Being picky about who tatses your beer.

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Brewno

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After brewing my first batch I was anxious for people to try it. Now with my second batch things seem a little different.

Me and my wife went out yesterday with a couple we hadn't hung out with in awhile. He's a good guy and we had a good time. Knowing he's a big beer drinker I threw a couple of bottles of my latest brew in the fridge with the intention of having him try it when we got back. He had (and still has) no idea I brew my own.

As the day rolled on, the more I talked to him the more I changed my mind.
We ended up getting on the subject of beer when we passed an old brewery in our area that lead to the discussion of BMC and then to Sam Adams and micro brew etc. I still never mentioned homebrewing.
You would have thought I just stuck a lemon in his mouth by his expression.
He is a "BUD" man and always will be. The comment "my taste buds will never change" just about did it for me. I didn't think he'd like the slightly bitter IPA I brewed and decided not to waste it.
Is this overboard?:D I'm protecting my babies;)

Tommy
 
Not overboard at all. The comment about his taste buds never changing is all I needed to hear.

He probably likes his steak with ketchup, too. :D
 
I feel the same way sometimes...It usually comes from the same type of people who buy the same brand every Friday.
It seems like wasting a brew on someone when they say "it does taste like beer"..but not like the ones from the big breweries.
But every once in a while, you do get a convert who loves the homebrew and that seems to make up for all the others.
If you start mentally calculating the %age of beer given to a Bud guy (2 x 500ml given = over 5% of your 5 gallons brewed!) ...then offer him tapwater.

Cheers.
 
I have a cousin who refuses to try my beers because of the color. He thinks just because it is darker than miller freaking lite, that it is bitter. I pass it off as anyone that stubborn doesn't deserve to be enlightened anyway.
 
I didn't start brewing to please others anyway...:D

I have people in my family (I married into them...) who are strictly Bud and others are PBR (and won't try anything else).

I offer, but don't push...their loss, my gain.:D

On the other hand no matter how bad you think your beer is you DEFINITELY want to share you brews with other brewers. How else are you going to get it critiqued. They can help you decide what's right or wrong with the brew.
 
I never hesitate to pull a tap of whatever's in the kegerator for anyone who's over at the house. Either they'll like it and tell me so or they won't and they'll tell me so. I don't fault a man for not liking the things I like nor do I consider it a waste to introduce someone I like to something (or someone) I like. (And I don't ivite people I dislike to come to my house)

Based on Axlegod's comments:
If you start mentally calculating the %age of beer given to a Bud guy (2 x 500ml given = over 5% of your 5 gallons brewed!)
Click to expand...
Perhaps as a person brews more beer it feels like a lot less important whether one shares with someone who agrees with you or not. Let's do the math anoher way:
What is 16 oz out of 10 years of brewing at 40-60 gallons a year?
 
Well you know what "they" say, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make it drink." I find this is true for the swill drinkers. You want to know whats funny, i have a swill drinking friend, been my friend since the 3rd grade, he says he dosent like micro brews they just are not as smooth as Bud products. So what does the Reverend do? I pour a couple glasses of my Czech Pilsner and pass it off as a new Bud product that they dont sell where we live, i picked it up in canada or some such crap. Guess what...............this is great he says, i laugh at him and tell him what it is and he gets a pissy then after 4 more beers he says " hey, uuhhhh, think you can make me some of this?


I guess i finally got the horse to drink on that one.

Reverend
 
Two of my good friends WERE straight miller and bud light drinking. Now the miller drinker wants me to teach him how to brew his own beer and his favorite brew is a sierra nevada and the bud drinking constantly asks if he can buy some of my amber homebrew. (i give it to him for free). not much of a better feeling than showing some buddies the light.
 
My wife never liked "Dark Beer". I took her with me on a business trip to Ireland and we went into our first Irish Pub in Ireland. I made her close her eyes while I went to the bar and brought her back a half pint of Guinness. I told her to taste it and keep her eyes closed. She did, I asked to to try again while still keeping her eyes closed. She did and she liked it. She now loves Guinness and a good dark beer.

I went to work the next day and when I got back I asked her what she did. She told me she went for a hike, came back, went down to the pub and had a pint of Guinness and then took a nap. Hmmmm.

The next day when I got back I asked her what she did. She told me she went for a hike in a different direction, came back, went down the the pub and had two pints of Guinness and then took a nap.

She ended up drinking more Guinness than I did on that trip.
 
My wife had a reunion of sorts with her three brothers recently. Two live here in Mass, but the third lives in Tennessee and was up visiting. It was the first time in many years that all her siblings were together. When they showed up at our house, her oldest brother, who is a d!ck, was already half in the bag and carrying a twelve pack of Milwaukee's Best Light! I think you know where this is headed.

Well to my surprise, her other two brothers wanted to try my recently kegged IPA. They both could not believe how good it was, as they did not think that "home brewed" beer could be so good, as they put it. They both thought it was the best thing they had ever tasted, and are now wanting to try their hand at brewing. Her other brother, the drunken d!ck, thought it was "OK", but I could have served him warm urine with a lemon spritzer and he would not have known the difference! After he slurped down one IPA and made the "OK" comment, all he got after that were pint glasses full of his twelve pack swill that he brought over.

John
 
I introduced probably twelve or fifteen people to one of my homebrews at the company picnic last night. Great response with one exception, a youngish girl who works in admin and was drinking Miller Lite. I'll take her "it tastes like bug spray" with a grain of salt; had two people independently compare it to Berskhire Brewing Co.'s Steel Rail Ale, a very, very good local micro. Just a Brewer's Best Red Ale kit, but it came out very well, nice, full malty gorgeousness.

And, people whose opinion I DO value were going into my cooler (alas, no kegs yet) instead of the one filled with Sam Adams and Heinekin, so I'll take that as a compliment. All in all, good times.
 
I've shared my brew with all types. Unfortunately/fortunately most of my friends drink micros/better brews when money allows or they feel like a good beer. I've never had anyone tell me my beer was bad so far, but then I've had decent luck in brewing too. Perhaps the most luke-warm perception I've gotten from anyone on my beer is from my dad, but he hardly drinks anything, maybe one bottle of Miller Lite every month.

My favorite part is having people look at me like I'm some sort of incredibly patient voodoo scientist when I say I brew my own. A lot of people say, "Oh, that sounds like a lot of work." Or say, "It sounds pretty complicated." I have to laugh. As an extract brewer I don't think anything is overly complicated, but I have friends who brew their own from no boil kits and say that boiling is too much work. I guess to each his own...
 
Dude said:
I have a cousin who refuses to try my beers because of the color. He thinks just because it is darker than miller freaking lite, that it is bitter. I pass it off as anyone that stubborn doesn't deserve to be enlightened anyway.
Click to expand...

You should slip him one of my 11% ABV Wee Heavies. It's pretty freeking dark, very malty, low hops, and not bitter at all . . . plus after 2 of those he'll be too drunk to argue
 
I have one guy on the left of me that won't even try my beer, the one on the right loves it.
some people are just bull headed about beer and the big guys have them convinced it ain't beer unless its yellow and fizzy, and pretty much like club soda.
I didn't drink beer after returning to the states after a 3 1/2 year stint in Germany, cause I couldn't find any. ( that was many years ago).
Now I brew stuff that is just as good to me, and if someone else likes it then they can drink up, and if not, then more for me.
Some people feel comfortable in the dark.
 
I had a Bud drinker tell me my brown ale tasted like ****. Actually his wife told me he said that. I was kinda hurt until I realized that the local grocery would sell him all the Bud he wanted and I'd not waste another beer on him.
Had a co-worker try my stout. He'd never tried a dark beer , an import, or a homebrew of any kind. He and I now constantly talk beer and brew together every time we get a chance. Mostly stouts and ambers. Some people get it, some don't. One good one cancells out several who aren't so kind. Just keep brewing!!
 
And then you get the folks like one of the guys I work with. He says "will it get me drunk and is it cheep?" He will take all the home brew I can give him. He couldn't care less what it tastes like.
I will not give him any of my home brew. I don't want to waste it. I may change my mind if I get a bad batch though. :D
 
Eh, I'm at the point in my hobby where I'm just insecure enough that anyone who will drink my beer with a smile on their face can have as much as they want- and if they're only doing it to get drunk, well, why not? We're all friends, and moreso when we're drunk.

Perhaps as I get better at the craft I'll be more selective- on the other hand, it's hard for me to turn down the reputation of "Good Beer Supplier" (or whatever, something similar- nobody actually calls me that, it's just a sort of mental notion). :)
 
one of my best friends is a die hard bucsh light till she dies fan. SHe hates my beer, but everyone else absolutely loves it. I have no problems with handing someone a glass when they come over and show them to the kegerator. I actually like to hear people's thoughts of it.
 
RichBrewer said:
And then you get the folks like one of the guys I work with. He says "will it get me drunk and is it cheap?" He will take all the home brew I can give him. He couldn't care less what it tastes like.
Click to expand...
With the possible exception of RichBrewer's co-worker, I'm not picky at all about sharing my homebrew. Most of my friends really enjoy it. If they don't, we both chalk it up to experience, and they go back to Bud Light. I find it very rewarding to craft a beer that most everyone enjoys, and sometimes a little criticism is a good thing.
 
My biggest peeve right now is that people come over for a party and put their Synthetic Malt Beverages™ in my Serving fridge and then leave them there.

WTF am I going to do with them?

I can't even use the bottles.
 
olllllo said:
My biggest peeve right now is that people come over for a party and put their Synthetic Malt Beverages™ in my Serving fridge and then leave them there.

WTF am I going to do with them?

I can't even use the bottles.
Click to expand...

Oh, you can use them, alright: next time these so-called "friends" come over, wait in the bushes with a half-dozen of these fruitcakey frat-boy swills. Shake 'em up real good, and toss them, grenade-style, in the general vicinity of your guests/victims, so that they land on a hard surface, like the driveway. Bam...no more annoying Zima asshats in your house, and no more fruitcakey junk taking up space in your fridge.

Or just give them to the teenagers down the street.


Anyway, my thoughts on the issue at hand is, let anyone try it once. If they appreciate it, they're "in the club". If not, well, I'm out 12oz at the most. My father-in-law's idea of adventuresome beer is Yeungling lager...most of the time, it's Mich Ultra. I'll get him to try some, and he might even like it. You never know.
 
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or:

http://www.arrogantbastard.com/animated/animation2.gif
 
Reverend JC said:
Well you know what "they" say, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can not make it drink." I find this is true for the swill drinkers. You want to know whats funny, i have a swill drinking friend, been my friend since the 3rd grade, he says he dosent like micro brews they just are not as smooth as Bud products. So what does the Reverend do? I pour a couple glasses of my Czech Pilsner and pass it off as a new Bud product that they dont sell where we live, i picked it up in canada or some such crap. Guess what...............this is great he says, i laugh at him and tell him what it is and he gets a pissy then after 4 more beers he says " hey, uuhhhh, think you can make me some of this?

I guess i finally got the horse to drink on that one.

Reverend
Click to expand...

That's the biggest problem. Marketing. They are told to drink ICE COLD corn sugar beer and they believe it!
 
I'll let anyone try the beer, especially if they have never had a micro brewery/brewpub/homebrew experience before. They are probably expecting this rank ass beer and usually end up asking how much it is to make. After you tell them 50 cents a bottle they start asking how hard it is to make :)

as far as rank beer.... its good for cooking sausage or beer battering fish :)
 
Originally Posted by olllllo

WTF am I going to do with them?

I can't even use the bottles.
Click to expand...

Skunk it up as much as possible. Get it half frozen then throw it in the trunk of your car for a few days. Rinse and repeat.

Then serve it back to 'em the next time they come over. That may just help them 'aquire' a taste for something real. :D

Edit: Can those fufu drinks actually get skunked??? I wonder what a blacklight would do through that clear glass.....
 
I have a co-worker who was shooting off his mouth at a meeting saying he wouldn't drink anything that I brewed. He didn't know how right he was.
Another co-worker then said my brew was the best home brewed he ever tasted
and compared it to a good comercial brew. The man knows his brew.

I too brew for myself first, but also enjoy it when someone comments that
my brew is great. Most of the guys I hang with are BMC drinkers and won't
change. Do I care? Not. Who am I to say what they like? I can only offer.
After all, it wasn't so long ago I was one of "them".
 
I have been recently thinking of trying to brew a weaker beer,
I know I can't drink too many of my own before I'm done
(partially due to meds etc), but then I think, why bother? I can enjoy a couple of mine and get the same result they get drinking a 12 or so.
I have found that the Club members in my club mostly like my beers, and that is where it's at. because they know what good beer is all about. The people that drink Bud etc just think they are drinking beer

Actually I bought a bottle of Bud Reserve this last Christmas
it cost me $13.00 a quart at a discount store. surprisingly enough it was good. much like a good homebrew. They can brew good beer but I think the advertising is cheaper and or at least easier!!
 
sudsmonkey said:
Had a co-worker try my stout. He'd never tried a dark beer , an import, or a homebrew of any kind. He and I now constantly talk beer and brew together every time we get a chance.
Click to expand...

this is what i find as well. folks wanna learn as much as you can teach them about different types and styules and history, then they wanna see it in action. it's kinda funny being looked to as a source on suds....:D

anyhoo, my beer has been met with fairly good results, considering the sources... ;) but i brew what i like and want, it's a hobby for me.
 
fezzman said:
Skunk it up as much as possible. Get it half frozen then throw it in the trunk of your car for a few days. Rinse and repeat.

Then serve it back to 'em the next time they come over. That may just help them 'aquire' a taste for something real. :D

Edit: Can those fufu drinks actually get skunked??? I wonder what a blacklight would do through that clear glass.....
Click to expand...


No they can't skunk because they aren't brewed with hops. The sulfur compounds in the hops cause skunking when lightstruck.
 
It's one thing when someone says they don't like your brew becuase for what ever reason, BMC-LC appeals to them. OK, osme people just have odd/poor tastes. Most of those drinkers though will appreciate that it's just a style thing and are quite amazed. It's when you get some jack ass that tells people you hard work is "crap".

I've had plent of the megaswill crowd say, "I donlt like this kind of beer but it's very good for that kind." Meaning that they don't like the expensive well known, good micro stuff either and they are not slagging you for liking/making it. Some even seem guilty that their taste buds have been corrupted by twenty years of marketing and drinking what Dad alwasy drank. (Though my Dad will drink just about ant beer. "It's Beer", seemed to be a famous quote from my Dad. :)
 
I don't have any problems sharing with people that WANT to try it, but if I hear someone say something like, "I know what I like and I'm never going to change," (which is basically what Brewno's friend said) then I won't offer my beer to them. It's a totally different situation when someone says, "Hey, I normally don't like that type of beer but can I try it?"

I have one friend that doesn't like beer at all (he's a bourbon man), but he asks to try every one of the beers that I make. Usually he doesn't like it, but he always asks, and he actually really liked the hefeweizen I made. He even drank a whole one. He can have one of my beers any time, because he WANTS to try it.
 
In hindsight, it was a long day and I was tired and was feeling protective of my babies:D He is a nice guy and fairly straight forward, if he didn't like it he would just say, "it's a good beer but not my style." That would be fine.
Maybe I should have given him one. I was just feeling kind of like, some people just cling to that crap beer and don't want to know anything else, so screw them." With that in mind I felt we were in different clubs and into different things. Maybe next time.
I think letting people try it is fine now that I have read all the replies. I won't insist on it, I will just offer. If asked I will gladly give it over.
As if I baked a batch of cookies, they are there if you want em', if not that's fine also. If you like them there's more, if you don't then it's your choice.

Tommy
 
After 12 years of Home Brewing I have discovered that like any other food or drink people either like it or they dont. I dont take it personnal if someone does not like or refuses to try my brew. I always keep a sixer of Miller Lite , wine etc. in my fridge for guests and dont push my home brew. If they want to try it thats fine if not I offer them something else. I cant understand some people being so offended if someone else wants a Bud, Miller Lite or even the Beast. After all I just enjoy spending time with my family and friends. Life is to short to be beer snob.:mug:



In Primary: Black Dog Stout

Just Kegged: Krisp Kolsch

Bottled: American Light
 
I almost didn't make it into this hobby because of my presumptions about beer. Growing up I didn't try beer often as I found it utterly repulsive (the mass-produced kind). I swore I'd never drink beer again. In college friends tried to convince me to try this kind or that and they all tasted entirely the same to me. But it was sheer chance when I was at a friend's house picking some strings when he offered me a bottle of his friend's homebrew. I expressed my reservations, but he assured me it was something 'different'. So in an effort to prove him wrong I had a taste and it was... really good. I remember it tasting vaguely of root beer. I didn't have beer again until years later when another friend tuned me into the dark belgians and germans. Now I'm a beginner eager to learn different styles and eventually brew them.

Anyway sorry for the long tale - point is I'd make an effort to get people to at least taste it. I swore off beer for life and now I'm brewing!
 
I let anyone who wants some try my brew. If they like it, I tell them where they can pick up a local starter kit so they can brew their own and offer to help them get going. Then we can share each others brews.

If they do not like the homebrew, oh well....more for me. :ban:

I really enjoy sharing my brew with other homebrewers to get their feedback...this is a great way to learn. In particular, I like sharing with my homebrew club members and get feedback from the BJCP certified judges, of which our club has a few.

Cheers!

BrewStef
 

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