What should we really call ourselves

[Edcculus]

I say 'I make my own beer,' though I guess 'I make beer' would work and not imply that it's mine, all mine. I'm not a craft brewer because I don't have a craft brewery. I have a home brewery. If you want to think that means it's in my bathtub then fine, I'll consider you a dick and you won't get any of my beer (as I pointed out to my brother in law last weekend, whenever I go to someone's house I bring beer).

Like it or not, this hobby is called homebrewing. Unless you can get good ol' Charlie on board to change it (and after decades of promoting homebrewing I doubt he'd be interested), no one besides a small circle of your friends will ever use another term. Call yourself Most Exalted Fermentation Czar if you want, but no one else will.

Hey, c'mon. I wasn't trying to be an a$$hole, I just wanted some discussion.

 

[Killer_Robot]

I go with "homebrewer" because, as others have said, I do it at home. I like a term that clearly states whether it is a personal activity or a professional one. I don't get how it has such bad connotations: long before I was doing it myself it seemed to speal of someone willing to go through a lot of time and trouble to have something other than your usual beer, and it seems most people react to mention of it positively.

 

[Sigafoos]

Hey, c'mon. I wasn't trying to be an a$$hole, I just wanted some discussion.

Oh I know; sorry if I came on too strongly. But I've done a lot of thinking recently about how naming conventions come about (both relating to beer and not), and so I'm of the futility of trying to change something

But I do like homebrewer, and think calling ourselves craft brewers implies a level of arrogance that I'm not ready for.

 

[Joos]

I'm gonna have to go with Most Exalted Fermentation Czar,but that wasnt an option on the poll.

 

[Pangea]

I prefer being called a brewer, period. When I'm working on a beer and someone asks what I'm doing - I say brewing. Not home brewing, not craft brewing. Just Brewing Beer.

 

[niquejim]

"I make Beer" is what i say more often than homebrew.

AS do I, although I like the sound of Home-craftbrewer

 

[McKBrew]

How about this?

I am a homebrewer who would suck a d!ck if it would get me some more schooling, financial backing, and a location to brew in as a career.

OK, maybe I wouldn't smoke a man-stick to become a pro-brewer, but you get the idea of how badly I'd like to do it. The reality is that I don't brew nearly as often as many of you, I haven't repeated a batch yet, and other than myself and a very small group of people saying my beer is decent, I don't know how it would stack up against something like Yuri, Edwort, or olllllo's beer if they were to open a brewery but given the training and opportunity I'd like to give it a shot.

OK, so I guess I'm just a homebrewer with fleeting aspirations of craft-brewing grandeur.

 

[bob1852]

homebrewer that makes craft beer?

 

[Edcculus]

Thats cool, its sometimes hard to tell what someone means on the internet.

I don't necessarily have a problem with "homebrewer". I also know that "homebrewer" is very ingrained in the US amateur brewing culture. I know there is no way of actually changing it.

When its all done and said, I dont go around calling myself a Craft Brewer. I usually tell poeple that I "make beer". In my experience, people not accustomed to the fermenting arts have more of a negative association to the word "brew". Boil, boil toil and trouble, prohibition era bathtub gin kind of stuff. In the end, I let my beer speak for itself.

I also find it interesting that a lot of people think "Craft Brewer" sounds hoity toity. It doesn't sound like that to me, but that just shows how were all different. I usually put "craft brewed" or "hand crafted" on my labels. I spend a lot of time and money making the best beer I can. I care about my beer and think its deserving of that label.

 

[McKBrew]

The hooch making connotation of a homebrewer is still prevalent. I would think that the people who believe that either do not like beer, or are so uneducated about beer culture that they don't realized that that craft beer was more than likely made by a guy who either used to homebrew or still does.

 

[Makeyermark]

bathtub gin kind of stuff. In the end, I let my beer speak for itself.

Brett is in the bathtub
Making soup for the ambassadors
And I am in the hallway
Singing to the troubadours

The kings are all lined up
Outside the gate
And the autumn bells are ringing
But they'll just have to wait

Where is the joker
Have you seen him around
With his three coned cap
That he wears like a crown

Have you seen his stripped stockings
and heard his sad tale
about the kids under the carpet
and the purple humpbacked whales

Here come the ambassadors
they show up one by one
Brett is tasting all the soup
to see if it is done

Wendy's on the windowsill
waiting to be let in
and we're all in the bathtub now
making bathtub gin

The kings storm the hallway
they've climbed up through the gate
they didn't mean to be impolite
but they just couldn't wait

Here comes the joker
with his silly grin
he carries a martini
made of bathtub gin

Here comes the joker
we all must laugh
cause we're all in this together
and we love to take a bath.

 

[Makeyermark]

By the way, although I like the sound of Craft Brewer, I call myself a home brewer. Next time I offer someone one of my creations though, I may try saying that it's a craft brew and see if I don't get that funny look that I usually get when I say I brewed this in my garage.

 

[SteveM]

I brew beer. Well, ale, really. I voted "don't care." The title isn't that important to me.

 

[BrewBrain]

I'm a Homebrewer. I brew craft beers at my home.

 

[Baldy_Beer_Brewery]

But seriously, homebrewer is fine with me. I'd say I don't care, but that is for people who don't brew as they really don't give two ****s about what our hobby is. It's just beer and to most of them, they would take a Bud Light over anything the 'craft brewers' make anywhay.

 

[Jim Karr]

I guess I've got the reputation.........all my co-workers and members of my family know I'm "the beer guy". If they think I'm an expert about brewing and beer, and fermentation and all the principles involved, that's enough for me.

Titles are free. Just look at people's business cards.

 

[McKBrew]

My SWMBO calls me that sometimes. :cross:

 

[homebrewer_99]

How about this?

I am a homebrewer who would suck a d!ck if it would get me some more schooling, financial backing, and a location to brew in as a career.

You Navy guys are all alike...

 

[beerocd]

You Navy guys are all alike...

I was wondering when someone was going to quote him!

-OCD

 

[DeathBrewer]

Whatever I am, I'm definitely maniacally malty

But you can call me DeathBrewer.

 

[duskb]

I don't even label myself when I talk to folks about it. I just tell them I make my own beer. With less than two dozen batches under my belt I'm not even comfortable calling myself a "brewer" period.

Mad scientist or eccentric comes to mind though...

 

[tidehouse]

I meet a lot of people with negative views of homebrew. The most common story I hear when I tell people I brew at home is "Oh yeah? I knew a guy way back when..." (Their body language tells me they thought he was a wacko) "...and he used to make the most terrible beer..." Then I give the inevitable spiel about the importance of sanitation, etc. Most people I've met over 40 have negative experiences with homebrew although my friends are all for it. I just try to act nonchalant about it and say I brew beer.

 

[DeathBrewer]

I design beer