Dinner Guests comments about Home Brew

[fezzman]

I've had similiar comments about my brew "not tasting like homebrew." Several times people said that, in the past when trying homebrew, it tasted gritty or grainy. The only thing I can figure is that they were not properly instructed in pouring a h-b and drank the yeast??? Gritty??? I'm scared to know just what they previously had but am glad that they thoroughly enjoy mine.

 

[neckbone]

I've got my second batch conditioning in the bottle right now, and the third in the primary. My first batch, I gave out two bottles each to two of my friends and my dad, and gave a sixer to another friend for a wedding present. Each one loved them. One even noticed that the second bottle was better a week later than the first one.

My problem, is that w/ that first IPA, I was very stingy. I gotta get another IPA in the primary soon. After brewing the Red, and the BlueMoon clone, they just don't have the hop aroma that I've found out I love in the IPA. I think I'm going to be brave, and try a double IPA. What's the worst that happens? I have to drink it all?? I'll be brave, and take that chance.

 

[Torchiest]

Don't worry. Double IPAs are the BEST! :rockin:

 

[mew]

As I told a local wine snob: How to make wine: Crush grapes, add yeast, pray. What's the skill?? Making a varietal is a little like painting a water color with only one color and one brush. And everyone else uses the same color and brush.

I was a wine snob in the '80's, but I grew up!

Making good wine is about tending the grape plants perfectly so that they'll produce the correct amounts of sugar, tannin, etc. Good grapes = good wine, but it is sometimes very difficult to produce good grapes. Using your metaphor, the brewer has a whole palate of paints given to him/her, but the winemaker has to produce the paint him/herself. For the homebrewer I would agree with you, but not when it comes to commercial production.

 

[Monster Mash]

I had a salesman come into my office, he brought in some HB that was in his car during the summer so it was pretty hot when he gave it to me. He was really proud of this beer and when he found out I brewed he thought I would love it.

I brought it to a fellow homebrewers house, poured a couple glasses, took a sip and both of us couldn't even swallow it. It was the most vile, infected beer I have ever tasted....

 

[Rhoobarb]

Thing is they are missing out on so much in life. I recall the first time some friends of ours tried SWMBO's baked macaroni and cheese. They grew up on boxed food and feed it to their kids...anyways they couldn't believe how it tasted, and it was just macaroni and cheese lol.

I have to remind myself constantly not to take my experience with food and beverage for granted whenever I serve things to people. There are probably several hundred things in my home that 80% of people I know have never experienced. I guess the point I am making is what is commonplace to me might be so foreign to someone else and I always have to try and catch myself and remember where they are coming from. There is a generation of boxed and processed foodies out there.

So very true, and very well put.

We do live in a time when everything is over-processed, over-marketed, over-packaged, over-centralized, etc. It used to be you ate and drank a lot more locally/regionally and got better food and drink that way. And there were none of the widespread foodborne diseases we see so much of today. Why is that? I believe Alton Brown put it best!

 

[Vermicous]

Over the past couple years I have become good friends with some local growers.

They spent the remainder of the season explaining to buyers that there was no E.Coli in their spinach. As it was, they ended up not being able to sell a large amount, buyers just did not understand.

 

[sause]

buyers just did not understand.

Like parents?

 

[ayrton]

Strange: I've never had anyone not like my beer, but then most of the people I know drink "real" beer anyway. I do know a few who just won't drink it because they hate beer in general, and my boss' wife saw one of my stouts and said, "That looks more like coffee than beer."

Let them be ignorant. More for me and the other appreciators.

 

[Mutine Bullfrog]

I think the response comes from people that have had homemade wine. No offence to the wine makes on the forum, but I have tried allot of bad home made wine and it kind of conditions you to think that everything home made is bad.

 

[Torchiest]

One big factor is that I would guess people think making good homebrews is very difficult and complicated. There could be some residual imagery along the lines of bathtub gin, where they think homemade alcohol has got to be awful, like hooch.

My response would be, you know me, you know I'm not some schlub off the street. Do you expect me to tolerate sloppy production and a crappy final product? Of course, I haven't had that problem yet. Everyone has been really enthusiastic about the whole idea. Of course, pretty everyone I know if from my job at the pub, soo...

 

[brewman !]

My brother in law's father brews his own beer from "kits". It is the worst stuff I have ever tasted. I can't drink it without shuddering. Its very thin and sharp.

Their house is a mess too. I wonder about his brewing sanitation methods.

I've told him that I brew. The then proceeds to tell me about all the great kits he has brewed. I just nod and slink away.

 

[CBBaron]

I have never had a place for any BMC beer. I didn't even drink deer until I moved to New England for a few years and was introduced to good micro and import beers. That stuff was just unknown in college in Indiana. Now I'm back in Cleveland and most grocery stores have half or more of their cooler dedicated to micros and imports.
My first HB is three weeks in the bottle and is pretty good. Its not as good as my favorite micros but I have hope to match or exceed those in the future. Most of the people I have told about my brewing are interested in trying out my brew or just have no real interest in any beer. But those people I know who do drink usually don't care for BMC either.
Craig

 

[knipknup]

Most people can't stand IPAs in general, and I know that I myself couldn't drink them, once upon a time. Now, I'm an IPA junkie.

Some call that puberty...:cross:

 

[Kaiser]

My coworker is interested in making wine, and I pretty much told him the same thing. I mean heck no boiling, mash temps, conversion tests, balances, etc, etc, etc,etc. So yeah, I completely agree

Great wine has to be found.
Great beer has to be made.

That's what I was told.

Kai

 

[Vermicous]

Though it would please the wife greatly, I am afraid to try and make wine. I have had some really good wine and my tolerance for bad wine is very low. I think I would just disappoint myself.

 

[TUCK]

I was a wine snob in the '80's, but I grew up!

LOL, love it.

I deal with these pricks (know it all wine snobs) at my bar everynight.

I have to steal your quote if you don't mind.


I also have the "funny look" when I mention or offer homebrew to my brothers country friends (redneck bud drinkers...and I can say that because my family has a ton of them).
However, my buddies that do appreciate good food/beer/wine/scotch/cheetahstripclub love trying my brew and keep hounding me for six packs, yet I am too lazy to bottle at the moment.

Man thats a great feeling to be a party and most of the people are drinking your brew. I am not to selfish with my beer and love sharing it.

 

[boo boo]

A number of years back I gave up making brew ( K&K brews from a canned kit) due to infections. It made horrible beer that was even out of place for a canned kit.
My B-I-L got me into kit wine and I discovered that my satiitization was suspect.
Having cured that I read up on brewing beer and started making the best beer that I have ever tasted homemade. Even my friends comment on how it doesn't taste "homemade".
Since going AG, my brews are now what I call commercial grade.

 

[Sir Humpsalot]

Since going AG, my brews are now what I call commercial grade.

Don't put yourself down like that! Our beers are unpasteurized and this seems to give our food a better flavor than pasteurized products. Ever compare a canned tomato to a fresh one? The canned one was pasteurized. The best cheeses in the world are unpasteurized. Why wouldn't beer be better unpasteurized?

And then compare it to the larger breweries that filter their beer. Are you telling me they don't strip out flavor components in the process? And of course, the bigger the brewery, the more they watch their pennies and nickels. Do you really think they're making the same quality as you are? Do you think you can buy a frozen lasagna as good as Mom's? No way.....

No way is a decent extract batch not better than "Commercial Grade". Perhaps the compliment you were looking for was, "Excellent Brewpub Grade".

 

[Monster Mash]

I have never had a place for any BMC beer. I didn't even drink deer until I moved to New England for a few years

How does that taste?

 

[zoebisch01]

Great wine has to be found.
Great beer has to be made.

That's what I was told.

Kai

That is an interesting saying.