Ever feel uncomfortable besting your favorite beer with your homebrew?

[Rev2010]

I've been beer connoisseuring for just over 12 years now. I only started homebrewing in January thanks to the wife's X-mas gift and I am just doing extract right now. So no AG or partial mashes just yet.... but I've already bested my favorite beer ever, Franziskaner, and it just feels strange. I made 3 of my own recipe hefeweizens, each a bit different. They're all awesome but I like number 2 out of them the best. It's better than Franziskaner IMO, without a doubt. I've been in love with Franziskaner for over 11 years. I buy it by the case and am drinking it right now, since my aforementioned beer will hit 3 weeks in the bottle this weekend. And the others are also amazing with tons of flavor.

I also brewed Northern's Amber Ale earlier on and changed up the hops a bit to ease the IBU's. I used 1oz Cascade for the full boil and 2oz of Crystal - 1oz at 30 minutes and 1oz at one minute. It came out amazing! It was definitely better than my two favorite amber ales. So there too the homebrew bested my favorites.

Part of the reason I feel weird is because this is all with extract. I haven't even touched all-grain yet, but will some day in the future. For my house right now I'm finding extract to be the most reasonable brewing method. But regardless... it makes me feel.... shall I say a bit weird? Maybe denial? Can't possibly be better than my absolute favorite beer that is *professionally brewed" can it? I mean, it's just an extract brew right? But there's no denying I do think these two I mentioned beat my favorites, and it's not because it's mine. Trust me on that... if they sucked I would completely admit it outright.

I got two belgian wit's going, self designed recipes, and I'm curious how they'll do. My favorite wit so far has been Hoegaarden, but NOT the Hoegaarden in the regular 11.2oz bottles. When the wife and I started going to England we would get them in the corked bottles and they were amazing!!! Last two trips we couldn't find them anymore. Something about those corked bottles were just way better. Anyhow, we'll see how mine come out.

Anyone else ever have a weird kind of feeling when besting your favorite?


Rev.

 

[remilard]

I rarely think I do though I tend to brew things that I can't get great fresh examples of.

I did just sample the IIPA that is going to NHC on Monday morning and even undercarbonated and cold, the hop aroma was insane. I've never had PtE from the bright tank (which would be the equivalent) but this may be the most intense hop aroma I have ever experienced, including PtY. I think this is an improvement over last year's which placed first in the two competitions it was entered in.

 

[beergolf]

I am loving how my beers taste.

I have drank a lot of craft brews but me beers taste every bit as good as the beers that cost me. 8-9$ a six pack.

Homebrew rocks!!!!!

 

[edecambra]

Your Franziskaner might not be the best example of the style you have had, just because of the importing process. Hefe's are supposed to be drank relatively fresh and the sooner (given proper carbonation) the better, from what I have heard. Perhaps a Franziskaner fresh on draft in Germany would be much closer to your homebrew.

Also I think when you make it and invest the blood, sweat, and tears it improves the taste exponentially.

 

[NorthRiverS]

No. I really enjoy comparing my homebrew side by side with a commercial beer. Especially when my wife or friends say they like mine better. I also like when they say "You made this?"

NRS

 

[NPK]

I am still brewing extract kits, so I have far to go. However, many of the beers I taste I think to myself "If I was brewing this, I would like more of 'x'." If I ever get good enough to achieve that, I'd like to think I would be "Oh yeah, that's right!"

That been said, I think Hopslam and Torpedo IPA would be hard to improve...

 

[Weizenwerks]

Anyone that tells you extract is inferior to all grain doesn't have a clue.

 

[beergolf]

I am loving how my beers taste.

I have drank a lot of craft brews but me beers taste every bit as good as the beers that cost me. 8-9$ a six pack.

Homebrew rocks!!!!!

Same for me. I sometimes buy some craft brew to taste and often I end up reaching for my brew instead.

 

[eanmcnulty]

I think Torpedo IPA would be hard to improve...

+1 to this!
Soon, I am going to tackle this. But first, Celebration Ale!

 

[Zamial]

It is always a good feeling to have created a great beer. To answer your question of "Do I feel uncomfortable beating out my favy beer with one I made?" is No. I feel just fine, in most cases of this, I would feel down right happy about having created such a great beer. I recently did a DFH 90 min clone and I really liked mine better than the original. This makes me really happy since we are loosing DFH distro here in WI...

This biggest question is "Can you repeat it?" I understand that you will not be able to answer this until you try it but that is a HUGE milestone to go from a snowflake to a repeatable process, even with extract.

I also will say that great beers can be made with extract but it does have it's limits. When you are ready to give it a go, I suggest checking out the Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics) sticky in the beginners section. The reason people normally head to AG is for greater control and it is less expensive in almost all cases. It is not as hard as people would have you believe either. That being said I would take a great extract brew over a crappy AG one any day lol.

 

[Conan]

I haven't felt bad about it yet, rather more of a beer-peer to better brewers. As NPK said when I'm drinking commercial examples of a style I take mental notes on how my example compares to big breweries. For example, I had 2 IPA's last nite at the bar- Southern Tier IPA and Harpoon IPA. The Tier had more aroma, more bitter, and no floral aroma or flavor. The Harpoon was drier, floral aroma, and towards the end very little to no hop flavor. My stuff is somewhere in the middle, but I noticed what I'd change about all three: my ideal would be a drier Southern Tier with floral aroma (maybe Amarillo or Centennial). Next time I brew an IPA that's probably what I'll do. Kyle

 

[Rev2010]

Your Franziskaner might not be the best example of the style you have had, just because of the importing process. Hefe's are supposed to be drank relatively fresh and the sooner (given proper carbonation) the better, from what I have heard. Perhaps a Franziskaner fresh on draft in Germany would be much closer to your homebrew.

With all due respect, I've been to Germany a dozen times and have had pure fresh Franziskaner on tap and in bottles there hundreds of times. I've also had a ridiculous number of other German hefeweizens and it just happens Franziskaner is my favorite.

I also don't buy them in the green bottles here, only the brown 500ml bottles and to me they taste just like the one's I get in Germany.


Rev.

 

[Homercidal]

If you like Hoegaarden, have you tried Celis White, or Allagash White? Most people consider them some of the best examples of the style you can get here.

 

[Rev2010]

If you like Hoegaarden, have you tried Celis White, or Allagash White? Most people consider them some of the best examples of the style you can get here.

Yes many times. Celis White is amazing as is everything I've had from Allagash (had their white many times). I also know about Pierre Celis and a bit about his history. The thing though is there was just something magical about the Hoegaarden in the corked bottles. Even the color was more of an orange hue than the usual light yellow.

On a separate note, I had a hunch this thread would get comments questioning my tastes or experience. I just want to reiterate, I've been beer connoisseuring for 12 years now. I've traveled all over the world and extensively throughout Europe. I've not hit Belgium yet, closest was Luxembourg, but I am experienced with the beer abroad and the many variants within the styles.

This thread is more about the denial feeling, like "This couldn't be possible... an extract beer that I made being better than a professional beer with long history drank by millions?" kind of thing. That's all. I'm sure many others would disagree that my beer is better, I'm not saying it universally is at all. Just that my personal favorite beer has been bested solely in my opinion by one of the one's I made. For me it's a strange feeling for sure


Rev.

 

[remilard]

The corked bottle Hoegaarden is probably Hoegaarden Grand Cru. My wife used to live in Australia and had it there and raved about it. I had it in Canada about 3 years ago (in Montreal and a moules et frites place) and it was very good.

Point being, you can get it in Canada.

 

[Rev2010]

The corked bottle Hoegaarden is probably Hoegaarden Grand Cru. My wife used to live in Australia and had it there and raved about it. I had it in Canada about 3 years ago (in Montreal and a moules et frites place) and it was very good.

Point being, you can get it in Canada.

Nah, it's not Grand Cru, I've had that a number of times and all bottles are clearly labeled Grand Cru. I still have the empty corked Hoegaarden bottle in my on-display beer bottle collection at home.


Rev.

 

[therealjazz]

It is always a good feeling to have created a great beer. To answer your question of "Do I feel uncomfortable beating out my favy beer with one I made?" is No. I feel just fine, in most cases of this, I would feel down right happy about having created such a great beer. I recently did a DFH 90 min clone and I really liked mine better than the original. This makes me really happy since we are loosing DFH distro here in WI...

This biggest question is "Can you repeat it?" I understand that you will not be able to answer this until you try it but that is a HUGE milestone to go from a snowflake to a repeatable process, even with extract.

I also will say that great beers can be made with extract but it does have it's limits. When you are ready to give it a go, I suggest checking out the Easy Partial Mash Brewing (with pics) sticky in the beginners section. The reason people normally head to AG is for greater control and it is less expensive in almost all cases. It is not as hard as people would have you believe either. That being said I would take a great extract brew over a crappy AG one any day lol.

When are they stopping distro for DFH in Wisconsin? I was in Hudson a couple weeks ago to pick up some O'so Hopdinger and New Glarus Moonman. Stopped by 5 liquor stores and all were sold out of DFH which distro to each store that Wednesday.. I went on a Saturday.

If they are stopping distro in Wisc, I assume they won't distro to MN anytime soon. Oh well, we have Surly!

 

[wildwest450]

So, you've been brewing since January and you have already bested three commercial breweries? You are either awesome, or you have beautiful baby syndrome.


_

 

[Rev2010]

So, you've been brewing since January and you have already bested three commercial breweries? You are either awesome, or you have beautiful baby syndrome.

Three? No, I said I bested my favorite hefe and that the Amber Ale I brewed from northernbrewer was also better than my two favorite Amber Ales. I didn't come up with the recipe for the amber so I don't take any credit for that - just said I liked it better. I was primarily talking about my top favorite beer. And no, I'm not just feeling this way because I made it. I already noted that if it were not better I would not be saying this. But go on and think me a liar if you'd like.


Rev.

 

[Revvy]

I've done blind taste testing of a couple of my clones against the original, and usually my version prevails. The biggest one was yooper's dead guy clone against the original. It would win hands down, while my bell's amber clone would do about 50-50.

I think in a well made homebrew (either Extract OR Ag, btw, both clones were extract w/grains,) FRESHNESS is the issue that wins out. Homebrew just has a fresher taste than something that's travelled.

It may not ACTUALLY be better, but to the taster it is perceived as such. In fact one person said that my DG Clone tasted like they thought Dead Guy SHOULD taste like. Which I think was that it just was fresher and less travelled than the store bought version

That might be why, living in Michigan and pretty close to bell's, why going against a bell's product I only win half the time, Bell's doesn't travel far and has a higher turnover in metro detroit then Rogue does.

I've noticed the same thing in regional wines versus wines that travel a distance to get to us. Wines from local wineries just have a brightness, and freshness, that is missing with wines that may be made for.

 

[Homercidal]

I've only bested good beer once or twice. Maybe I feel like I still have more to learn and things to do better. I may be assuming that there HAS to be SOMETHING wrong with my beer!

I'm still trying to nail down a perfect wit recipe. I have brewed several and one or two were very good, but I try other things and see if I can improve. I don't brew enough for consistency in any recipe to factor in.

 

[wildwest450]

And no, I'm not just feeling this way because I made it. I already noted that if it were not better I would not be saying this. But go on and think me a liar if you'd like.

Think you a liar, no. If you like your beer that's all that is important. Brew on.


_

 

[MBasile]

I dunno, I never look at beer in a hierarchical manner. There are good brews, ok brews, and bad brews. Commercial beers and my home-brews have both spanned all three categories, but I can't say there is a #1 or "favorite" beer in ether group.

 

[Rev2010]

Think you a liar, no. If you like your beer that's all that is important. Brew on.

Cheers man


Rev.

 

[Teromous]

It sounds like you're really enjoying this hobby. No need to rush the partials or AG. Enjoy your time and beer, then move in whatever direction you feel comfortable with. I understand where you're going with this, because it's true! People can really make great beer. I've been drinking a lot of commercial pumpkin beers this past fall and most of them didn't jive well with me. My wife told a client of hers that I homebrew...I guess her son does too, and long story short I got one of his pumpkin beers. It was great and definitely better than more than a few commercial versions.

 

[Rev2010]

It sounds like you're really enjoying this hobby. No need to rush the partials or AG. Enjoy your time and beer, then move in whatever direction you feel comfortable with

Yeah I tend to come out of the gate running Currently at 41 gallons brewed since I started - 41 because the first was a Cooper's 6 gallon kit. After that I've been doing 5 gallon recipes/batches.


Rev.

 

[munche]

IMO, Franziskaner is by far the king of Hefeweizens. If I could top that beer, I'd feel pretty damned pleased with myself!

On St Paddy's day, I did blind tasters with my Guinness clone vs. the real thing, and 7 people chose mine out of 8! It was an awesome feeling!

Edit: Oh, and one of the best barleywines I've ever had was an extract brewed 6 month old BW that an employee at the LHBS brewed. Making good beer isn't the hard part, it's making a LOT of beer and making ALL of it good!

 

[sudsmcgee]

I've been beer connoisseuring for just over 12 years now. I only started homebrewing in January thanks to the wife's X-mas gift and I am just doing extract right now. So no AG or partial mashes just yet.... but I've already bested my favorite beer ever, Franziskaner, and it just feels strange. I made 3 of my own recipe hefeweizens, each a bit different. They're all awesome but I like number 2 out of them the best. It's better than Franziskaner IMO, without a doubt. I've been in love with Franziskaner for over 11 years. I buy it by the case and am drinking it right now, since my aforementioned beer will hit 3 weeks in the bottle this weekend. And the others are also amazing with tons of flavor.

I also brewed Northern's Amber Ale earlier on and changed up the hops a bit to ease the IBU's. I used 1oz Cascade for the full boil and 2oz of Crystal - 1oz at 30 minutes and 1oz at one minute. It came out amazing! It was definitely better than my two favorite amber ales. So there too the homebrew bested my favorites.

Part of the reason I feel weird is because this is all with extract. I haven't even touched all-grain yet, but will some day in the future. For my house right now I'm finding extract to be the most reasonable brewing method. But regardless... it makes me feel.... shall I say a bit weird? Maybe denial? Can't possibly be better than my absolute favorite beer that is *professionally brewed" can it? I mean, it's just an extract brew right? But there's no denying I do think these two I mentioned beat my favorites, and it's not because it's mine. Trust me on that... if they sucked I would completely admit it outright.

I got two belgian wit's going, self designed recipes, and I'm curious how they'll do. My favorite wit so far has been Hoegaarden, but NOT the Hoegaarden in the regular 11.2oz bottles. When the wife and I started going to England we would get them in the corked bottles and they were amazing!!! Last two trips we couldn't find them anymore. Something about those corked bottles were just way better. Anyhow, we'll see how mine come out.

Anyone else ever have a weird kind of feeling when besting your favorite?


Rev.

I'm impressed with your ability to rack up over 500 posts in three months!

 

[surferdrew]

Three? No, I said I bested my favorite hefe and that the Amber Ale I brewed from northernbrewer was also better than my two favorite Amber Ales. I didn't come up with the recipe for the amber so I don't take any credit for that - just said I liked it better. I was primarily talking about my top favorite beer. And no, I'm not just feeling this way because I made it. I already noted that if it were not better I would not be saying this. But go on and think me a liar if you'd like.


Rev.

I don't think he's calling you a liar...just that there might be a subjectivity to the tasting. If a person thinks their baby is the cutest...they aren't lying, they really believe it.

I've had the same thing with preferring some of my beers to commercial beers. I think Revvy is right...a lot of it has to do with freshness.

Bottom line: that's awesome you're making great beer...you're tastes are expanding...you're contributing to the homebrewing community. Cheers to you my friend.

 

[Rev2010]

I'm impressed with your ability to rack up over 500 posts in three months!

Ouch, that stings. I'm on forums a lot and working IT all day I often work at my desk. Besides, Uniondr has me beat and I think he signed on here a month after ;P


Rev.