How does your beer compare with commercial beer ?

[Sadfield]

For those who say that their beers are as good as or better than commercial beers, what is stopping you going pro?

The mortgage.

 

[chthon]

For those who say that their beers are as good as or better than commercial beers, what is stopping you going pro?

Lack of time? Not wanting to turn a fine hobby into a commercial disaster? Having a good job already? Not wanting to do the other parts of the complete brewing trade, like finding customers and selling beer? Not wanting to take care of all the paperwork?

I once did a couple of years, part time some self-employment about Linux. I absolutely hated the paperwork for the bookkeeping, the VAT and the social security. And that was for something I love to do and for which I have a professional interest and degree.

 

[An Ankoù]

I'm going to say no. Not even close.

But then my local keeps a good pint, has Bateman's XXXB & XB plus a guest (two in summer), so it's a tall order to beat that in my opinion. Add to that, I don't think it's possible to completely replicate well kept, quick moving, cask as home, unless your a raging alcoholic!

How true. Back in the day when I used to brew in my garage in Poole, Hambleton Bard gas cylinders were easy to get hold of so I used pressure barrels rather than bottles for most beers. Occasionally, if I had a crowd round for a session or a barbecue, I'd take the lid off a freshly made barrel, connect a tube to the tap and draw the beer through a hand pump. It tasted slightly different and more "pub-like" from beer dispensed under pressure and even more different to bottled beer even though it's exactly the same beer. I preferred the hand drawn beer, but I would always make sure I could finish the barrel at a single sitting.
My point being that the method of dispense has a bearing on the flavour of the beer as well as the quality of the beer.

 

[An Ankoù]

Lack of time? Not wanting to turn a fine hobby into a commercial disaster? Having a good job already? Not wanting to do the other parts of the complete brewing trade, like finding customers and selling beer? Not wanting to take care of all the paperwork?

I once did a couple of years, part time some self-employment about Linux. I absolutely hated the paperwork for the bookkeeping, the VAT and the social security. And that was for something I love to do and for which I have a professional interest and degree.

Agreed. Always try to avoid making something you enjoy into a job of work. And I think making and selling beer commercially is quite a precarious business. No sooner had I turned my back and emigrated to France than The Bournemouth Brewing Company (of Poole!) Went ttis up. Can't imagine why, their beers were good and they seemed to have good distribution.

 

[dad_of_jon]

For those who say that their beers are as good as or better than commercial beers, what is stopping you going pro?

If my risky business had won the hombrewdog won the competition instead of just making it to the final selection, i would have taken the job offer. Otherwise it's far too much hard work to scale up to a point where it produces an income when I did the math - and I have an aversion to hmrc and other related paperwork. I would however consider being a cuckoo brewer

 

[Nicks90]

I'm only on ag#8 but I would say that at least half of them I would have happily paid the usual £1.25 for a bottle from my local supermarket and been extremely happy
None of them are clones and I have made a point of not trying any clone recipe replicators or I may end up disappointed. Instead every one has been something I fancied and all have turned out well (bar the one that tastes of TCP)
Even the IPA I thought was too bitter was a big hit with friends - just too bitter for me.
Are any of them as good as black sheep handpull from the local pub in masham? Or theakstons old peculiar hand pull? Nope. But they are world leaders in their style and bottle conditioned bitters will NEVER be as good as proper cask ale made by true artisans.

So it depends on your expectations

"Am I alone in not having a universal admiration for Belgian Beers"
Nope, can't stand the stuff. I keep trying it now and again and it's just not nice. Sorry...

 

[Cwrw666]

There seems to be a lot of glass half full / glass half empty going on in this thread.

A definition of `commercial beers' might have been helpful. Are we talking about a can of Bud, a decent brew from a microbrewery, or something exotic that I'd have to drive 200 miles each way to sample?

 

[The Baron]

My thoughts when I quoted was a average pub not a micro run one or craft style pub especially of the small brewery outlet tap rooms

 

[Nicks90]

So you're comparing against a pint of generic IPA or doombar / boddingtons from wetherspoons?
In that case most of us can probably claim to do better!!!

 

[CD]

I don't think it's possible to completely replicate well kept, quick moving, cask as home, unless your a raging alcoholic! [/QUOTE]

It is, and I’m not. Well not raving!

To replicate draught beer I just do what a pub does. They keep their beer at a cool cellar temperature of between 12.5 and 13.5 C, so do I. They soft spile the casks to vent excess CO2 from secondary fermentation down to atmospheric pressure. I do the same by easing a pin behind the rubber blow-off band on the HB injector.

Pubs unlikely to sell a firkin in 3 days (and unwilling to pour their profits down the drain), then ignore CAMRA and connect a cask breather to the spile hole. So did I for eight years, and I can vouch for the fact that, despite the 20 days or so difference, the first and last pint pulled up from a 5 gallon PB are virtually indistinguishable.

 

[bobukbrewer]

As the OP of this thread let me qualify. I meant the comparison to London Pride, greene king IPA type beers. I would never say my beer is better than SPECIALIST beers, and we all have our favourites. I guess I am inferring that MOST pubs do not serve beers in tip top condition - sad.........

 

[Clint]

Looking at it most of say we recon our beer is as good as commercial slop..
I think the mixed reaction I get to my finest is even though the beer is good the flavours change from style to style quite radically and even between the same style depending on what I had in stock. This I accept and expect...slop drinkers don't like this as they like everything to taste exactly the same...like the usual slop.

 

[Cwrw666]

As the OP of this thread let me qualify. I meant the comparison to London Pride, greene king IPA type beers.

Well in that case I'd say a lot of my brews are much superior to the usual supermarket bottled beers. I guess they are normally brewed down to a price. Also mass-produced keg beers from the big brewers.
I have noted that draught hobgoblin for example is much better than the bottled version.
As to what comes from microbreweries - it varies from appalling to superb. I'd say most of my brews are at the higher end though I'm not counting obvious ****-ups on my behalf which occasionally happen. The sad thing with some microbreweries is that they bottle and sell their bad brews. I've even had a bottle, at the brewery that was vile and when I picked the sticky best before label off - underneath was another for a year previous!