Can it be Seen as Unprofessional to Brew Beer?

[heywolfie1015]

Seems I'm late to this party, but I am a lawyer and my colleagues are always extremely interested in my homebrewing. Craft beer is well appreciated nowadays, especially among many professionals. It also is just something interesting to talk about that makes you stand out among the sea of other professionals out there. I guarantee that a potential client will remember your homebrewing hobby more than you talking about some baseball game or the latest movie you saw.

If you like the hobby and it is part of your interest set, it will show and likely be more of a boon to your career than a hindrance. If you feel self-conscious about the amount of alcohol you make, focus more on why you brew and that it is because you like crafting something top quality. People understand that desire. Also, you can talk about how it is a social hobby, because you need to have people over to help you drain kegs so that you can try a different recipe.

So, long story short, you're probably overthinking this. Own it; enjoy it. And have a homebrew.

 

[BrauhausBrad]

The only time I'll put homebrewing and other beer related activities on my resume is if I'm applying somewhere within the alcohol industry, be it a brewery, winery, distributor or so on.

For what it's worth, I'm an attorney who has "home-brewing beer" listed as a hobby on my resume. It has gotten nothing but extremely positive reactions during law firm interviews and has often turned into a long side conversation that left a great impression and actually prevented me from having to answer very many difficult interview questions. A lot of people don't realize that home-brewing beer is actually a thing, and they're happy to learn more and ask me follow-up questions about it. Plus, I can always toss in the "free beer for you" joke about the benefits of hiring me, and it's always good for some laughs (the importance of which, where appropriate, cannot be understated).

 

[thyirishmen]

I work in IT and my co-workers love it too. bunch of tech guys who love good beer and gizmos and gadgets!

 

[bleme]

A little off topic, but there is an IT company that opened in Fresno a few years back and one of the perks is they keep craft beer on tap.

 

[BrewZer]

As an IT professional, I recommend boring friends and colleagues alike with endless details about brewing beer. They find my lengthy comments about the effects of different malts, yeasts and hops on beer to be particularly enjoyable.

I find that people respond with enthusiasm until I start into the details. Then their eyes glaze over and they tend to drift away...

 

[BrewZer]

If I was looking for a job, I wouldn't likely put homebrewing on my resume. But I'm not, and I'm in the old crabby "who cares?" camp. I do what I do because I love my life and I'm in a position to not have to care what other people think.

I read, hike, kayak, homebrew, etc. None of those define me, but it does tell you quite a bit about me.

"Amateur zymurgologist"

 

[NitrogenWidget]

"Amateur zymurgologist"

I bring in beers from my batches for coworkers to try a d give feedback. There are jokes of course with my 10 kegs with 7 kegs currently on tap. But people are interested in the process and in different types of beers and since I'm a tech guy who has to explain technical things to non technical people I'm able to keep it at high level so their eyes don't glaze over.

 

[SEndorf]

Asking for honest feedback from co-workers, especially subordinate, is like your wife asking you if she looks pretty today...........

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Asking for honest feedback from co-workers, especially subordinate, is like your wife asking you if she looks pretty today...........

Nah.
They all hate me and are brutally honest.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I am creating alcohol instead of doing something to save the world like researching the cure for cancer.

Don't be too quick to judge. Have they even tried running homebrew through the cancer-curing machine yet?

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Don't be too quick to judge. Have they even tried running homebrew through the cancer-curing machine yet?

Perhaps fermenting it instead of using cyclotron could be the answer?

 

[JimEb]

I think for some people the term "homebrewing" conjures up images of some toothless rural guys out in some Tennessee backwoods cooking up moonshine under the cover of darkness. Either that or 'homebrew' is sometimes a term used to describe something that looks cobbled/sloppily done.

I don't openly advertise to anyone that I'm a homebrewer because I sense people think your an alcoholic or something. My 10-yr-old daughter will often draw me father's day/birthday cards and draw a beer on it. I admit that doesn't really make me feel good. Of all the other hobbies I do (fly airplanes, write magazine articles, triathlons, run marathons, etc) it's the brewing that somehow is leaving the biggest impression on her.