homebrew Vrs shop beer

[Sean_Mc]

I'm old enough to remember when Newcastle brown was a good pint, a very good pint. Must put on my list to do an old clone sometime

 

[doyley]

Brakespear's Triple, bottle conditioned, 7.something ABV mmmmmmm!

 

[Muddy Funker]

i had a great party on the weekend. i brewed like crazy over the last few months so i would have enough to go around. (i have a few bottles left) i managed to brew three different beers, all kits, an edme super gold bitter, a geordie ale and a youngs deffinitive bitter.

the edme was the least popular, and was the most expensive kit :shock: it is however my favourite, dry and bitter.

one guest tried my home brew and then opened one of his 'shepards neame' bottles. he quickly moved back to the home brew and stuck with it through the night.

there was a lot of shop beer left the next day.

i tried a shop beer yesterday. a shepards neame bottle i always used to really like, 'master brew'. i couldnt belive the taste. there was a metalic twang. the beer was watery and made me burp a lot almost immediatly. there was no depth of flavour. it was very disapointing.

i havent drunk anything but my own kit brews for months. (although i did try some very nice beers at the welsh beer and cider festival last friday)

i was worried that if i tried shop bottles i would find my kit brews were inferior. now i am very sure that they are not.

home brew rules! :

Wait till you have a crack at an all grain brew, your head will explode

I however still buy the odd shop beer, Any Wychwood, London Pride, Bombadier, Tesco Double IPA.

I've had some great feedback from my AG brews but I'm not better than the big guns just yet.

 

[shearclass]

I think there is decent beer to be bought in supermarkets. I love Brewdog beers for example. They brew the Tesco Double IPA, mentioned above.

If it wasn't for the fact that i've tasted such nice beer, then i wouldn't be interested in brewing it myself.

I only do kits, but I've recently done a vague clone of Punk IPA, by brewing a premium kit shrot, adding a little sugar, and using similar hops as used in Punk to dry hop it.

Yum.

 

[oldbloke]

A vote for Sam Smith's Oatmeal Stout as a good shop beer

 

[Phazbat]

I'm building up the reserves so I don't have to buy shop beer, but on the odd occasion that I do, Spitfire (Shepheard Neame), Bombardier (Wells & Youngs) and of course, Hobgoblin (Wychwood) briefly inhabit my trusty drinking vessel....

 

[golder247]

I am resolved to never buying shop beer again but I did try some london lager when I was in the capital the other day. It was a very nice tipple indeed... muchly impressed!!

 

[quixoticgeek]

I think the "shop beer" name is a bit misguided, maybe supermarket beer would be a better term.

I am fortunate enough to have http://www.bottle-shop.co.uk/ practically on my door step, with several hundred beers to choose from the selection is fantastic.

Having also lived within easy reach of a beer shop in Amsterdam that had over 1000 different beers available, there was always something of interest available. Yes home brew produces some great (and some awful) beers. But not all shops sell **** beer.

This all said, living in Kent, 98% of pubs appear to be owned by sheps and offer limited range decent beer...

J

 

[Garry35]

The Bottle Shop is great. I seem to get a selection from there from the brother-in-law for birthday/christmas, always welcomed.

The standout shop/supermarket brew I've had is a http://www.thekernelbrewery.com/index.html Pale Ale. I've since made the trip into london to pick up a selection of their brews, all amazing. It's the only beer maker's brews I've had that have properly 'popped' out of the glass. As soon as you start pouring, the aromas are incredible.

 

[quixoticgeek]

The Bottle Shop is great. I seem to get a selection from there from the brother-in-law for birthday/christmas, always welcomed.

The standout shop/supermarket brew I've had is a http://www.thekernelbrewery.com/index.html Pale Ale. I've since made the trip into london to pick up a selection of their brews, all amazing. It's the only beer maker's brews I've had that have properly 'popped' out of the glass. As soon as you start pouring, the aromas are incredible.

I had the amerillo pale ale from the Kernel last week, it was great.

A lot of the smaller microbreweries are really pushing the art of brewing, coming up with beers that are new, exciting and excellent to drink. Just the same way that home brewers have been doing the same for decades.

J

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

I used to buy bottles of Bombadier, Speckled Hen, Spitfire etc from Sainsburys. Probably about 6/ week to drink on Friday and Saturday nights. I have not bought 1 for over 2 months until last week.

It was just fizzy brown fluid, no depth of flavour, no body to it, the head dropped after a couple of minutes. I cracked open a bottle of Dronfield Best Bitter and thought to myself if beer was as good as AG homebew.

Recently when camping, the bloke in the next tent tried one of my brews he was very wary stating that the homebrews he had drunk as a student were ****. However he was blown away by the quality of the brew, he wanted to buy the rest of my stash, I gave him a few bottles. He emailed me when I got back asking if I had ever considered producing the stuff for sale. :grin:

I brew at least once a fortnight, most of it goes to friends and families for parties, weddings, BBQs etc getting invites all the time. I want to get my beers better and better.

The problem is, and this is a big problem, with a garage full of beer, it is just to tempting to sample a beer. I am now drinking a few beers every night. The cost is not a problem as each pint now costs me 20p, limitless empty magners bottles from the local pub, cheap malt and hops from a friendly brewery :party: It takes great will power not to be ****** every night

 

[Eradite]

I Just bottled a cascadian ale yesterday, checked today and it had a layer of sediment already in the bottle, thought I'd better do a little QC :whistle:

Opened with a pop. on bottle N.o.3 already and its the best beer i've brewed so far in fact its hard to leave it alone! :drink:

Most supermarket beer is absolutley pants in comparison to what can be made with some basic equipment. I bought 6 different beers at the weekend and POURED DOWN THE SINK two of them.

However, I will still buy quality beer i.e. Brewdog, most things Belgium and there are some really good American beers out there. My main bugbear is IPA's wich clearly aren't too many to mention!

 

[madchester]

Very nice.

 

[golder247]

Robbarwell is spot on, so easy to have a couple of beers every night because they actually taste of something. had a number of weeks where I have had just a couple here and there and all of a sudden the couple seems to have become 5 pints for 4-5 nights in a week... no good for me that....

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Robbarwell is spot on, so easy to have a couple of beers every night because they actually taste of something. had a number of weeks where I have had just a couple here and there and all of a sudden the couple seems to have become 5 pints for 4-5 nights in a week... no good for me that....

I had been thinking of upgrading to 100litre setup to keep pace, on 2nd thoughts though isn't it easier to get a few more FVs and brew more often.

I am away this weekend and have a new FV,it is being christened with 35litres of Dronfield Best Bitter ready for bottling at the end of next week.

I then will need some will power not to drink it all or end up in AA meetings.

 

[Rich85]

Brakspear Triple and Innin and Gunn are my favourite supermarket beers. I hardly ever buy them though because they are so expensive at about £1.80 a bottle, especially considering Innis and Gunn only comes in 330ml bottles! Better to save the money to spend on homebrew stuff!

 

[Springer]

It was just fizzy brown fluid, no depth of flavour, no body to it, the head dropped after a couple of minutes.

:clap: :clap:

Exactly my thinking, could not have put it better myself, ..............but for those who like buying beer remember you are also helping the government get the Country out of the do dos, with 50p or so a bottle, good of you some might say. :)

 

[WelshPaul]

Incidentally, am I the only person who chooses supermarket beers based not only on flavour, but also by colour and shape? There have been several times recently when I've been looking through Budgens' "3 for 2" offer and thought, "Hmmm, I'd prefer to get these since they have a brown bottle - better for bottling my home brew"!

 

[Moley]

Incidentally, am I the only person who chooses supermarket beers based not only on flavour, but also by colour and shape?

No, look out for Bernard Dark if it's on offer in Tesco at three for a fiver, it comes in brown swing tops and the beer's pretty good too.

I wouldn't buy any other supermarket beers for the bottles as I only collect Magner/Bulmer proper pints.

I have bought quite a bit of Kingstone Press cider for Mrs. Mole and myself (Morrison's, was £1, now £1.09) because it comes in clear glass, quite nicely shaped, almost wine sized bottles at 660ml and looks quite acceptable for WOW and other white /pink juice wines. Crown caps are cheaper than corks for the quick stuff.

Seriously though, £1.09 for 660ml of 5.3% abv cider, how can they do that, or why are beer prices getting so silly?

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Exactly my thinking, could not have put it better myself, ..............but for those who like buying beer remember you are also helping the government get the Country out of the do dos, with 50p or so a bottle, good of you some might say.


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