Best compliment you've received?

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I took a growler of my house porter to my BIL's for dinner one evening.
We opened it and started drinking and he said "This sure tastes familiar. I think I had this after my golf game this morning. It was from some brewery in Oregon".

"Deschutes in Bend", I said.
"Yea, that's it!", he replied.

My house porter is a Deschutes Black Butte clone. I lol'd.

My daughter also asks if I have any amber or Kolsch on tap when she comes over. I try to have amber around all the time.

The amber is "Fender Bender" amber from BYO and the Kolsch is "Krazy Kolsch" from [permo] on HBT.
 
The wife would never that "gross garage beer" for the first yearish. Then I had her to a taste test with several craft beers and mine.
Bad idea. Now I have to keep the pipeline full for 2 people. Huge compliment. She is my partner for sure.
 
The wife would never that "gross garage beer" for the first yearish. Then I had her to a taste test with several craft beers and mine.
Bad idea. Now I have to keep the pipeline full for 2 people. Huge compliment. She is my partner for sure.

Nice. My wife has a very sensitive palate. Which helped me identify off flavors in most of my early batches. She's a wine drinker, but as my brewing improved, she started "appreciating the nuances in beer". I never pour her a glass, she'll "just sip", until I have to refill my glass. :)
 
Shared a bottle of my 2nd batch of beer with a co-worker...Gave it to him Friday and he said he drank it Saturday after putting it in the fridge..Said it tasted 'awesome' and gave me a thumbs up! :)
 
Enjoyed an ice cold, crisp, light home brew with the wife.

She never drinks beer, and had a second.

Lucky for her, I write down all my recipes.
 
My son's still bragging on Facebook about the Hellfire IIPA we came up with that I brewed. He even brought back the bottles rinsed out! So I gave him another 6'r. He still thinks home brewing is too scientific for him. But I'm working on that. He & his fiance' have a house now, with a nice basement, garage & fenced in backyard. Now to add a brew rig...:tank:
 
Recently, the senior-most military officer in the country I'm stationed in told the U.S. ambassador that he "never liked beer" until he drank my "beer made with local honey" (a golden ale I made with 2lbs of local honey).

Best. Compliment. Evah.
 
Wife's friend about one of my early attempts at a brown ale: "This tastes like you strained burnt beef stock through a dirty sock."

Oh, sorry, I thought you said best complaint I've received.
 
Message from my hop-head Portlander friends who visited recently:
"We've been dreaming about your DIPA! So good!"

I took that as high praise, considering the source.
 
My wife (who is definitely not a beer drinker)called the other day so she could pick up the ingredients for a flank steak, pumpkin, beer (either porter or stout) stew that I usually make. Last time I made it, I didn't have any commercial beer, so I used my bourbon barrel porter. When she asked if she needed to pick up beer, she said, "oh wait, you still have some of your beer left right? I like it sooo much better with yours!!"
 
Wife's friend about one of my early attempts at a brown ale: "This tastes like you strained burnt beef stock through a dirty sock."

Oh, sorry, I thought you said best complaint I've received.

almost feel off my chair... that was great agrazela!
 
"This beer doesn't even taste like beer", a young soldier (22 y/o) a couple of years ago who had previously only had BMC light products and was a commercial cider drinker if he drank anything other than Mountain Dew. I believe it was a Cali Common with some Cascade for flavor hops. Had a subtle yet up-front grapefruit flavor.
 
I have a neighbor who homebrews beer, I homebrew cider (but not sweet).. I do a lot of hopped ciders fermented dry... Now, his dad ONLY drinks Killigans Irish red...
My buddy (the neighbor) has tried to get his dad to drink anything else to no avail... I asked his dad if he wanted to try my brew. he said "no, I only drink this". I said "common, just try it". He said "I will but im not gonna like it bud". I pushed it on him and he made a face and said "not bad"... then my buddy and I started talking... A few minutes later his dad said "I kinda like this"... me and my buddy kinda looked at each other with half smiles and continued having our conversation... A few more minutes passed and his dad said "hey, this is pretty good". Our half smiles became grins! By the end of our jabbering his dad say "Hey, make me some of this...i'll pay you"...
The guy whos son homebrews and makes him try everything he buys and everything he makes and pops never bites.... only drinks his beer (for years and years), the Badgers cider swung him!!! :)
I've had lots of people tell me my cider is great, many have said "you need to sell this"! or "that's fantastic" but getting the guy who is brutally loyal to his drink to want to switch was my happiest homebrew moment to date!

The unswayable guy swayed...
:rockin:
 
With a little poetic license allowed could this be the best compliment(s) you've received? A neighbor I have only spoken to a couple of times before tonight I had asked him if he liked beer and if so what styles, Guinness, porters, dark beers was his response. I mentioned I brewed a Robust Porter and asked him if he would like to try it, "Ya sure, if you have an extra, I'd like to try it." So I returned with two bottles of my latest brew, met his wife, and asked them to tell me what it was they tasted as I didn't want to muddle their impressions. He first picked up on the chocolate as well did she, a little roasty, big mouth feel, (malty) he could not taste-wise p/u on the fact this is a BIG porter (8%+ABV, sneaky me) and he placed it on par with a Chocolate Porter that he really enjoys at a (somewhat) local brewery. That was was a huge compliment in itself, but when I stopped by to drop off a 23 month old Triple Chocolate Stout for them to enjoy, he commented, as soon as you left my wife said,"We should have split one and saved the other for later." I do hope four weeks from now the judges feel the same way in the local contest I enter. By the way, I am not big on entering contests; the upcoming one (should I enter) will only be the third contest I have ever entered my beer in, but I believe this one may be worthwhile... If I remember I will keep you all posted.
 
Xmas day poured a few beau-hemian pilsners (named after my dog Beau) for the relly's (relatives) and they kept coming back asking for more even though they bought their own craft beer which they left behind. Good thing I had a sixer for each of them for presents.

Nothing like them wanting more as a good compliment
 
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My elderly dad has a neighbor that clears the driveway with a snowblower, and he does it just to be kind, not for pay. So, in past years my dad and I have given him beer as a thank you. What kind of beer does the neighbor buy for himself? Bud and Bud light. This year a blizzard was on his birthday and I happened to brew my first BIAB which I named Lizzard Warning Wit after the sign error. Well I gave him a couple bottles not sure he'd like it ,and he just raved about it to my SIL. He thought the label was cool too. SIL like most of my brews too, just that a positive review from a bud drinker feels pretty good. (That's just the first mock up of the label)

image.jpg
 
After being a musician and writer for over 20 years I've learned that it's the subtle responses that mean the most

Brother in law after tasting my brews "I need a new hobby"

My girlfriend after drinking my beer for years and trying my Earl grey IPA "this is a really really good beer"

That extra really is what mattered.
 
My friends keep expecting "that homebrew taste" or the likes.

Instead, I've gotten "Wow, I'd buy that in a store," and "You made this? Recipe and all?"
 
I gave one of my sour saisons to my boss, who is a well respected professional Brewer opening a brewpub, and he told me he has some wine barrels at the brewery we can fill up with my recipe once everything settles down.
 
I gave my wife a taste of my most recent batch. She said "Pretty good, but I like your homebrew better." I took it as a compliment because she clearly thought it was a commercial brew.
 
I gave my wife a taste of my most recent batch. She said "Pretty good, but I like your homebrew better." I took it as a compliment because she clearly thought it was a commercial brew.

Thats one of those compliments that make you do a double take. Like, "oh than... Wait what?" :tank:

On the other hand, I gave my wife a taste of my new honey blonde and she said "meh, needs more hops." Ha! At least I know I married a hop head :D
 
the Badgers cider swung him!!! :)
I've had lots of people tell me my cider is great

I tried to search for it and came up empty, but do you have the recipe for your hopped cider? My girlfriend is celiac, and while I use Clarity Ferm so she can enjoy a glass here and there, she is still uncomfortable with the idea of drinking something that has barley in it.

I'd like to try my hand at hard cider in the next few months.

Thanks!
 
Last Friday was beer club. 13 guys, I'm the only brewer. There is alot of *****ie-snoberto going on, one guy especially. I brought my 4-hear-old Belgian quad and a 1-year-old Belgian IIPA with Simcoe/Citra. Nozzle-nose was immediately put off, because "homebrew."

After trying both, he was raving and promising up and down that he will market my beer for me. Both beers were a huge hit amongst most of the others present, as well. It was quite flattering to have my two beers be the pick of the evening from 25 beers total.
 
Wait, you guys actually share your brew with people? haha J/K ;)





I agree with mongoose - when people say they'd pay or have paid for much worse. That's my favorite!
 
A guy I work with said after drinking my latest ipa, he couldn't drink his favorite beer because he wanted another of mine. That one made me feel pretty good.
 
With a little poetic license allowed could this be the best compliment(s) you've received? A neighbor I have only spoken to a couple of times before tonight I had asked him if he liked beer and if so what styles, Guinness, porters, dark beers was his response. I mentioned I brewed a Robust Porter and asked him if he would like to try it, "Ya sure, if you have an extra, I'd like to try it." So I returned with two bottles of my latest brew, met his wife, and asked them to tell me what it was they tasted as I didn't want to muddle their impressions. He first picked up on the chocolate as well did she, a little roasty, big mouth feel, (malty) he could not taste-wise p/u on the fact this is a BIG porter (8%+ABV, sneaky me) and he placed it on par with a Chocolate Porter that he really enjoys at a (somewhat) local brewery. That was was a huge compliment in itself, but when I stopped by to drop off a 23 month old Triple Chocolate Stout for them to enjoy, he commented, as soon as you left my wife said,"We should have split one and saved the other for later." I do hope four weeks from now the judges feel the same way in the local contest I enter. By the way, I am not big on entering contests; the upcoming one (should I enter) will only be the third contest I have ever entered my beer in, but I believe this one may be worthwhile... If I remember I will keep you all posted.

EDIT: Only after it was much too late to do anything about it, I found out the new BJCP categories do not include a Robust Porter anymore. After making up my mind I was going to enter the contest anyway, I chose to enter it as English Porter. The nice thing was, both judges picked out all of the characteristics I wanted this beer to have; the problem was those characteristics weren't for a Brown Porter.
My scores were 33 and 34, and the winning scores in my category were 42.5 and 43. I am bummed out the R/P category is now gone, but that is okay with me. I once again submitted entries to see how close to style I was brewing, and if there still was a Robust Porter category (according to the judges' notes) I may have gotten a very high score instead of the ones I did receive.
 
I have new neighbors across the street from my house that we did what we could to help them settle in. They baked some fantastic Christmas cookies and brought us over a tin of them. Wow, amazing cookies... So (my wife and) I reciprocated with a few of my home brews and they said how much they enjoyed them. (I then found out he had been in the "beer business" for ten years.) Three or four weeks ago I gave him one of my nine month old Cran-Apple ciders, and he told me if it was available for sale at a store he would buy it, as well as commenting the style was "European." I used European red wine yeast, and I told him he had "quite the palate".
 
My wife's boss and her husband both came to a party of ours two summers ago where we only served home brew. He's from Burundi and when he tried my applejack (started out as a 17% 1.030-ish applewine) he said it tasted exactly like something his uncle used to make. Flash forward to now. Wife's boss asks if they can buy some from me if I have more. Apparently every month or so, he's been asking her to ask my wife to ask me and she kept forgetting. He of course can't remember my wife's name, but remembers mine even though we've met once. I sent them my last bottle as a gift yesterday and today I got a thank saying that it tastes exactly the way he remembers it.

A year and a half of anticipation to live up to and I didn't disappoint. That felt good.
 
I'm not at all impressed with "Bud-light lifers" opinions. My best complements is when I make a beer that doesn't stand up to my expectations, but multiple other craft beer dudes truly enjoy them. You can see it in their eyes...
 
In 1994 I made 16 cases of decent beer for my sister's wedding and got raves from the guests. The band tried to steal 2 cases. People were still drinking it at brunch the following morning. So yeah, early success :)

Fast forward 20 years. In 2014, then assistant brewer at Rising Tide in Portland, ME, Sean Spence, blind tasted a keg fill that I had given to my future son-in-law. At that time Joe worked at upscale Rosemont Market and they always had a super selection.

The response I heard back floored me: "NO WAY is this homebrew, show me the bottle. I have to meet this guy".

So I got invited to spend an afternoon hanging out in the brewery with "Spence" and Tasting Room Ambassador Dan Keller, talking about home and commercial brewing - that was a pretty great day.

Someday I'll brew that one again - it was an AB SMaSH that finished at 1.010 - and close to 9% ABV. I called it SMaSHed Bastard.
 
Last Friday was beer club. 13 guys, I'm the only brewer. There is alot of *****ie-snoberto going on, one guy especially. I brought my 4-hear-old Belgian quad and a 1-year-old Belgian IIPA with Simcoe/Citra. Nozzle-nose was immediately put off, because "homebrew."

After trying both, he was raving and promising up and down that he will market my beer for me. Both beers were a huge hit amongst most of the others present, as well. It was quite flattering to have my two beers be the pick of the evening from 25 beers total.

Quad will make em talk :)
 
after 20 batches of so-so beer, I'd almost given up.

didn't brew for about a year & a half, then did a quick extract batch (Deschutes' Fresh Squeezed clone) and was my first ever with fermentation temperature control (thanks, BrewPi!)

my best brew ever. that batch ended up being my first beer that placed in top 3 of brew club competition. out of 13 entries, it beat out beers made by the top brewers of the last couple years.

my other brew club loved it, said it might not be an exact clone, but it was a dang good beer, very drinkable. very surprised when I said it was extract

then the ultimate compliment; the other day, I saw one of the guys from the 2nd brew club, he had just gotten back from a trip to Bend, OR, had Fresh Squeezed from their tap room and said he preferred mine
 
EDIT: Only after it was much too late to do anything about it, I found out the new BJCP categories do not include a Robust Porter anymore. After making up my mind I was going to enter the contest anyway, I chose to enter it as English Porter. The nice thing was, both judges picked out all of the characteristics I wanted this beer to have; the problem was those characteristics weren't for a Brown Porter.
My scores were 33 and 34, and the winning scores in my category were 42.5 and 43. I am bummed out the R/P category is now gone, but that is okay with me. I once again submitted entries to see how close to style I was brewing, and if there still was a Robust Porter category (according to the judges' notes) I may have gotten a very high score instead of the ones I did receive.

I do believe that "Robust Porter" was renamed "American Porter" and the actual style stayed much the same. Even allows for "English" interpretations. Given that you can have an English American Porter, it seems stupid to me. But given that "Robust Porter" is an invented name anyway, I suppose it doesn't make a difference either way.
 
This past weekend someone from work came by my house, he did not know that I brewed beer. In the past he had told me that he did not care for beer. He asked for a glass of water (my r.o. system is on the patio by my outside two tap fridge). I asked if he wanted water or beer, he tried a Pale Belgian Ale and said this doesn't taste like beer. I like it.
He went on to try 6 more different brews that I have on tap. He did not like the IPA's and stouts but did like a Schwarzbier and an Alt.
 
Brought a few bottles of my stout to my two best friends in another city. Has to be said that those friends are not just advanced but senior drinkers ;) with a special thing for dark beers.
We poured it into three glasses. After the very first sip those two without saying a word confiscated my glass, and brought me some Guinness from the fridge.
They drank my stout in silence.
That was perhaps the best praise I had in my entire (adult) life.
 
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