Most annoying response when you tell someone you're a homebrewer?

[Mainer]

Don't you?

Of course, but that's beside the point.
PS: Tell Scott I want my extra carboy back.

 

[Kee]

Big Scott or little Scott?

 

[baron]

I'd have to say "Can you brew a Miller Lite?" (or Bud Light, Coors Light).

Which kind of reminds me -- I've a friend I've been working on for years to try some crafts beers and also have been introducing him to some "gateway" beers. He'll always say -- "That's pretty good, but I like my Miller Lite".
And I'm totally OK with that -- you like what you like.

When I take him into a craft beer bar and the first thing he will ask is "What do you have that is equivalent to Miller Lite?" and then he will ask "Do you have frosted mugs?"

 

[Devon]

Invariably I get some variation of "Oh yeah, what's the percentage on that?" Kinda tells you everything you need to know about their approach to beer.

 

[Murphys_Law]

Big Scott or little Scott?

Come on, you know which one. Scott, the guy that makes that one beer that uses the hops! He's yeah tall and in his 30's or 40's.

 

[Transamguy77]

I always get "oh that's cool, how long does it take?"

Me: it takes about 5 hours to brew, 2 weeks to ferment and a week in the keg before I usually drink it.

Them: wow that long! I'll just go buy it that's too long. As they sip their high life.

 

[worlddivides]

I always get "oh that's cool, how long does it take?"

Me: it takes about 5 hours to brew, 2 weeks to ferment and a week in the keg before I usually drink it.

Them: wow that long! I'll just go buy it that's too long. As they sip their high life.

I left my carboy of fermenting sour beer at my friend's place while my apartment was being fumigated and when I went to pick it up, one of his neighbors had just put a 24 pack of Bud Light in his pickup truck and saw the carboy and in an exaggerated and silly way went, "I-I-Is that alcohol?" and I said, "Yeah, it's five gallons of beer." And he goes "Give me sommma that." and my friend says, "Not ready yet. This one's probably got another 6 more months to go." (he's a homebrewer too, although he doesn't make sour beers). And the look on his face was precious, as if he could not grasp why anyone would ever spend six months to make a beer when you could buy a 24 pack of BMC for $15.

I thought it was interesting. He seemed like a nice guy. Just not a craft beer drinker.

 

[Mainer]

The most annoying response I get is, "Oh. I don't like homebrew. I tried some once."

 

[Jaybird]

The most annoying response I get is, "Oh. I don't like homebrew. I tried some once."

TOTALLY! Ha Ha Ha... I hear that ALL THE TIME in the store from friends of brewers in here. I'm like WHAT?? I just take them upstairs to the tasting room and let them try some. There all WOW that's homebrew? Uhhhh YEAH!

Cheers
Jay

 

[Mainer]

TOTALLY! Ha Ha Ha... I hear that ALL THE TIME in the store from friends of brewers in here. I'm like WHAT?? I just take them upstairs to the tasting room and let them try some. There all WOW that's homebrew? Uhhhh YEAH!

Cheers
Jay

The assumption that there's just one kind of homebrew. It's like, "Yeah. I don't like movies. I watched one once."

 

[Billy-Klubb]

WTF happened here? last 5 posts are like mind diarrhea. bring back the pterodactyls

hmmmm... yeah. I'm the martha floccing pterodactyl.



another in the gold mine surfaced today: "So, do you brew, like, Grain Belt or Bud Light?"

"No. My kitchen faucet works fine."

 

[Zepth]

...why anyone would ever spend six months to make a beer when you could buy a 24 pack of BMC for $15.

I'll admit it, if it were that cheap here I'd be inclined to buy it. As hangover rehydration or something. About $32 is the cheapest for a 24 of those around here.

 

[cloudybrewer]

I'll admit it, if it were that cheap here I'd be inclined to buy it. As hangover rehydration or something. About $32 is the cheapest for a 24 of those around here.

Holy crap, I can buy craft beers in the store for $36 a case! But I'm still trying to brew my own anyway.

 

[schematix]

"are you making moonshine?"

no you idiot, i'm making meth. obviously.

 

[worlddivides]

I'll admit it, if it were that cheap here I'd be inclined to buy it. As hangover rehydration or something. About $32 is the cheapest for a 24 of those around here.

Although alcohol in general is cheaper in California than in most states (due to the lack of nanny state liquor laws that a lot of the other states have, I believe), I don't think there's a state in the US where a 24 pack of Bud Light is as expensive as $32. Around here it's usually between $14 and $20 (not that I buy it, but I see it advertised a lot). I do remember that it was a lot more expensive where I grew up in the Midwest and East Coast. That said, I wouldn't buy it even if it were $8 for a 24 pack. Eh.

 

[MaryB]

I was testing the boil off rate in all 3 of my three tier setup. I wanted to know how each pot behaved because I may swap uses if I go to larger batches. Pretty soon a cop pulls up, out come the moonshine questions... I tell him I brew beer and he tells me that isn't legal... yeah I had to get him to get his boss out because he didn't believe me it was legal and he wanted to arrest me!

"are you making moonshine?"

no you idiot, i'm making meth. obviously.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

"Wouldn't it be a lot simpler just to go to the store and buy a 6 pack?" I HATE being asked that question!

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

Whenever I mention future brewing plans when I happen to be over, mom keeps asking me "What are you DOING with all that beer?!" And I patiently explain, AGAIN, the mathematics of ~50 12oz per 5 gallon batch and 2 beers a day plus like a quarter of the batch given away to friends and family or brought to parties. (Plus, you know, having choices for any given day...)

And occasionally comments that she keeps expecting my apartment to contain a giant stainless steel or copper tank, like at Sudwerks. Because apparently some part of "5 gallon batches" is unclear. :smack:

 

[FatDragon]

Honestly, the most annoying response is when people ask how you make beer. 95% of the time they're just being polite and don't actually want to hear any kind of explanation of the brewing process, so you're stuck either giving a basic rundown of the process knowing you'll lose them thirty words in, or a super-simple response ("water, barley, hops, and yeast") that's so short that inevitably leads them, the gluttons-for-punishment that they are, to ask follow-up questions like, "what are hops?" or "how long does it take?" or "how do you get it in the bottles?" or make wildly-inaccurate conjectures like "so you boil everything together and then wait for it to ferment?" that require you to get deeper into the topic of conversation that they don't actually want to discuss. Either way, 95% of the time the "how do you make beer?" question is a conversation killer and you take the blame for killing the conversation by talking about a technical process even if you're just answering their questions.

Make no mistake, I love to talk about brewing with people who are genuinely interested, but most of the time they aren't and once they ask the question there's no way to win.

 

[kombat]

The most annoying response I get is, "Oh. I don't like homebrew. I tried some once."

Heh, yep, and it's usually something like, "My roommate back in college made his own beer, and it was terrible."

Me: "How long ago was that?"

Them: "Oh, about 20 years, maybe?"

Me: "It's different now. You should give it another try."

 

[TheCADJockey]

Me: "I'm a homebrewer."
Them: "Why are you in my house?"

 

[UndeadFred]

The most annoying thing that happens to me over and over again is the reluctance ro try my beers. Once agreed upon, however I almost always get a "hay that's actually good!" and the beer disappears. Still, there is this idea for most that it's inferior to do it at home.

 

[Kee]

At the request of the groom, I took a cooler full of homebrew (Belgian dark strong at that) to his wedding last weekend. The compliments were overshadowed by the very apparent shock (from those that had never tasted homebrew) that it was drinkable and even tasted good.

I'm not sure what they were expecting. Maybe that I would haul some undrinkable swill 350 miles through 4 states.

 

[m00ps]

Me: "I'm a vegan."
Them: "Why are you in my house?"

ftfy man. No charges

 

[HLSheppard]

Clueless: "I don't like those dark beers!"
Me: "You can brew any type of beer you like!"
Clueless: "Yeah, but I just don't like them strong like that."
Me: "There's a 7-11 on the corner..."

 

[BeardedBrews]

For some reason I have been hit with a variation of "What do you do with the grain when you're done" by the last 4 or 5 people I talked to about AG Beer.

"Man, that'd be great for hogs" - Where the hell would I keep a hog?
"Oh Wow, you could totally feed that to chickens if you had some" - /smh
"Can you grind that down for flour now that you're done" - ?????


After that there are more than a few variations on "wow, this tastes great, you should open a brewery." No thanks, I like having a hobby not a second job

 

[m00ps]

For some reason I have been hit with a variation of "What do you do with the grain when you're done" by the last 4 or 5 people I talked to about AG Beer.

"Man, that'd be great for hogs" - Where the hell would I keep a hog?
"Oh Wow, you could totally feed that to chickens if you had some" - /smh
"Can you grind that down for flour now that you're done" - ?????


After that there are more than a few variations on "wow, this tastes great, you should open a brewery." No thanks, I like having a hobby not a second job

I found a new local CSA that is starting to grow all kinds of vegetables. They come by every other week to pick up my buckets of spent grain and use it for composting. I also trade them some beers and I just get random boxes of fresh vegetables.

Im not quite advanced enough to be a vegan though

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

How does everyone respond to the "What sort of styles do you like to brew" question after you say you are a homebrewer?

I waffle between "I brew whatever happens to catch my fancy while reading articles about a beer styles". Or I go back to "Mostly German and Belgian style beers with a smattering of American styles".

Either one produces the trademark face.

 

[myelo]

I tell him I brew beer and he tells me that isn't legal... yeah I had to get him to get his boss out because he didn't believe me it was legal and he wanted to arrest me!

Almost getting arrested, yeah that's pretty annoying ... if there was a Tazer involved I would say you win.

 

[HLSheppard]

How does everyone respond to the "What sort of styles do you like to brew" question after you say you are a homebrewer?

I waffle between "I brew whatever happens to catch my fancy while reading articles about a beer styles". Or I go back to "Mostly German and Belgian style beers with a smattering of American styles".

Either one produces the trademark face.

I always smile and say "I'm a Belgian guy." Most folks seem to understand what that means (or they are good actors).