Home Brew for People Who Claim To Like Beer

[muse435]

I have several friends who claim to like beer, but every time i offer them one of my home brews or craft beers they complain. Does anyone have an extract recipe or the name of a kit that is generally liked by everyone/most people?

I like my friends so finding new friends who appreciate good beer is a good idea, but i would like to keep the ones i have as well.

 

[Zen_Brew]

General purpose american beer drinkers often find the following styles enjoyable.

Lightly hopped pale ales
Cream Ales
Wheat beer with neutral yeasts
Basic lagers
Blond ales

You can bring them along from there once you've got them drinking from the trough.

 

[smuth10]

I made the Summer Citrus Wheat a few times last summer and it was popular with friends and family of mine that don't really like beer that much.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/summer-citrus-wheat-67952/

The other one that is one of my personal favorites is the Bell's Oberon clone. Came out much better than the original! I think both of these would go over very well with the "general purpose drinker."

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f70/bells-oberon-clone-31422/

 

[kanzimonson]

I recommend berating your friends constantly about how they are terrible people with no taste. Some people are just never going to convert.

I wanted to say, "screw them and brew beer to please yourself" but I admit that one of my favorite things about this hobby is sharing beer that other people can enjoy.

So I think making an American wheat is the easiest way to pump them with something that has a little extra flavor. You can even try to get them to appreciate small things about craft brew by putting a small amount of hops in at 0min.

Good luck, and tell them I hate them.

 

[Goosta]

One thing that also tends to help convert them is to invite them over for brew day. They will have a greater sense of pride in the beer if they help you make it.

I'd agree with the above posters and suggest a wheat beer fermented with an American ale yeast.

 

[midfielder5]

BM's Cream of 3 Crops.
BM's Centennial Blonde.
Wayne1's Blue Moon clone.
(search Hbt for them).
good luck.

 

[iijakii]

For the Bud and Miller folk: Cream Ales
For people that drink decent beer: Mild APAs and Cream Stouts.

 

[cricky101]

I've got Northern Brewer's cream ale kit in the fermenter right now (will be 3 weeks this weekend). I wanted to brew something for my girlfriend and she doesn't like dark or hoppy beers. The staff at Northern Brewer said it would be a good, basic, beer to appeal to those not yet "into" craft brews. She usually drinks Leinenkugel's Honey Weiss, Miller High Life, etc ...

 

[muse435]

Thanks for all of the advise

 

[Homercidal]

Do they say WHY they don't like your beer? That might help you decide what kind of beer to make for them.

 

[muse435]

I think the general consesise is I like big hopped sipping beer, most of them like to drink beer to get drunk, then claim to like the taste of it. IDK, i think one of my next batches will be a simple wheat or a blonde ale. I know i'll lke it either way, if they like it great, if not their loss.

 

[coypoo]

If they want to just get drunk, just put a bunch of sugar and water and yeast and ferment that and give it to them. After that rocket fuel they might appreciate what you do more

 

[Special Hops]

How about just keep a 12 pack of Miller Lite in the fridge. When they come over they can drink that and you drink your homebrew. that way there is more for you.

 

[iijakii]

Yeah. I'm all for sharing my beer, but I'm protective of it. You have to be worthy.

I remember when I moved into this apartment complex I am living at; I noticed the neighbors across from me drinking Miller out of the bottle with a straw! I've to this day never offered them a homebrew.

 

[Golddiggie]

Brew up a solid ESB, or a solid/strong Irish Red ale for them to suck on... Even a moderately hopped English IPA, with more kick in it, could get them to come over to the dark side...

Personally, I prefer more malty brews than hoppy brews. Hence what I brew...

Just for the sake of asking, are you giving them the brew in air temp glasses (not frozen/frosted)?? I've found that it makes more difference than I thought it would.

I was always running under the info of drinking from a frozen glass/mug was the right way to drink beer... Oh, all those years of drinking beer and the glass was the wrong temp for most of it. You almost need to experience the difference first hand, with the same brew, to see the difference.

 

[Shooter]

Do they say WHY they don't like your beer? That might help you decide what kind of beer to make for them.

Agreed or ask them to name some beers they like so you can get an idea of what to brew.

 

[wncbrewer]

I've been trying to get my coworkers drinking decent beer for quite some time now, and bring in a growler of each batch for them to try. the first three batches I took where a super hoppy IIPA, then a dry stout as dark as burnt diesel oil, and a california common. None of which were enjoyed by the mich ultra crowd at all. The beer that finally won them over was a saison, and they have accepted subsequent tastings with a little more open mind. So...my advice is to keep it light in color and hop bitterness and gravity at first, and ease them into the more complex flavors that we have come to love

 

[ChillWill]

I'm from the UK and a few years ago I worked in a craft ale bar in upstate New York for a year on an internship.

Before getting there I mostly drank the UK equivalents of miller etc. Really nasty cheap stuff basically only designed to get you pissed which most people over here think is what beer is for (fortunately it appears we have a mini craft beer revolution starting at the moment).

Anyways, IPA's were no good to me when I started working, far too bitter and too many flavours so I generally found a taste for German Hefe's (Franziskaner and the likes). Also the odd stout here and there which I already liked.

Then gradually over time I moved onto the IPA's, which now; I can't get enough of!!!! Now I'm living back in the UK where the IPA is generally much weaker (less bitterness, taste, aroma, ABV), which is why I've started home brewing to get my hop fix. mmmm, hops.

 

[jturie]

I had made Midwest's Honey Cream Ale a couple of years ago...very popular with the BMC crowd. A nice basic American Wheat works pretty good too.

If all else fails, hand them a Coors lite with the label scraped off.

 

[Golddiggie]

If all else fails, hand them a Coors lite with the label scraped off.

Or reverse that... Put your brew into a BMC bottle and don't tell them... Well, at least not until they start mentioning how good 'this batch' is...

 

[bigbopper]

Or reverse that... Put your brew into a BMC bottle and don't tell them... Well, at least not until they start mentioning how good 'this batch' is...

thats some funny **** !

 

[wolverinebrewer]

Yeah. I'm all for sharing my beer, but I'm protective of it. You have to be worthy.

This is me also. I only share with those who appreciate it. It bothers me to give away a good brew to a friend and watch them try to like it. I don't try to convert people any more. Either they are interested in liking great beer or they're not. One of my favorite tag lines comes from Founders Brewing:

"We make beer for people like us"

And I'm the same way.

When people come over, they'd better bring their own because they won't find crap in the fridg. So I tell them BYOB! If you insist on brewing for them then you are a better man than me.

 

[k47k]

kolsch or american wheat.

 

[jafo28]

I had the opposite happen to me on super bowl sunday. My sister in law is into craft beer got to try some of my homebrew for the first time she loved it, a brown ale. My mother in law wanted to try some so of course I let her. She started by saying she doesn't like beer so I just sat back and waited for the reactionary face. To my surprise and hers she really liked it and proceeded to have some more. I guess when she said she didn't like beer she meant BMC, go figure.

 

[wvlheel]

My brother's beer of choice is Bud Light. I recently gave him 18 of BierMunchers Centennial Blonde. He and his roommate still rave about it as the "best beer they have ever had" - and I'm not a very good brewer.

It's a great gateway beer into something a bit more flavorful - main thing is that it's light in color so it doesn't scare anyone off before they even try a sip.

 

[muse435]

I too am selective of who i give my beer to, I love to share it with anyone who appreciated it, it gives the excuse of to make more I will always let anyone "sample" my beer if I feel the look on their face shows that they truly like the beer then I am more then happy to share my brew with them.

The biggest problem I have is that I don't drink a lot (1 a night a few times a week) so it is hard to get permission from SWMBO when I have a couple hundred bottles in the closet, a keg or two on tap and the fermenter bubbling away.


I think I am going to brew am american wheat or a blonde next, probably a Blonde, they just have more fun! Anyone know of a good kit/recipe (extract) for either of those types? I know i can look through the recipe threads (and probably will) but i thought i'd ask.

 

[muse435]

Always remember, just because they did not like your last brew does not mean they wont like your next. I gave my dad two beers, he finished the first just to be nice and then politely told me it tasted like crap. He reluctantly tried the second and said it was one of the best he'd ever had, I am pretty sure he was honest, especially after his description of the first.

 

[smokinghole]

I brew for me. If my friends like it that's cool. If they don't like it too bad. If I don't like it and they do, great for them. I have scent two batches down the drain one because of using nasty tap water, and a second due to a very high ferm temp that made it taste like hoppy solvent.