Offering people homebrew and them saying that must be lethal

[Devonhomebrew]

So as the title says i want to know why people turn down the chance to try homebrew. I took some into w$*k t'other day and i opened a bottle of my best beer ever odins breath stout. I asked some people at the bar if they wanted to try some of my beer and they said noooo way it must be like petrol but graham the bar tender who works with me loved it i dont understand why people dont take the offer to drink home made beer if i made a cherry pie and said it was homemade they would be straight on it but i dont understand why people dont want to drink home made beer.

 

[BigYin]

some people just don't like the idea of home brewed beer/wine - anything! They already have the idea that it must be really awful, and nothing will change their minds

I was at a family do yesterday, and the boyfriend of one of my wife's cousins was talking to be about my brewing - he seemed quite interested, but then said "I take it it must taste pretty rough" - cheeky b@st@rd!!

On the other side, I took 2 cornies of my beer to another family do, for my wife's 40'th, and everyone wanted to try it, and they all kept coming back for more!

 

[Baz Chaz]

It really surprises those that do try it and had 'low expectations' I've taken loads of bottles to our charity fishing dos and now everyone asks if I'm making a brew specially for the next event :

 

[xdaver]

I think this is a bit of a hangover from the homebrew craze many years ago. When I mentioned I made homebrew at work alot of the lads (who have a few years on me) had horror stories like beer too sweet, turned out horrible etc.
maybe the kits where worse then or people thought it was easy to do and didnt do their homework.

 

[Devonhomebrew]

It really surprises those that do try it and had 'low expectations' I've taken loads of bottles to our charity fishing dos and now everyone asks if I'm making a brew specially for the next event :

Oyster stout maybe. That'll liven the spirit up abit maybe

 

[jodape]

What gets me is when people turn down your brew and then start drinking carling, san mig etc :sulk: though that does mean more for me :drink:

 

[Dieseljockey]

I think this is a bit of a hangover from the homebrew craze many years ago. When I mentioned I made homebrew at work alot of the lads (who have a few years on me) had horror stories like beer too sweet, turned out horrible etc.
maybe the kits where worse then or people thought it was easy to do and didnt do their homework.

I'll 2nd that...homebrew years back was hit & miss, the kits from Boots had to be seen.. :lol: :lol: but I think when they try it if it's a good one then your works done... :clap:

 

[Devonhomebrew]

What gets me is when people turn down your brew and then start drinking carling, san mig etc :sulk: though that does mean more for me :drink:

They were drinking 1664 :sick:

 

[dennisking]

Took me 20 years to get my brother in law to drink mine. I always have a family do Xmas night and he always bought his own rather than drink mine. A few years back he forgot to bring any so had to sample mine, now when he walks in the first question is how many different beers are available.

 

[Aleman]

I think this is a bit of a hangover from the homebrew craze many years ago. When I mentioned I made homebrew at work alot of the lads (who have a few years on me) had horror stories like beer too sweet, turned out horrible etc.
maybe the kits where worse then or people thought it was easy to do and didnt do their homework.

I'll 2nd that...homebrew years back was hit & miss, the kits from Boots had to be seen.. :lol: :lol: but I think when they try it if it's a good one then your works done... :clap:

3rd'd 4th'd and 5th'd

Everyone has stories about their dad/granddad/uncle Kevin making home brew and it was always rocket fuel, gave enormous headaches yada yada yada. My Uncle . . . Not Kevin but Reg . . . realised that sugar turns to alcohol, so the more sugar you use, the more alcohol you get, the better the wine must be :nono: :nono: :nono: His wines were always ridiculously sweet, and pretty foul :sick: . . No matter how much I tried I could never convince him to cut back on the amount of sugar he was using. :x

Kit manufacturers then, and now, paint a ridiculous picture of how easy and quick it is to make a kit, and how good it tastes so people use those instructions and find out it tastes crap . . . luckily it was only a cheap kit they bought to try it . . . so no money wasted there then. . . . and all homebrew tastes crap . . . lucky for them now there are places like this, Jims, and even parts of Youtube that people can now go for reasonable advice . . . Back in my day Tim Berners Lee was still working on the internet at CERN so help was few and far between.

It is for this reason I back the Craft Brewing Association, and try to avoid labelling any of my beer homebrew . . . I have a brewery and I craft beer in my brewery . . . I do not do Home Brew :evil: :sick:

 

[hairybiker]

It can depend on the people, if they remember the poor quality stufft that was about in the 70/80's (or later) then yes they are biased, but then they tend to forget things like Red Barrell as well

As to Boots Kits, I used to love their 30 pint ESB kit, very nice beer, I drunk it until they stopped making them in the late 80's. Also some people equate HB to MASSIVE % Abv's e.g. single tin kit & 4Kg of sugar.

On a side note a few years back I made a 5gal batch of wine for my sisters do, it didappeared FASTER than the bought stuff :wha: :

+1 to Alemans comments, I am a Craft Brewer not a home brewer.

 

[dennisking]

Like Tonys uncle my late Dad always added extra sugar to the kits. As much as I loved the man to bits and still miss him like mad he made awful beer. Boots own brand was his kit of choice, I tried buying him better quality ones from my LHBS but he only wanted the boots ones.

 

[xdaver]

I think maybe the % thing was a bit more of an issue then aswell (with regards to rocketfuel) when I first started going into pubs a little before my 18th birthday alot of the beers on tap where 3% and so where most of the offy bought beers, so the difference could be noticable.
where as nowdays most beers are 4%+

 

[Will12283]

I got the opposite problem can't make enough to keep the work lot happy lol.

I'm lucky I have guys who are willing to try my stuff and give me there feedback

 

[Devonhomebrew]

I think maybe the % thing was a bit more of an issue then aswell (with regards to rocketfuel) when I first started going into pubs a little before my 18th birthday alot of the beers on tap where 3% and so where most of the offy bought beers, so the difference could be noticable.
where as nowdays most beers are 4%+

If a lager is less than 5% someone has been watering it down. I had a whole discussion with a dutch bloke about it.

 

[puravida]

It's an image problem.
Homebrew = stinky, yeasty, flat, rank, poorly sanitised beer that gave you the sh!ts and a wretched hangover.

Aleman nailed it. We're hand making small artisanal batches of craft beer, not homebrew!

I took some of my beer to one of these trendy pop up restaurant nights recently, a BYO affair. I asked who wanted to try my fresh craft beer and everyone at the table, blokes and ladies, wanted to try it and loved it

I'm sure if I'd stuck a couple of unlabelled bottles on the table and asked who wanted homebrew then I'd have no takers!!!

 

[Moley]

There certainly is an image problem and I think a lot of it goes back to the 70s and 80s when brew kits occasionally turned out just about drinkable if you weren't too fussy.

There is a strange double standard which I find almost offensive: Home grown fruit and veg tastes so much better than anything you get from the supermarkets. Home baking knocks spots off shop bought, but home brewed beers or home made wines must be *****.

Strange though, that when I've given beers or wines to my workmates, initial trepidation has rapidly changed to "that was bloody brilliant, can I have some more please?"

Well I'm sorry, that ain't how it works. I've proved the point, shown you it can be done and would be delighted to teach you how to do the same, but that's where their interest ends.

A bad reputation is hard to shake off. You can tell people that things have changed, you can offer them proof that things are no longer as they believe, but who would actually go out and buy a Skoda?

 

[Frogfurlong]

A bad reputation is hard to shake off. You can tell people that things have changed, you can offer them proof that things are no longer as they believe, but who would actually go out and buy a Skoda?

Since I have driven one of the Ocatavia S***ofashovel then yes I would, the same can be said for brewing at home.
Once you've tried a well thought out and executed craft beer, brewed in a home installed brewery you realise how good it can be.

Hopefully long gone are the days of hopped up sugar water being sold as beer kits, these are what I tried back in the eighties and it nearly put me off for life.
The insipid, overhopped alco-bomb produced by these kits was embarrasing to anyone that wanted to create "real beer at home" like the label said.

Thankfully I found this forum and good folk willing to share their ideas and techniques, not to mention a crafted beer or two. :thumb:
So this particular Skoda is sold to me

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

A bad reputation is hard to shake off. You can tell people that things have changed, you can offer them proof that things are no longer as they believe, but who would actually go out and buy a Skoda?

Since I have driven one of the Ocatavia S***ofashovel then yes I would, the same can be said for brewing at home.
Once you've tried a well thought out and executed craft beer, brewed in a home installed brewery you realise how good it can be.

Hopefully long gone are the days of hopped up sugar water being sold as beer kits, these are what I tried back in the eighties and it nearly put me off for life.
The insipid, overhopped alco-bomb produced by these kits was embarrasing to anyone that wanted to create "real beer at home" like the label said.

Thankfully I found this forum and good folk willing to share their ideas and techniques, not to mention a crafted beer or two. :thumb:
So this particular Skoda is sold to me

Well put that man....I have been brewing for a few years now and am still learning. I think the best bit is when socialising with friends the subject of homebrew comes up, usually the statement is made that it will be horrible until a friend that has tried it jumps in and says....that home brewed beer is better than the pish that we are currently drinking

 

[Baldbrewer]

Funny though how once they have tasted our craft brews they are quite open to more "samples" !
Really hit home last night as I was drinking a hand pulled Marstons Pedigree in my local pub and I realised although I'm only on my AG#3 my crafted beers taste better than a pub pint.

If somebody wants to drink flavourless fizzy piss coloured generic ***** then that's their prerogative BUT for me , feeling the warm glow of satisfaction I get from drinking a pint that I made is priceless.

Mind you after 3 bottles that warm glow is more alcohol than anything else

One of my mates is converted, his wife is buying him a st Peters starter kit for his birthday and he wants to come and help on my next brew day. knowing that I've helped somebody else find such an educational and addictive hobby is worth the occasional snidely comment. :