When you know you "made it" as a brewer

[Jeffro]

I'll have to get back to you on this one....

 

[gxm]

While I agree with Pol about not blindly trusting what people say to you about your free beer...

When a friend was sampling 4 different beers I'd brought to a party, he said "You know, I was humoring you when you first started brewing, but these are better than any of the beers I buy", and I know he only buys from the micros here in Portland. He proceeded to offer to pay my costs to commission 10 gallons for a party he is hosting for some colleagues.

A week later, I dropped 2 kegs off at another friends house for an all day event. When I came back late in the evening, he said people didn't believe it was homebrew.

While I really enjoy my beers, I probably won't really feel like I've made it until I enter some competitions. I've not entered any yet because I'm really enjoying this phase of brewing, tweaking my recipes and process, learning about flavors and mechanics. When I start feeling the need for more of a challenge, I'll start entering competitions.

 

[Six_O_Turbo]

Probably #1 so far is a friend of my BILs who tasted our amber ale and offered to buy the ingredients for a 15 gallon batch and a 15 gallon plastic conical fermenter for 10 gallons of beer. His wife thought they should buy two fermenters!

Other than that, we have had two wedding parties ask us to brew for them this summer, and several people offer to buy batches. One of my partners MIL said it was the best beer she had ever had and would buy some from every batch we make (not sure if she doesn't realize how much we brew or is an alcoholic).

 

[maztec]

When my mother started asking me for my beer by the case.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

For me, it was when I got to brew a 12 barrel batch at Widmer Brewing in Portland. My IPA won the Collaborator "Big Hoppy" competition, around 2001. And by winning that, it means you get to go and brew your beer on their equipment and have it released to local pubs.

They allow you to do as much or as little of the actual work as you want. I went there and told the brewer I wanted to do absolutely everything. Didn't know his equipment, so he showed me what to do. But I did all of the work including climbing into the mash tun afterwards and cleaning it out.

So, 24 kegs were released in the Portland area. And at the Widmer pub itself in the first 24 hours they blew 3 kegs. So 372 pints of my beer were sold in one pub in one day, which made me proud as hell.

But the moment that made me feel that, yeah, I'd really made it, was when I sat down at the bar there and ordered my own beer. That was great. It was called Hop Nation.

 

[springer]

Hate to tell yall... people always prefer FREE beer.

Who said anything about free? I get the 20-30$ for the ingredients then its about the same cost as a 1/6 keg of commercial beers . But they would rather have my beer.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

When people are requesting you to brew for their special occasions and are asking where they should get the supplies, what, and how much they should get.

 

[WorryWort]

i realized it on my second and third batches when 6 buddies came over and we polished off two kegs and i woke up on the floor. I could not stomach enough bud to get to that point.

i wasn't winning any awards, but i figured, 'hell, I'm good enough'.

 

[SmugMug]

When your buddies invite you over for a poker game last minute and tell you to bring your beer. He called me last night and the conversation went something like this:
him- "Hey, I forgot to tell you that we're having a poker game friday night."
me- "Oh yeah? I might be able to make it for a round or two. What's the buy-in?"
him- "Um, bring a 6'er of your latest batch and I'll cover you."
me- "How far will a half case take me??"
him- "You bring a half case and you'll never have to worry about a buy-in again."
me- "Can I get that in writing??"

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

I don't consider that I've made it at all as a brewer yet. However, I was very pleased recently to find that in a side by side comparison (Not really a comparison, I was just drinking everything around me at the time) I preferred my flat 3 week hydro sample to a can of Boddington's The Boddy was not my choice, SWMBO bought it for me, bless her.

 

[IrregularPulse]

I don't consider that I've made it at all as a brewer yet. However, I was very pleased recently to find that in a side by side comparison (Not really a comparison, I was just drinking everything around me at the time) I preferred my flat 3 week hydro sample to a can of Boddington's The Boddy was not my choice, SWMBO bought it for me, bless her.

Ahh Boddingtons. One of my first "cool" beers, Now I think, How did I think this was special? I think it was just neat drinking something besides guiness on nitro.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Ahh Boddingtons. One of my first "cool" beers, Now I think, How did I think this was special? I think it was just neat drinking something besides guiness on nitro.

Haha. Yeah Them cans are not representative of what it used to be. I still get a four pack or two every Xmas from my in-laws. I don't have the heart to tell them.

 

[Homercidal]

Haha. Yeah Them cans are not representative of what it used to be. I still get a four pack or two every Xmas from my in-laws. I don't have the heart to tell them.

It's beer, right? Good enough.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

It's beer, right? Good enough.

Yeah, but it costs 7 times what I can brew a better beer for. I see that as wasted potential for a brew equipment gift.

 

[DD2000GT]

I have been a home brewer for over 10 years (partial boil - extract), and I have never really made a beer I felt comfortable giving out. I now have my first all grain batch (Kolsch) in a keg and last weekend I had a birthday party for my wife. People started seeing pints I was handing out to people who know I brew and just said "I'll have one of those". My wife was talking to a friend of hers and he said he really liked the beer, when she told him it was homebrew he was shocked. Said it was one of the better beers he has had.

All grain and full boils make a HUGE difference - I think I have FINALLY made it - after 10 years brewing.

Dan

 

[danlad]

I got lucky - the friend who lent me a bucket (his dad's (RIP) old one) which I brewed a few batches in according to advice hereabouts and his girlfriend said 'best homebrew
I've been subjected to'. Made me go all grain on effort number 4 with father-in-law's 1970's (proper Good Life used to be on a Scottish self sufficiency trip) advice and produce pretty f*cking good ales...

But even then, can't fault the advice here frankly...

 

[Lovell407]

I know there's always room for improvement, and haven't had that "made it" feel yet, but I gotta say that my SIL asking me to brew 60 Gallons for her wedding came pretty close. Only after saying "yes" did I realize what a feat it was. Felt good to be done, and even better to be known as the "Beer Guy" at the wedding!

 

[user 22118]

When a friend who is a pro brewer comment positively on my beer. Though at the same time I had three pros sit down and talk about all of the faults another time. That was enough to send me back to the drawing board and work on my process in order to get better at what I was doing.

 

[user 30639]

I had a south Texan tell me he couldn't tell the difference between my Shiner Bock clone and the real thing.

 

[FxdGrMind]

I have by no means "Made it" as a brewer, but having friends say that the beer I have brewed (even the ESB that I don't like) is really good beer. I gather they are trying to be nice, but when they come over and pull the tap again and again without touching any beer in the fridge.... well I guess that says something.

But I'll never tire of trying to make it better.

Today's creation... OMG the smell is just spectacular! Fingers crossed it turns out as good as it smells right now... and I've just pitched the yeast! I'm waiting for the test to chill in the fridge so I can taste it around 40 deg, just to get a glimpse of the future for this little beer.

 

[KYB]

I don't know if I would consider this "making it" as a brewer, or just a great start, but my first recipe (not based off anything) and 3rd batch (2nd AG, 2nd batch was a Gluten Free extract) won 3rd place in a BJCP Competition. My Imperial IPA turned out awesome and I just entered that in a comp. Looking forward to my beers that I have in primary, and brewing my other recipes.

 

[jolleyphoto]

I have only been brewing a few months. I have two six packs of Miller lite in the frig which I have not touched since I drank my first home brew. I don't plan on going back to the skunk juice. So far I have only brewed extract but plan on making that next move. If I say so myself and I do, as long as I like my beer I'm a happy camper.

On deck IPA
Primary: APA
Secondary:
Drinking: Pale Ale, Oatmeal Stout, Orange Honey Wheat, IPA

De`ja`-Brew
We have all been beer before

.

 

[captianoats]

I had a buddy this week call me while I was on vacation. He said "Is your door unlocked? I need a six pack and I don't see anything in the liquor store that I want to drink. I want a couple of your porters"

Made me feel good. Too bad we had finished them all off a couple weeks earlier

 

[HSM]

It is like when I fly with a NEW FO... and he asks how he did on the trip. Well, I am usually pretty easy on them, but when I am talking to my buddies my opinion of how poorly they performed becomes much stronger.

It is hard to be encouraging if you tell someone that they need to go back to school and learn basic arithmatic. To be a teacher or a friend you have to much more diplomatic. This is why I prefer the opinions of strangers, they get to the heart of the matter.

Id enter some competitions and get some good, unbiased and educated feedback.

Agreed on the competitions, a few awards and you know if you homebrew is up to snuffl

Just avoid spelling-bees!

 

[defenestrate]

. My palate is improving and while my beer isn't amazing neither does it taste like goat piss.

are we talking miller lite or actual goat piss? i would prefer a freshly "pulled" pint of the ladder.

 

[nothreat]

I don't think I have made it yet, but this week I had a coworker who I shared my Black Cherry Wheat with tell a complete stranger that I made "really good beer", better than store bought. That took me up a notch.