Home Brewing has spoiled me

[mls1970]

Sometimes going out and finding places that serve good craft beer can be a challenge. I always seem to compare beer that I'm served to the beer I brew and have at home. Unfortunately many places don't serve and store good craft beer properly or it's run through dirty keg lines which can lead to off flavors. Anyways cheers!

 

[RM-MN]

I had a beer at one of the local bars, a nice craft brown ale. It was served ice cold. No taste to notice until it was nearly gone and had warmed up. Then it was really good. Had it been served 10 degrees warmer it would have been excellent but then the Bud Lite that was in the same refrigerator would have tasted bad (worse?).

 

[TurnipGreen]

I knew this old man that used to always say "you know who makes the best Bloody Mary? Me, 'cause I know how I like it." That's kind of how I feel about beer.

I'm not a great brewer. And just like my cooking, my brewing tends to be inconsistent 'cause I'll change up little things based on my taste at the time or availability, but I pretty much know what I want and usually how to make it.

We have a brand new brewery in town. The other week they had a really pale IPA served out of a warm ferkin, it was nasty at room temperature, I think it would have been a solid beer cold, it tasted like I was drinking a pint-sized gravity sample. I usually not pick about temperatures but that was just wrong.

 

[AMessenger]

The increasing cost of craft beer is what is kiling me - $7 a glass of beer crosses the line for me and it seems like breweries feel that should be the going rate. What they charge for their one-off Sour Beers is even a bigger joke (often significantly more expensive than the best Belgian examples and usually of much lower quality).

I can hardly stand buying beer any more. Sucks getting the bill at the end of the night and realizing you could have made a whole batch of homebrew for the cost of 4 beers at the bar.

 

[mls1970]

Yeah, the pubs are charging top dollar for craft beers. And when the draft beer they are serving is off flavor from what it should be it's even more reason to brew your own.

 

[Nagorg]

Yeah... The price of a few pints of "craft beer" from a bar these days makes that $15-20 dollar 4-6 pack in the store look better.. One way to look at it, this stuff is making home brewing a cheaper path again!

 

[JDXX1971]

Beer selection where I live sucks, while there are a few decent ones from local breweries they are a bit generic or just been around for so long now they are boring while still being expensive.

I was just converting one of my recipes to a 10 gallon batch in Beer Smith yesterday. I set the actual price of each ingredient and the total for my Chocolate Cream Stout is about 80$ for ten gallons. I love this beer and would have to drive and search far and wide to be able to find anything I feel is comparable, which would be quite an expense in itself much less the cost of the "craft" beer.

So yeah I am spoiled, I get to make good beer that I like which would otherwise be unavailable to me.

 

[RM-MN]

I was just converting one of my recipes to a 10 gallon batch in Beer Smith yesterday. I set the actual price of each ingredient and the total for my Chocolate Cream Stout is about 80$ for ten gallons. I love this beer and would have to drive and search far and wide to be able to find anything I feel is comparable, which would be quite an expense in itself much less the cost of the "craft" beer.

If you let the stout have time to mature it will be far above the craft brew that is served too soon.

 

[beerlover77]

Here I am quite spoiled with Craft breweries of very good quality springing up all around. I drink my beer 99% of the time but once in a while will go straight to the source and usually they sell glasses of craft for 5-6$
Often there are Cask nights too which are awesome. Usually a main beer but dryhopped in the Cask

 

[chickypad]

I had a beer at one of the local bars, a nice craft brown ale. It was served ice cold. No taste to notice until it was nearly gone and had warmed up. Then it was really good. Had it been served 10 degrees warmer it would have been excellent but then the Bud Lite that was in the same refrigerator would have tasted bad (worse?).

This is one of my pet peeves. There's a local pub that we frequent because they expanded their typical stock tap list a few yrs back (formerly the "20 beers on tap" but SNPA is the only thing you can actually drink). They added 6 or 7 rotating taps that are usually solid local mircrobrews and a fair range of styles. Suddenly out of the blue they started serving everything in frosted glasses, and I think they cranked down the cold room because it was like drinking ice. It took a good 20 mins for the beer to warm up last night. They've made a decision to cater to more craft beer drinkers, seems like someone on staff should know better.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Same here OP. I purchase and consume very little retail beer anymore. If friends want to go out and do something I won't object to be social, but I never go looking for it. I love the beer I make and it's plenty enough for me.

 

[Nagorg]

I love the beer I make and it's plenty enough for me.

Agree with the first part but the latter.... I do love trying new brews when they come around! It keeps things interesting and sometimes gives me new ideas. Its a great time to be a fan of good beer!

 

[jekeane]

I only buy flights for this reason. Most craft beer out there is no different than home brew unless you are at a top tier place. With a flight you can at least see if there is anything worth spending $6 for a pint of.

 

[Conehead]

Come up to Canada and those $7 beers convert to $5 beers in US dollars.

 

[Staticsouls]

I aim for flights for inspiration, but last week i hit 3 locals that didn't do flights at all. I ended up sampling one beer each, and left wishing i had not shared all of my home brew.

 

[mls1970]

I have no problem paying for quality, the problem that I see is too many places trying to jump on the craft beer wagon and don't have the knowledge on how to store and serve quality beer. Example: I was at a local pub for a couple after work brews and they were serving Great Lakes Commodore Perry IPA (7.5% ABV) in a 32oz frosted mug. I asked the server why they were serving an IPA in such a large frosted mug she said it was the special beer of the month. It was a good deal at $6 although not one of my favorites it was the only IPA they had. Another local place serves 16oz headhunter ipas for $7 and 22oz for $9 yikes! Helps drive me to brew more...cheers!

 

[aces-n-eights]

As others have done, we usually get flights or sampellers when we go to a craft brewery with multiple beers on tap so we can try many different styles and flavors. My pet peeve is that there is no way to provide feedback to the brew master.

An example... there was an ale that was spiced with hot peppers. It had potential, but it was so hot it was undrinkable. The little 3oz sample was not finished between four of us. A few comments to tone down the heat may let the brewer know how to improve it - at least in our opinions.

We've provided feedback to the server, but i'm not convinced that always gets back to the brew master.

 

[mls1970]

Never had an issue at a brewery, just local bars/pubs.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

We have a handfull of really good micro and nano breweries near me. One is world renowned and has people literally flying in from all over the world for their BA stouts.

That being said, there a boatload of mediocre breweries around too. Places where I stop in to sample their beers and walk away thinking I'd never bother going back.

I got back into home brewing a year ago and my goal was to brew beers as good as the top breweries in Iowa. At a minimum, I wanted to brew beers better than the metric crap ton of mediocre breweries around here.

At this point I'm wondering if most of those average places just jumped in without having a portfolio of great beers or what. Maybe it's just the "I brew what I like" syndrome, but my very first AG beer was better than the stuff being brewed by 75% of the local micros and nanos.

 

[kh54s10]

I went to Ft. Lauderdale in 1989. In the 3 bars that I went to, all the beers cost $5 a pint or more!!! I was a Miller drinker back then. I have never liked Budweiser... I can't imagine what it would cost to get a good craft beer there these days!

I like to sample the craft beers occasionally. A flight is best. I also buy commercial craft brew 6 packs, for most of 2017 I didn't do any brewing while getting my house ready for sale so that was all I drank. Now I get them for inspiration. I would have to say that I like most of my homebrews more than most of the mid priced commercial craft beers. I limit myself to the $9 -$12 six packs.

 

[BrewMan13]

I like to mix things up, so I still buy craft beer and immensely enjoy visiting breweries. Mostly avoid beer bars unless there's something particularly special, as I'd rather go to the source if I'm going out to drink. Helps that my little neighborhood now has a brewery and meadery.

 

[mls1970]

Went to a local bar/restaurant and Bill was $23 dollars for three beers, only drank two. Last one was so off flavor I left at bar.....this is what I'm talking about. Paying top dollar for crappy beers.

 

[Sadu]

I think home brewing does spoil you a bit. First you need to know what you like and also have the experience to know what to change to get the flavour profile YOU want. Once you hit this point then a good homebrew tailored to what you like has a huge advantage over commercial.

 

[Azura]

I currently drink 70% homebrew and 30% pro brew. I've tried more than 4000 pro brews. I prefer to drink homebrew. It's still interesting to try new pro brews and satisfying to buy old favorites. The thing about pro brew is they need to make a profit. Often the profit is made by minimizing ingredients. This is not an issue for homebrew and it still costs less to make than craft beer.

 

[Azura]

People that don't know you and have never tasted your beer, such as random internet people automatically do not believe how good your homebrew is. On the other hand, random internet homebrewers that haven't tasted your beer are skeptical but not 100% dismissive.

Most seasoned homebrewers are rightfully skeptical of claims from noob homebrewers that think their first, second and third batches tasted amazing.

 

[PADave]

The more I brew, the harder time I have spending money on commercial beer. There are a couple local brewpubs that I occasionally stop in to try something new, but that is even getting less frequent.

 

[mls1970]

I guess it's really the freshness of your own Homebrew that is hard to find in packaged commercial beers. And some places serve or sell them way beyond when their peak flavor and aromatic time range. Yes some beers can be better with so age like stouts or barleywines, but I do enjoy a good hop forward beer and to me fresh is best.