Do you only drink what you brew??

[rabidgerbil]

To me, the thought of ONLY drinking my own would be like ONLY eating my own cooking. I am a really good cook, but I still love to go out to dinner. Sometimes you want to let someone else do the work, and other times you want to try something that you just don't have experience making yet.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I buy a fair amount of commercial beer. I've been buying less and less since I started brewing, and now I typically look for beer I've never tried before (in the name of research, of course). It's becoming increasingly hard to find a beer I've never had, though.

 

[rabidgerbil]

(Apfelwein and hard lime too)

Wait a minute... are you talking fermented lime-aid???
NOW why didn't I think of that. YUM.
Got a recipe you feel like sharing?

I just sampled my first hard cider yesterday as I was putting it into the keg, and again this morning, now that it is cold and mildly carbonated. I used a combination of commercial apple juice and pasturized fresh pressed cider. The cider was a nice mix of apples with a good tartness to them, kind of like the juice from a granny smith. I threw in a little vanilla and some allspice, along with a whole lot of brown sugar. It kind of reminds me of taking a good baked apple and turning into a nice cold refreshing drink... that will knock you on your a$$.

 

[Willy Boner]

I try to do quite a bit of R & D. I don't brew anything out of the the normal stouts, pales or hefe's mostly because I have not found anything I like better. I figure when I retire I might try to bcome alcoholically independant, but I do like to go to happy hour to be social.

 

[Spyk'd]

Seeing as I work in a brewery and bring home alot of free beer as well as homebrew, I mostly drink what I brew.

:cross:


However, tonight due to timing and not paying attention, I've run dry on kegs, so I'm drinking Full Moon. It's not bad, I must say!

 

[z987k]

With a closet full of beer, 2 cornies, 4 secondaries and a primary going we decided we need to stop buying beer until we drink this stuff.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

You almost have to when you eat out. Nearly every restaurant I go to save for one frowns on bringing in your own beer. And the one that doesn't mind me bringing in beer is a Mexican eatery that I rarely have anything appropriate for anyway.

 

[cheezydemon]

I have just taken a vow to only drink my own. At this stage I have a ton of my own to choose from and quite frankly, I drink too much!
I figure that I will drink less if I only drink home brew.
Fortunately I am good at different styles. I have great imperial stouts and great IPA's, I have a lager fermenting as well as a cheap session beer and a light bodied APA. Home brew is healthier to drink, especially if you ingest the yeast and drink dark beer.

 

[BierMuncher]

I'll only buy a mixer-sixer from my local liquor store to sample different beers.

If I like it...I'll clone it and brew more.

You haven't seen me carrying a 12-pack of commercial beer in a very, very long time.

Just passed the 350 gallon marker this year and have 7 different styles on tap. Ain't no way I'm shelling out clams for someone else's beer.

 

[Onescalerguy]

Hard lime recipe:10 cans frozen concentrate lemon and/or lime(no sorbate!)
1.5#corn sugar
2# Light DME
Montrachet dry yeast.
Mix it all up real well and let ferment for 1 month(65-70 degrees)
After a month we hit it with sorbate(to stop ferment)and sweeten with another can of concentrate.Keg it,force carb it and wait 2 more weeks.Voila...drink up!
Cheers

 

[Steiner]

I don't make enough beer to get away with that. Besides, I like variety and I've only got about 5 of my own beers to choose from at the moment. Since I'm a rookie in the homebrewing business, I like to try new beers and get ideas on what I'd like to brew next. Homebrewing has actually increased the amount of commercial beers I've bought. And I thought I'd actually save money homebrewing...

 

[gogoplata]

I think this varies quite a bit but I think most probably still drink others besides their own. It's fun to critique them as you knowledge (and palate) grow.

 

[Chello]

PBR, loud and proud!

 

[brewhead]

i couldn't tell you the last time i bought beer - it's been years.

 

[jdoiv]

I only buy commercial if I'm eating out or if I want to try something new/do research. I recently picked up a bunch of Belgians at Costco to try. Been sitting in the fridge for a couple of weeks now. Maybe I'll get around to them someday soon. In the mean time, I'll keep drinking what I make.

 

[Quercus]

It sounds like the majority enjoy sampling at least the occasional fine craft brew.

I'm no different. Now that I have a decent stock of homebrew, I can really experiment with what I buy in stores.

Every couple of weeks or so, I swing by the local bottle shop or BevMo and pick up 3 or 4 bombers of stuff I have not had before. It's fun, and helps open my eyes to new styles.

 

[ameadrat]

11/17/07 My party of went to the new location opening of Founder Brewing Company of Grand Rapids Michigan. Can you imagine 500 people SRO drinking and not a rice beer in the place? It was insane. And another new brew to clone,
'Backwoods Bastard', a cross between their scotish "Dirty Bastard' and "Kentucky Bourbon Stout"(These are the published names,okay). Earlier that day, in a pub bar they had a vanilla something. It was a good attempt by AB to make a statement. It was okay. However, if you like drink it. I buy a case of Grolsch swing tops every spring. It taste great on a hot summer day and gives me a case of replacements for those who don't return my swing tops. I also don't think it is worth the time and the money to clone grolsch or warsteiner or any of the great beers you can buy in the store. It also gives me a great beer to start somebody off the fast food beers into the relm of taste!!!

 

[CBBaron]

It called research
There are so many beers and styles out there I have not tried yet. And some I have had in the past and want to resample to see how my perception has changed. When I find something I really like I look to make a similar beer at home. I'd say about 25% of the beer I drink is commercial beer. However most of those are beers are new to me (at least less than a 6 pack)
Craig

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

I drink every night.. 1 - 3 pints. I'd say I buy 1 or 2 commercial bombers or a sixpack maybe twice a month. I just drink so much that's economical for me to make the beer I drink. I'm not rich enough to buy commercial brews all the time. And, I make good beer, never had to dump a batch.

 

[Brewtopia]

To echo David_42, there is just too much good beer around up here in the PNW not to drink a large share of commercial examples. I also drink more commercial beer than homebrew.



...but not this weekend :rockin:

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I pick up a 6'er of a good micro once in a while but I brew 90-95% of the beer that gets consumed in my house.

 

[shunoshi]

I don't think I'll ever reach a point brewing where I'll completely stop buying commercial brew. There's always new breweries popping up and my curiousity makes me buy their beer. Plus I recently found a local liquor store that stocks an immense amount of domestic and imported beers. Several hundred different beers from about a dozen or more countries. It's going to take me YEARS to get through their stock of beer. :cross:

 

[niquejim]

I don't always have commercial beer in my fridge, but the local store has 500-600 different beers and I try to pick up a sixer or two every month. If I had not I would never have found that I love Scottish ales.