully turn people into craft beer lovers. Why would that insult you?

I usually nod, smile, and say, "I can't brew anything that good!". And I never offer them homebrew again.

But, I do appreciate what BMC does, and do feel it has a place. I try very hard to avoid beer snob status.

I try not to be a beer snob, but bud? really?? Thats like asking me to recreate water. I started homebrewing because I love craft brew, but always thought that it could use a little tweak here and there, but asking me to replecate water with thats been fermented is just a little insulting. and I dont appreciate what BMC does, because there are much better beers out there with flavor... I dont know it just drives me nuts almost as much as aksing me what the differecnce between bud light, coors light, miller light, and pretty much every light is. As far as i know Ive never been able to tell a difference between any of em. I always recomend a decent hevewisen or pale ale or newcastle to em. hopefully I can make at least a few people expand their horizens to beer greatness.

Don't be insulted by them, pity them. Some people in the BMC crowd will always be in the BMC crowd, but that's OK. To each his own.

Tell them it would take too long to let all the ingredients get stale and tasteless, and that you can only make fresh beer.

Yes, IMO, you are being a snob and turning your nose instead of taking the opportunity to possibly educate and open someone to a new world. And $100 says you could indeed not brew something well like Bud. Meaning, it takes a lot of skill to brew a beer like BMC and have it come out as clean as the commercial examples. It may not be your cup of tea, but try brewing a beer with nowhere for off flavors and mistakes to hide behind.

I just say "not at their price".

curlyfat said:

I usually nod, smile, and say, "I can't brew anything that good!". And I never offer them homebrew again.

But, I do appreciate what BMC does, and do feel it has a place. I try very hard to avoid beer snob status.

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Me too. Even my own dad doesn't get much of my beer at all. I made a cream ale for him this spring, when I knew he was coming for a visit. It's very similar to Genessee Cream Ale, his favorite beer. It was very hot out, and I greated him at the door with a beer after a 13 hour drive. His response? "This ain't any of that homebrew **** is it?" He took a sip and said, "Hey- this is GOOD!" and he proceeded to kick the keg that weekend. He didn't like anything else in my kegerator, and bought Budweiser after the keg kicked.

My dad is convinced that I may turn out to be a decent brewer someday if I work at it.

There is no point trying to convince him otherwise. I just don't bring him beer when I visit.

YooperBrew said:

Me too. Even my own dad doesn't get much of my beer at all. I made a cream ale for him this spring, when I knew he was coming for a visit. It's very similar to Genessee Cream Ale, his favorite beer. It was very hot out, and I greated him at the door with a beer after a 13 hour drive. His response? "This ain't any of that homebrew **** is it?" He took a sip and said, "Hey- this is GOOD!" and he proceeded to kick the keg that weekend. He didn't like anything else in my kegerator, and bought Budweiser after the keg kicked.

My dad is convinced that I may turn out to be a decent brewer someday if I work at it.

There is no point trying to convince him otherwise. I just don't bring him beer when I visit.

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Your dad is clueless, no offense to your dad. But consider it a victory that you made a cream ale that he liked. It's much better to brew what he likes than to try and convince him he is missing out on a whole nother world of wonderful beer.

I have friends who like the lighter styles and I once brought a wit to a party and they pretty much dissed it. Now it wasn't my best effort, but come on, help me out by telling me what you don't like about it!

So my goal is to make something that they can appreciate. It's just not a goal I am interested in doing right away. Meantime I have been building experience in other styles. Styles that "I" like to drink.

Soon I will have a fermentation chamber and will have better chance of making a decent lager. Until I have that, I'm not that interested in making a thin, nearly tasteless beer for them.

I don't get that exact question but I do frequently get asked if I can make a beer like X where X is some beer I have no interest in. In those cases, I'm just honest and tell them that I don't know because I've never tried to make that style. Then I point out the styles I do make and give some commercial examples of those styles. I don't really see Bud as being any different. It's a perfectly legitimate beer style and it has a large following. I think that qualifies it as "good" for certain definitions of "good." I may not agree, but I can't fault someone for calling it that.

When someone asks what I can brew I simply answer, "Any beer ever made, with very rare exceptions." I mean, it's not THAT hard to brew a light American Lager. Might take a few tries if you've never done that style. Difficult would be some of the very heavy extreme beers with ultra-high ABV.

As long as you know what temps to use and for how long, and know to pitch a certain amount of the right yeast, the rest should not be too difficult.

Homercidal said:

Your dad is clueless, no offense to your dad. But consider it a victory that you made a cream ale that he liked. It's much better to brew what he likes than to try and convince him he is missing out on a whole nother world of wonderful beer.

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Oh, yes I agree he's clueless! But my point is that I don't care if he wants to drink my "homebrew ****". I have no need to impress him with my brewing ability. No matter what I do, it won't be "as good as MGD" so I won't even try. I can brew some good beer, but a BMC clone isn't worth my time or money. If people like BMC, it's cheap to buy a case or two for them.

I wish I could be as consistent as AB, though. Let's face it- it's not easy to produce such a large quantity of lager that is always the same. You have to admire their ability to do it. It irritates me when people diss it as "piss" water. Sure, it's not my thing but for millions of people it is. Dissing it to non-beer snobs just makes you sound like a jerk.

I recall a time when driving through Bumble****, I stopped in a bar for a late lunch. Iasked what beer they had on tap and they responded with "we ain't got none of that ******-beer, if that's what yur askin. All we got is Bud Light."

THAT made me sad. I mean, nothing should ever be called that, but still. If I don't judge their tastes, why should they question mine?

On the up side, my best friend used to be a die hard MGD fan and now he can barely stomach it due to my homebrew (which he says is "getting tolerable" haha).

For me it more about real estate. There is only so many buckets, and so much fridge space, that I wouldnt want to waste on a bud clone. When I could have something a tad meatier in it like a red ale or a german altbier, or maybe a scottish ale. If I want bud, I can stop in any store, gas staion, or bingo hall in any town in the country, and probably cheaper than I can brew it.

Homercidal said:

When someone asks what I can brew I simply answer, "Any beer ever made, with very rare exceptions." I mean, it's not THAT hard to brew a light American Lager. Might take a few tries if you've never done that style. Difficult would be some of the very heavy extreme beers with ultra-high ABV.

As long as you know what temps to use and for how long, and know to pitch a certain amount of the right yeast, the rest should not be too difficult.

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Meeeeh, I'm going to have to disagree with you there. Ultra-high ABV is easy: get an alcohol tolerant yeast, stagger your sugar additions over a few days during the height of fermentation, then wait forever.

To make a Light American lager you need:
- Proper mash temp to keep it dry
- To get a hard rolling boil (usually 90 min) and a extra fast cool-down to ensure you have no DMS... which will stick out because there's nothing there to hide behind
- A big, fat friggin starter
- The ability to keep your wort at lager temperatures
- Addition of alpha-amylase
- Pray that your yeast didn't throw any off-flavors (it just happens sometimes. Old yeast, flux in temperature, etc)
- Wait forever

Yeah. I have a friend that said he would like to try some homebrew but he really likes beer with a clean finish, you know without any bitterness or aftertaste. He only buys beer in green bottles. We had an interesting discussion about how hard it is to brew a "clean" beer with very little flavor and no off flavors showing up. I think he was a little surprised that his premium brewed lager had lots of filler and very little else in it.

See Im gonna have to disagree with some of yall on that bud is a "good" beer. Just because I lot of people drink it does not mean its good, just that its cheap and has a really good avertising agency. Lets face it most people who drink it just drink it because A. They are somewhere, sport game, amusment park, whatever, and thats all there is B. its really really cheap or C. its all theyve ever had
Also your porbibly right it may be difficult to make a beer that has no where for off flavors to hide, but in order for there to be an off flavor shouldnt there be some flavor to begin with? just sayin.
I am impressed that theyve been makin the exact kind of lager the same way every single time, im sure that is really dificult.... but then bottled water companies have been doing the same thing for years also.
I may be a beer snob, but meh ive been called worse things and I prefer beer with flavor, regardless of the style, abv, or origin.

I've gotten that question. I just tell them I don't brew that style. That I make craft brew. Then they ask what kinds that is and I just give them a few examples. Likely anyone that asks that has no clue what the examples are unfortunately.

zahrndt_usmc said:

See Im gonna have to disagree with some of yall on that bud is a "good" beer.

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who said it was good?

I had that question recently, but it wasn't about bud, it was about labatt blue. I said, "No, not really, I am more into pale ales with just enough character to be interesting and you can drink all day." I offered the use of my equipment if he wanted to try his hand at making a beer like labatt blue. He seemed pretty stoked about the idea.

At the end of the process, I am hoping I create a convert through judicious application of ale.

mlyday said:

Tell them it would take too long to let all the ingredients get stale and tasteless, and that you can only make fresh beer.

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Hahaha! I was joking about that when I returned to homebrewing recently... i decided what the hell I'll use up my old grains that are only, well, 4 years old or something like that (no rancid taste, just a little, um stale)... couple practice runs before I go investing in new ingredients, and I couldn't help but think that my pilsner would probably be drinkable, but really boring. Like Bud.

but I do have to agree with another poster who pointed out that these styles can actually be difficult because there is less character to the beer, character which would normally hide/compensate for off flavors.

dude why would that insult you? its all they know, they are ignorant, not stupid. Take the oppurtunity to explain that you prefer beer with flavor. Thats what I do. Plus I tell them that stuff is so cheap i wouldn't ever waste my time brewing it. I mean these people have expressed interest in homebrew, and you act like a jerk about it? I don't get that at all.
Most people don't even realize the choices they have out there. Thier idea of craft or premium is prolly Corona, Heineken, maybe blue moon, guiness, and newcastle.

I might laugh a little, but I wouldn't be offended or insulted. Like everybody else, I'd just say that's not what I style I brew, but I'd be happy to let them try some beers I do brew.

You can't blame people for liking what they like. If you grew up thinking beer is a light pilsner lager, then that's what you judge other beers by. Some people will develop different tastes, some people won't. You don't need to "save" people from drinking ****ty beer. Beer is meant to be enjoyed, and if they are enjoying it, then that's all that really matters. When I was 21 I tried some different beers. I didn't like them. Now, some of them are among my favorite beers. I'm fortunate that I uncoupled my thoughts about how beer should taste from my college years drinking Bud and Miller High Life and get to enjoy many flavors of beer, but I still had a great time drinking crappy beers.

All I have to say is I am sooooo thankful for that old boyfriend of mine who introduced me to Chimay.

Until then, I had only been exposed to a couple different beers. Strohs. Corona. Rolling Rock, and this wonderful brewpub stuff I had in a pub in Brighton, England (and the strange lager shandy that one of my English hosts made for me)

Corona was "okay" on a hot day with a slice of lime and a big basket of corn chips.
Rolling Rock was cheap, readily available in Central Ohio where I was living at the time, and it seemed to be the "beer of choice" for the area. I was not impressed.

Belgian beer knocked my socks off. Dubbels, Tripels, Saissons, they each were unique, flavorful, and wonderful - more like wine than what I knew of "beer". It was Belgian ale that inspired me to finally take the leap and start homebrewing.

My poor boyfriend is a diehard BMC guy. Nothing is going to make him choose Allagash Dubbel over his Bud Light. Occasionally he buys some Sam Adams, or some flavored wheat beer - sometimes he makes a good choice and sometimes not.

I really think that with the homebrew crowd - foodies and "geeks" (chemistry, computer, history, etc.) will be the ones who appreciate homebrew the most. Trying to convert Joe Average BMC guy to drink a homebrew IPA may just be an exercise in futility - I think that sometimes the BMC crowd drinks that stuff like other folks drink soda.

I started out trying to replicate a BMC type beer with brew kits. Along the way I was introduced into a new world of real beer. I like BMC beer, always have and afaik always will. I don't feel ashamed of it.
I drank my share of it while on holidays away from home ( I live in a beer wasteland ) and was glad to get back to my kegs when I got home.
While I like many styles of beer, I feel that BMC has it's place in my fridge. If I want a virtual flavourless beer, I know where to go.
I'll tease my buddies when they drink BMC, but they know I'm teasing just for the sake of teasing. They know I like it as much as they do.