People that won't drink your beer...

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My family and friends have taken a pretty big interest in this experiment. We all like to cook, we all like beer. I'm cooking beer. I'm almost afraid to share the first batch because I'm worried about what will come out of the bottle.

That being said, I've found that explaining to them the reasons it's cloudy (unfiltered, unpasturized) adds to the flavor of the beer and why BMC do this (preservatie, uniformity) do it. People tend to go for what's familiar. If it's not, they shy away. Don't force it on them.

My girlfriend HATES hoppy beers. She has tried a few of the IPAs and APAs I like to drink, and confirmed it. However she likes wheats and has been open to trying different stuff and I now have her really liking an oatmeal stout from a local microbrew. My second batch was a wheat kit for her. If you want to open them to some new ideas, maybe brew to their tastes. Or better yet don't let it get to you, enjoy your brew and share it with those who want to try.
 
I am with the OP on this. I've had friends who resisted even trying my homebrew simply because it's either "homemade" or "Too Dark".

Even before a sip I know they'd made up their minds. Then they tell their kids to "at least try" whatever new food they have on their plate.

On the other hand, I know people who have gone into craft beer, slowly, just by trying. Some of the people who "don't like beer" actually enjoy a stout! It's not as bitter as they think it's going to be and it might taste a bit like coffee or chocolate.

I'm lucky that I pretty much like anything that's not sour or has fruit in it, so even if I make something light and my friends don't like it, I can still drink it.
 
Most of my friends and family like Bud Light or even Mich Ultra. I don't even bother offering anybody home brew anymore. It's normally crystal clear with good head retention, but it's not that pale yellow, so they won't go near it.

I go to a party, take several bottles of home brew and drink every damned one of them. I know what good beer is, and BMC ain't it. Screw the rest of them if the can't figure that out. All they want to do is get hammered, not enjoy the ride.
 
MaxOut said:
He quickly stated that he never had a home brew he could stomach.
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I think this is part of the problem. We all know someone who brewed a Mr.Beer kit once and called it homebrew and shared it with their friends. Those friends are the people we run into that "don't like homebrew". I guess my friends are generally polite, if they haven't tried my beer they'll give it a try even if they have that homebrew stigma from a previous experience. Then they say, "wow, this actually tastes good". There's also those that brewed a batch once in college or whatever and just assumed that because they made it themselves and followed some crappy instructions, that must be as good as homemade beer can be.
 
I do remember the first time I offered my brother my homebrew. He was very reluctant to drink it. He said " oh well I'll have a sip, I'll be driving soon I can't have a beer"

I explained to him its just one beer, only about 5%, you'll be fine.

But he still said he would just have a sip of mine. So I poured myself one and gave him the first drink. He tried it, and with a look of surprise on his face he said wow this is actually pretty good, and his body language was clear..he was holding on to that glass and I wuold have to pour myself another one.

He drank that beer quickly and then explained that this beer was WAY better than the homebrew he tried that his other friend made. He is happy to drink my homebrews nowadays.
 
My wife wasn't a beer drinker until I got into brewing. I would shove a glass of whatever I was drinking in front of her and ask her what she thought. Her honestly allowed me to design some great recipes for those who don't like Gonzo brews.
Try getting those who have misconceptions about homebrew or craft beer to try a small sample and tell them, "You don't have to like it but try a little and tell me truthfully what you think." It's amazing the feedback you'll get, which you can use to design some crowd pleasing recipes. I used this technique to design an Abby Ale and Hefe that went over awesome with my BMC drinking cousins and Uncle at my Brother's Wedding and my moving day.
 
my wife dosent drink beer... i have a batch get ready and i am trying it, she will come in and say "let me try that" i do and she procedes to spit it out and tell me how bad it is. We have come up with a scale based on how long it takes her to spit it out... the shorter the time the better the beer. Most of my friends are more than happy to drink all the beer in my keggs though! the problem is not getting them to try it, its getting them to stop!
 
I can't even get my wife to try a sip of my beer. I'm hoping my Apple Pie Ale I'm making will be sweet and fruity enough for at least a tasting. She won't give up the "I don't like beer" thing.
 
I can understand your frustration. You shouldn't take stuff liek that personally and you definitely shouldn't change your style of brewing by filtering more or anything else to appease other people. Stick to your guns and realize that a lot of people out there are very narrow-minded and can be VERY particular. It happens in all aspects of brewing/cullinary. I can't tell you how many times I had to cook for people in a restaurant and they complained about the smallest of things. You just gotta keep on.

Just remember it's not personal and I would rather them say no and I keep my beer than to have them dump it out and waste it when I am not looking.
 
I wish I had that problem...My friends and neighbors find out I have a new brew and before I know it I've given or promised half of it away. On the upside I get a lot of feedback. On the downside 99% of them tell me how delicious it is. Take my American Light for example (I think it tastes terrible b/c of high ferment temps) - my neighbor cant stop guzzling it down and its her favorite. Needless to say I allow her to have all she wants and drink my better home brews myself lol.
 
It sucks not to be given a chance, it really does. Especially when you've put money and plenty of good, honest labor into making something and all you want is for other people to enjoy themselves--it stings like hell to be told that it's not good enough.

It IS rude. It is. But it's rudeness based in a lack of knowledge about what beer is, how it works, what you have to do to make it, and so on...not in malice.

(unless it is. in which case you've got a garden-variety jerk who can be told off or ignored as you prefer.)
 
If you really want people to try your beer, you should think about finding a club (if you haven't already)... That's the whole reason they are there ;-)
 
BeerChef17 said:
I wish I had that problem...My friends and neighbors find out I have a new brew and before I know it I've given or promised half of it away. On the upside I get a lot of feedback. On the downside 99% of them tell me how delicious it is. Take my American Light for example (I think it tastes terrible b/c of high ferment temps) - my neighbor cant stop guzzling it down and its her favorite. Needless to say I allow her to have all she wants and drink my better home brews myself lol.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you don't have an ulterior motive for letting her drink your "bad" beer? :ban: :rockin:
 
Brew_4iT said:
Kind of a rant.. I've been brewing beer for awhile now (not nearly as long as some people) and put a lot of time and effort into each of my batches. But immediately without even trying a sip most people are turned off like some drunken ugly chick on prom night hitting on them, some people might try it.. but they already have that preconceived notion that it's sub par to mainstream beer. I hate that feeling when people look at my beer as though it is a foreign substance of unknown origin because it's not commercial and having a flashy label covering most of the product.

It really seems this day in age most people respond to cosmetics over aesthetics and craftsmanship.

I brewed "Cream O' 3 grains" for my dad and my girlfriends mom that are bmc drinkers. They didn't want nothing' of it..

I brewed a great pumpkin ale using 4 different types of squash and because of a little sediment in it even though it is translucent and nearly transparent (which is tough for a pumpkin ale I used a whirfloc tablet irish moss and cold crashed for awhile).... still because of a little sediment my friends wife wont touch it. :mad:

All of this makes me want to focus most my attention of presentation than overall quality; filtration, filtration, whirlfloc, irish moss, gelatin, filtration, and screw the ingredients. I'll just make an IPA with 42 ibu's like Harpoon instead of my 88 IBU IPA with cascade and citra dryhopped.

Just to note I do like Harpoon IPA's but highly conservative on the IBU end of an IPA.
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send it to me...I'll drink it. :mug:
 
Brew_4iT said:
Kind of a rant.. I've been brewing beer for awhile now (not nearly as long as some people) and put a lot of time and effort into each of my batches. But immediately without even trying a sip most people are turned off like some drunken ugly chick on prom night hitting on them, some people might try it.. but they already have that preconceived notion that it's sub par to mainstream beer. I hate that feeling when people look at my beer as though it is a foreign substance of unknown origin because it's not commercial and having a flashy label covering most of the product.

It really seems this day in age most people respond to cosmetics over aesthetics and craftsmanship.

I brewed "Cream O' 3 grains" for my dad and my girlfriends mom that are bmc drinkers. They didn't want nothing' of it..

I brewed a great pumpkin ale using 4 different types of squash and because of a little sediment in it even though it is translucent and nearly transparent (which is tough for a pumpkin ale I used a whirfloc tablet irish moss and cold crashed for awhile).... still because of a little sediment my friends wife wont touch it. :mad:

All of this makes me want to focus most my attention of presentation than overall quality; filtration, filtration, whirlfloc, irish moss, gelatin, filtration, and screw the ingredients. I'll just make an IPA with 42 ibu's like Harpoon instead of my 88 IBU IPA with cascade and citra dryhopped.

Just to note I do like Harpoon IPA's but highly conservative on the IBU end of an IPA.
Click to expand...

People, friends and family, that won't drink my beer are invited to bring their own.
 
Hey, we don't like BMC. Do you think they care? I have gotten enough compliments on my beer that if someone doesn't like it I chalk it up to them not liking the style. Nothing wrong with that.
 
Brew_4iT said:
I brewed "Cream O' 3 grains" for my dad and my girlfriends mom that are bmc drinkers. They didn't want nothing' of it..

.
Click to expand...

Would you mind sharing your recipe for your "Cream O' 3 grains"? I am always interested in trying to brew this style to see how it compares to a BMC beer and what my friends might think.

I agree it is a pain to go through so much effort to make a good craft hoembrew and then people won't even give it a chance but I will continue to brew for myself and what others might like in the hopes of finding some people that want to try homebrewing as a hobby.
 
Look, here's the deal.

Bud Light exists because so many people think that Budweiser is too strong tasting.

You can't hand these people a 100+ IBU DIPA and expect them to even recognize that it's a beer, much less kneel down before you and tell you that you're a brewing god.

The average American palette is soft and weak. I remember a few years back Wendy's was advertising some new super-duper spicy chicken sandwich. The commercials had flames shooting out of people's mouths and the whole bit. I like spicy food. I bought one. It was a regular chicken sandwich with a tiny bit of extra black pepper. (The same stuff you have on your kitchen table next to the salt.) It was a decent chicken sandwich, as chicken sandwiches go, but "extra spicy"? Nope, it wasn't even a "little bit" spicy, much less something that would make you dash for the water fountain... But Wendy's is a big company that spends a lot of money on market research. You can bet your last dollar that I'm the exception and that 9 out of 10 people who bought that said "Holy ****! That's one spicy chicken sandwich!" and then bought two extra sodas... Americans are conditioned from birth to appreciate food and beverages that are very bland. The less flavor the better. Anything that has a strong flavor is either considered "bad", or something that can only be appreciated by a "connoisseur"...

Get over it. Brew what you like. Share some with those who enjoy it, and let everyone else chug their Natty Light in blissful ignorance. But feel free to laugh at them once a year when they show up with a case of Coors Light and tell you that it's their birthday so they went ahead and dropped the extra cash for "the good stuff"....

(Look on the bright side. You're now officially a beer connoisseur....)
 
I won't eat or drink stuff from people I know who have dirty kitchens, bad habits like not washing their hands, think nothing of eating something they dropped on the floor, scratch their ass while they are cooking a meal, prepare a salad in a dirty sink (in a sink at all for that matter), stuff like that. Could this be a possibility? Just sayin.

True story: I knew this guy for many years, one day for some reason we went over his house. The kitchen was crawling with roaches dead and alive. Needless to say I made sure I NEVER ate anything he or his wife made, EVER.

Not saying you got roaches, just sayin' some people don't see themselves in the same light others may. I am very conscious of this myself so don't get me wrong. I never push someone to try something I made, I might not know the real reason why they say no and don't want to put them in an awkward situation.
 
Unfortunately "homebrew" conjures up some negative thoughts for the vast majority of people. For many years a lot of inexperience home-brewers have been turning out some pretty damn ordinary brews and as a result the whole brand has been tarnished.
We are now seeing a new breed of home-brewer (aka Craft-beer brewers) who are using the internet to learn more about the science of brewing who are churning out some pretty spectacular beer. I think it will take years before much of the stigma is removed from homebrew and it becomes more widely accepted. Unfortunately there will always be cowboys around giving the hobby a bad name. I know a bloke who only brews $7 Homebrand extract kits using sugar as an adjunct, no temperature control, questionable sanitation and the beer tastes like sh%t. He loves it and cannot get enough and offers it to everyone. For everyone you win over he loses 10.
I do think that modern home brewers are becoming ever increasingly addicted to hops and high alcohol brews and that can turn off people who rarely drink any beers above about 5% ABV and that have relatively low hop footprints.
I think it is best to try and win them over with mildly hopped beers like extract kit beers and then if you get their confidence feed them some hard drugs.
In the meantime RDWHAHB .
 
Well this seems to be the stipulation for me, and ironically my brother the alcoholic (who loves my beer now) told me this point blank; "you just started this past year there is no way you can make a beer as good as ______ ."

I try to explain to him that I have been researching my ass off first and foremost months ahead of time before even my first batch. Granted I first learned from Craig on youtube and have since revised many of my brewing habits since joining this site and moving away from coopers cans (which aren't all that bad really love their stout actually).

Then when I try to explain to people my processes I loose them after "primary fermentation" they yawn and tune me out LOL.. frustrating to say the least!
 
Brew_4iT said:
Then when I try to explain to people my processes I loose them after "primary fermentation" they yawn and tune me out LOL.. frustrating to say the least!
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Dude. What would your reaction be if your grandma tried to tell you the nitty gritty detail of the scarf she's knitting, and everything that's involved with doing it?

People have their own things on their mind. It's a little bit arrogant to expect them to be fascinated by a subject just because it fascinates you.

Brew for yourself. Share with those who enjoy it. As for everyone else, get over it.
 
Just buy a commercial 12 pack and leave the labels on... Bottle your brew in it. Ask them if they would like a beer... when they say yes, pull the commercial bottle out and pour them a nice glass of your homebrew.. after they take a few sips ask them if it's good.. When they say yes then tell them it is your homebrew :)!
 
My wife and I have a few gatherings at our house every year. It's a few couples, a few kids, etc.

The guys tend to get in the door and will immediately make a beeline for the keezer. Some of them homebrew, some don't. But all of them are enthusiastic and appreciative of having it available.

Now some of the women don't drink beer, which is fine. But the majority of them, sans one, just won't touch it.

My wife seems to think it's a perceptional issue. I've tended to favor heavy beers for my own consumption so they come to the conclusion that everything I make is going to be heavy, a quality they don't especially enjoy.

I've gone out of my way to make beers available that aren't heavy, and are actually quite light, but the perception still remains.

The "sans one" I was talking about is a major sport. It's rare she doesn't head down to the keezer and get a sampling of everything on tap!
 
I'm lucky to have family members who are not really beer drinkers, but will try homebrew because they are curious. I even had an uncle of my girlfriend who is 70 years old tell me the porter I brewed was better than the Labatt porter of his youth: no sheet, they still sell the stuff and it is bad. But as soon as I poured a glass for myself, he wanted one. I didn't have to press him to try it and I wouldn't do it. That's the trick: you offer your beer and if they don't want one, they don't want one.

On the other hand, I try to always have something yellow, light, fizzy and NON-CLOUDY for the guests to drink to increase my chances. You gotta do your part if you want people to try your beer ! Clarity is especially important. Even my friends who are into craft beers are not all that thrilled to be served a cloudy pint of something that calls for clarity. It's a fact that we eat and drink with our eyes.
 
I wouldn't get that pissed off. Here's the truth. Many people don't like beer. I didn't like it when I was a teenager, and I really didn't even drink it until well into my 20s.

Most people simply drink "beer" (BMC etc) because that is what people who they identify with drink... i.e., monkey see monkey do.

If it gets them kinda buzzed and nobody makes fun of them, then it's done its job.

I'm aging a porter for my mother in law when she comes to visit (it'll be two months old then, perfect!) not because I want to show off, but because she really liked the last porter I made. So only give homebrew to people who like beer. Don't just make it and expect people to appreciate it, because most people don't like beer.
 
Brew_4iT said:
Kind of a rant.. I've been brewing beer for awhile now (not nearly as long as some people) and put a lot of time and effort into each of my batches. But immediately without even trying a sip most people are turned off like some drunken ugly chick on prom night hitting on them, some people might try it.. but they already have that preconceived notion that it's sub par to mainstream beer. I hate that feeling when people look at my beer as though it is a foreign substance of unknown origin because it's not commercial and having a flashy label covering most of the product.

It really seems this day in age most people respond to cosmetics over aesthetics and craftsmanship.

I brewed "Cream O' 3 grains" for my dad and my girlfriends mom that are bmc drinkers. They didn't want nothing' of it..

I brewed a great pumpkin ale using 4 different types of squash and because of a little sediment in it even though it is translucent and nearly transparent (which is tough for a pumpkin ale I used a whirfloc tablet irish moss and cold crashed for awhile).... still because of a little sediment my friends wife wont touch it. :mad:

All of this makes me want to focus most my attention of presentation than overall quality; filtration, filtration, whirlfloc, irish moss, gelatin, filtration, and screw the ingredients. I'll just make an IPA with 42 ibu's like Harpoon instead of my 88 IBU IPA with cascade and citra dryhopped.

Just to note I do like Harpoon IPA's but highly conservative on the IBU end of an IPA.
Click to expand...

I say F 'EM! I brew for me first others second. I dont expect most people to like them since most people dont like beer that has any taste.
 
subliminalurge said:
Dude. What would your reaction be if your grandma tried to tell you the nitty gritty detail of the scarf she's knitting, and everything that's involved with doing it?

People have their own things on their mind. It's a little bit arrogant to expect them to be fascinated by a subject just because it fascinates you.

Brew for yourself. Share with those who enjoy it. As for everyone else, get over it.
Click to expand...

I understand the logic, but in this case its more like a group of people that like hand mittens bought from a store. You knit your own that may not look as nice first glance, but do a better job at keeping you warm. You try to explain to them why your hand made mittens do better at keeping their hands warm but they can't get over the look of it and that dictates their mode of reason.

I mean I brewed a great cream of 3 grain bmc type beer, and even though it was golden clear and tasty (even for me) they seem to trust more in their commercial brand.

I did do a strawberry blonde and my girlfriend who hates beer ended up loving it, she wants it a little more backsweetened next time though :)
 
Feeling the OPs pain.

We're always catching flak from the family for "brewing so much beer" -- I'm talking an average of one 5 gal batch every two weeks!! I understand the ones that don't drink alcohol, but it irritates me when it's someone who boozes up on wine and/or cheap ass BMC. Grrrrrrr. AND it's a hell of a lot cheaper than some of my previous "obsessions".

I like to make brews others will enjoy. Thank goodness my little sister and her SO love craft beer. If it wasn't for their enthusiasm. We'd have probably brewed our little APA and quit then and there. So what if the damn thing's got sediment in the bottle? Sure as hell beats thin-as-shiat light lager in the clear bottle....

/rant
 
It's kind of like food. I refuse to tell people what's in my Sunday dinner until after they have eaten. You will always get buttheads that their momma didn't raise them right.

Eventually you will get to a point where people will trust your pallet and when you say hey try this, they will.
 
bruin_ale said:
I think this is part of the problem. We all know someone who brewed a Mr.Beer kit once and called it homebrew and shared it with their friends. Those friends are the people we run into that "don't like homebrew". I guess my friends are generally polite, if they haven't tried my beer they'll give it a try even if they have that homebrew stigma from a previous experience. Then they say, "wow, this actually tastes good". There's also those that brewed a batch once in college or whatever and just assumed that because they made it themselves and followed some crappy instructions, that must be as good as homemade beer can be.
Click to expand...

This was what I was going to say pretty much exactly. I was that guy who tried a friends "Mr. Beer" and it was awful, stayed away from home brew for a long time because of that original experience.
 
el_caro said:
I know a bloke who only brews $7 Homebrand extract kits using sugar as an adjunct, no temperature control, questionable sanitation and the beer tastes like sh%t. He loves it and cannot get enough and offers it to everyone. For everyone you win over he loses 10.
Click to expand...

The nerve of that guy for liking something you don't! Call the cops!
 
Brew_4iT said:
I understand the logic, but in this case its more like a group of people that like hand mittens bought from a store. You knit your own that may not look as nice first glance, but do a better job at keeping you warm. You try to explain to them why your hand made mittens do better at keeping their hands warm but they can't get over the look of it and that dictates their mode of reason.
Click to expand...

Again, flawed logic. Want to prove that one "hand mitten" (nice choice of analogy btw...) is better than the other? Stand outside in the cold. applying this logic to homebrew you are saying that you know what tastes better for them. That is the epitome of SNOBBERY, plain and simple. Who are you to tell someone what beer they will like better? To put it bluntly: I try to avoid people like you like the plague.
 
subliminalurge said:
Brew for yourself. Share with those who enjoy it. As for everyone else, get over it.
Click to expand...

im_futurama_bender_applause.png
 
Airborneguy said:
Again, flawed logic. Want to prove that one "hand mitten" (nice choice of analogy btw...) is better than the other? Stand outside in the cold. applying this logic to homebrew you are saying that you know what tastes better for them. That is the epitome of SNOBBERY, plain and simple. Who are you to tell someone what beer they will like better? To put it bluntly: I try to avoid people like you like the plague.
Click to expand...

Your Yankees went home for the year. Get over it.
 

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