I'm hardly a noob, but I like to do it all. I like to brew to style, AND I like to challenge myself by brewing with different ingredients.
I probably have entered more beers in in categories 21-23 than any other I enter into. In fact most of my experiments have done the best in contests.
I mean I've used, 50+ year old honey, Jaggery, Date Syrup, Date Palm mollasses, every grade of brown sugar, mascerated dates, mexican hot chocolate disks (both in the boil and as mash liquid), ginger orange marmalde, lime marmalade, candied ginger, tortilla chips, my own chili powder, whole dried and smoked chilli, I've roasted my own grain and even soaked it in simple syrup and then roasted it, I've been experimenting with priming with things like date syrup. And I've used all the "normal" "strange" ingredients like pumpkin, spices, citrus peels, stuff like that. I've also researched historical beers to try to recreate old and regional styles as well.
And I try to expand my brewing horizon, by drinking and brewing different styles. SO when I do that I try to do as much research as possible, drinking commercial versions, reading as much as possible about the style, looking over a ton of other folk's recipes to see what ingredients/process are common to the style. So I kinda get immersed in the style for a bit.
I've done that with styles that I've never been into prior to homebrewing, like Vienna lagers, wits, tropical stouts, saisons, and now my latest "obsession" traditional bocks.
I go through cycles of immersing myself in new styles, and then brewing and drinking old favorites, and challenging myself with unique ingredients.
I don't think there's any reason to criticise folks who want to experiment, though I do believe that you should understand the brewing process, and how ingredients work together before folks start experimenting, if you don't have a firm grasp of some basics, then all you're really doing is throwing stuff against the wall or in the brew kettle to see what sticks.
I probably have entered more beers in in categories 21-23 than any other I enter into. In fact most of my experiments have done the best in contests.
I mean I've used, 50+ year old honey, Jaggery, Date Syrup, Date Palm mollasses, every grade of brown sugar, mascerated dates, mexican hot chocolate disks (both in the boil and as mash liquid), ginger orange marmalde, lime marmalade, candied ginger, tortilla chips, my own chili powder, whole dried and smoked chilli, I've roasted my own grain and even soaked it in simple syrup and then roasted it, I've been experimenting with priming with things like date syrup. And I've used all the "normal" "strange" ingredients like pumpkin, spices, citrus peels, stuff like that. I've also researched historical beers to try to recreate old and regional styles as well.
And I try to expand my brewing horizon, by drinking and brewing different styles. SO when I do that I try to do as much research as possible, drinking commercial versions, reading as much as possible about the style, looking over a ton of other folk's recipes to see what ingredients/process are common to the style. So I kinda get immersed in the style for a bit.
I've done that with styles that I've never been into prior to homebrewing, like Vienna lagers, wits, tropical stouts, saisons, and now my latest "obsession" traditional bocks.
I go through cycles of immersing myself in new styles, and then brewing and drinking old favorites, and challenging myself with unique ingredients.
I don't think there's any reason to criticise folks who want to experiment, though I do believe that you should understand the brewing process, and how ingredients work together before folks start experimenting, if you don't have a firm grasp of some basics, then all you're really doing is throwing stuff against the wall or in the brew kettle to see what sticks.
