homebrew Vrs shop beer

[Ceejay]

I used to be lucky enough to live near a Waitrose, where we could get Hogsback TEA, Coniston Bluebird and TT's Landlord. All in my top 10 beers, ever. Sainsburys is pants for beer - you've got a half decent range of lager style beers, then it's all the usual Fullers, Badger, Wychwood, Shepherd Neame etc. IMO, they are behind the times a bit, in terms of what "real ale" drinkers actually want to buy.

Funny you should say about "Master Brew". I had a bottle of that the other week (what I thought was the best of a very medicre bunch whilst I was out of the area) and I didn't like it one bit. Like you said, very metallic - almost like licking a 2p and just thin with no malt character or anything. Very poor, indeed.

I don't think I like my own beer as much as I like my favourite bottled craft beers, but I definitely like them better than anything I can buy in my local supermarket.

Luckily I have Tuckers Maltings to buy craft beer from now, which is just fantastic. :thumb:

 

[shearclass]

Sainsburys is pants for beer

The Darlo one has a reasonable enough range in, better than the local tesco or asda. Perhaps they vary with size of store and region though.

 

[Springer]

As Sean said good thread.

Nice to see you posting again S, hope yourself and the dogs are good :thumb:

Thanks Sean, the pack here are all fine, Mrs S. included

Yes I'm back, been to busy with work work and work and bees bees and bees. Have to get back to brewing cos stock is down to one pint now Have 75 kg of malt and 50 litres of apple juice in stock,so thing should improve significantly
Have to break into the Wurzels orange for a while. :lol:
As I said up thread, can't bring myself to buy beer these days, although someone mentioned an IPA, which I just might be tempted to try purely for market research purposes you understand.
S

 

[George]

I enjoyed a couple of bottles of Old Thumper the other night but enjoyed an Old Conkerwood homrbrew tonight.

G

 

[Phazbat]

however beer still makes me want to eat kebabs, pizzas and stuff, these carry VAT so I am putting a little bit back

Phew...I'm normal, then.

 

[gwoodin]

Expanding the discussion to include pub cask-conditioned ale, I believe you can produce superior beer at home with an initial oulay of around £350, and some practice. £350 will provide for 2 boilers (one as a hot liquor tank), mash tun, fermenter and dispensing barrel. A sparge-arm and cooling coil perhaps.

In the area where I live, it is hard to find a pub selling consistently good cask-conditioned-ale. So often I find beer in pubs (even GBG pubs) bland or below par, and I guess this is down to poor cellarmanship, although occasionally a brewery supplies an infected cask.

Without opening the topic of price-per-pint, I personally would rather drink well-flavoured home-brewed beer than bland cask ale. I still visit pubs occasionally to sample CCA, however I usually prefer my own beers. I think microbrewers should visit their outlets occasionally to see whether their beers are being stored and dispensed correctly.

 

[Springer]

Don't go to many pubs these days, given my share of support in the past. When I do I am usually dissappointed, not to mention the price.
I think you can set up for AG for considerably less that £350 with a bit of DIY
S

 

[luckyeddie]

Anyone care to mention what shop bought beers they buy.
I cannot believe the sweeping generalisation that they are nearly all rubbish but I agree that some are.
You just need to be selective in your choices.

I occasionally buy Duvel, Chimay Blue and Westmalle Tripel - for 'research' purposes and to harvest the yeasts.

 

[Moley]

I've been well pleased with the Wye Valley yeasties I harvested, so today I've bought some more Dorothy Goodbody's Golden Ale and some Butty Bach. I'm thinking of emailing their head brewer to ask if it's the same strain used in both.

 

[oz11]

I'd be interested to know that too, Mr Moley, having a few bottles of each to drink, and currently supping the brew that was fermented with their Golden Ale yeast.
And it's a good'un :thumb: