McDonald’s isn’t trying to close down cooking shows. Brewmasters was canned because the big brewing companies thought it was too much advertising against them.
[quote=“brewingdan”]Legman wrote:I experience the opposite. I don’t mind sharing my beer, but I actually try not to tell too many that I brew because they become instantly interested and want me to bring them some. And on the occasion that I do pass samples out, I have to basically tell them that this is a one time deal and I won’t continue to supply them with beer. Even then, there are some that hassle me non-stop for more.
That’s annoying.[/quote]
+2 on this. One of the reason I started homebrewing was the thought of having fun with friends. But some of them will hassle and hassle to come get more - it’s endless. I like keeping multiple things on tap all the time, but I’ve REALLY had to put the brakes on folks coming over. They will drink it far faster than I could ever make it. Or they’ll insist I bring them some. Lots of people are interested. But no one has EVER had enough interest to come check it out on brew day. I never get an offer to help. But they all want to show up when the new keg is carbed and ready.
I find that people that trully like good food will apreciate good beer. they have educated palets and can appreciate the subtle and not so subtle differances in the ingrediants and they can tell if the flavors are balanced to the proper proportions. just like with good food though, you can understand and appreciate the flavors but you still don’t have to especially like those flavors.
When I talk about home brewing, I find many act as though I’m claiming to be some sort of wizard. The, “Really?” Always seems to have that touch of incredulity.
To your home cooking analogy, imagine walking into the office, and saying “I’m a self-taught master of French cuisine.” And I NEVER claim to be more than a brewing beginner, but that’s the reaction. “Doesn’t that require special equipment?” They ask. “Yes, but not a lot to start out.” At this point In the conversation you’ve been branded a poser.
Next, it doesn’t matter how much you emphasize “Food Grade” when they see something that looks like a contractor’s mud bucket, fuggetaboutit. They want no parts of anything from there. (Not realizing how much restaurant food ships in the same mud buckets.)
To show the flip side of this, I just took a new job, and in the department of 30 there are two homebrewers (including me) and two spouses of homebrewers.
A lot of this stuff is regional and/or generational. In my group of friends and family, when we have a gathering, someone that shows up with Budweiser Light might as well have brought a bag of mcdonalds burgers. On the other hand, my cousin (10 years younger than me) had a memorial day picnic and there were tons of his friends drinking light lagers. Some of them were drinking directly out of the bottle! In addition to young adults, I also find also the older generations think beer=lager and anything else is foreign to them.
Not sure how big a chain this is, but where I live (Ohio) there is a bar/restaraunt called Winking Lizard. I am sure there are tons of other places like this, but this has 150 + beers available, basically at least 3-4 of ANY style you could think of.
Went there for a after work party with 5-6 co workers. out of all those beers 4 of them ordered Miller light and one ordered a Stella.
I don’t mind a bud light / budweiser type beer after mowing the grass now and then, but I feel a good beer just adds so much to a meal. Adding a good Pale Ale to a burger and fries or a red ale with a steak and potatoes, good stuff… etc etc.
oh also, was in the grocery last night and saw some lady with Mich Ultra in her cart. I felt like repalcing it with a real beer when she wasn’t looking. 
[quote=“Chris-P”]What I find ironic is that homemade food is generally considered to be superior quality to that of factory made / mass-produced food.[/quote]I think this is true to people like us, but to the average Joe commercially-produced, non-fast, foods are considered higher quality. How many people can cook a brisket, consistently hit medium-rare on a NY strip, have perfect noodles in lasagna, or make a pizza from scratch?
Heck, my stepmother thought I was a @$@#% wizard when I transmuted tomatoes into marinara sauce right in front of her eyes a couple months ago.
I think a lot of it has to do with “time”… The “cooking” analogy sort of breaks down from the standpoint that cooking a meal is a process that is completed in hours, and brewing is not.
Home brewing is not the same as buying something and then throwing it in the crockpot or stove. Brewing would be more like someone making their own cheese, or raising and canning their own produce, or raising chickens for the eggs… It is an extensive process, that requires time, money and some basic know-how.
Cooking, on the other hand (at least for the VAST majority of people) is buying a collection prepared items, throwing them together and getting them hot in some way - then eating them… all in less than an hour or two.
I have never had a problem with someone not wanting to try my brews. The issue I have is with people that have never looked past light lagers. When they try one of my pale ales, blondes, etc (something with a good hop flavor) they tell me my beer has a funny taste to it and I need to “fix” something in my recipe. Yeah it’s called HOPS you super genius. I just get frustrated with people that think light lagers is what “real beer” is suppose to taste like, but whatever more beer for me.
My first attempt at home brewing is currently fermenting (three weeks in) and I already have friends lining up to try it. Of course, I live in the land of craft beer (Colorado), and I have beer-loving friends, so they’re curious. I just hope it doesn’t turn out terrible, because I actually need help drinking the beer I brew - I’m the only adult in my household!
They will drink it…it is free. And it wont last long (only two cases). Make sure they give honest feedback to help you improve if it is they who you are brewing for. Your tastes are what is most important and I am sure you will be your most stern critic.
I would get started on that next batch…pronto!
One other misconception that I think plays a role other than the points already mentioned- people think you can get sick or poisoned from homebrew. Its not widely known that fermentation made what would be the safest thing to drink for a long period of history.
+1
Distilling your own moonshine can easily create poisonous by-products, which I think many associate with ALL home alcohol production.
I know for the longest time I didn’t start brewing because I thought that mold & bacteria infections were much easier to come by. And let’s face it, many food service rules say, if it’s off the heat or out of the fridge for more than an hour it goes in the garbage. “Open fermentation” anyone? I am still amazed by how well protected beer actually is; it’s the perfect growth medium for yeast; no one else is invited, and the party is only rarely crashed.
I have friends from both sides… some will try anything and everything and others won’t go anywhere near it.
I agree that for many homebrew has a negative misconception of making them sick, tasting like sht, giving them the shts, having a high ABV (especially anything with color), full of yeast, etc. I have met many people who said they tried homebrewing once and it was nasty. I account this to:
- Poor method/technique
- No know how
- Improper equipment
As we know, homebrewing techniques, equipment, and knowledge has come a LONG way.
I love it when I can actually get some to try it and they are taken aback that it doesn’t taste all boozy, yeasty, and nasty.
I have to think that some of this attitude may be attributed to prohibition home brewing and moonshiners. During prohibition people brewed at home just to have beer. Without the resources we have today for information and equipment I doubt it was the best beer. If distilled correctly moonshine would have been OK. Use of contaminated equipment like using car radiators that were filled with poisonous antifreeze and moonshiners adding who knows what to increase volume made people go blind, not the distillation.
So making alcohol just to have alcohol at home gives people the impression that you can’t make good beer at home.
Also I think that the early homebrewers brewed a lot of dark beers due to the fact that they were not near as easy buy as they are now. The light Pilsner style drinkers only had limited exposure to dark beer so the only one they may have ever tried might have turned them off. I’m sure most of us here have heard “oh, is it one of those dark beers”?
Ever get any offers to help pay for the ingredients? I’m betting no.
A couple of weeks ago my son-in-law offered to buy the ingredients, AND pay me. I said okay to buying the the ingredients, but no to paying me.
Not that there aren’t plenty of BMC drinkers in Portland, but in my circle of friends and family, people only drink the mass produced lagers as a lawn mower beer or to save money. They are all open to trying homebrew and given that we all think we are connoisseurs, giving you honest feedback. Craft beer is integral to living the good life to a big segment of Portland folks in my demographic.
[quote=“pashusa”]They will drink it…it is free. And it wont last long (only two cases). Make sure they give honest feedback to help you improve if it is they who you are brewing for. Your tastes are what is most important and I am sure you will be your most stern critic.
I would get started on that next batch…pronto![/quote]
You’re right, it’s really not that much beer! I’m having a party for the 4th of July and my beer will be perfectly ready to serve then, so I’m sure it will go even if it’s not the greatest ever brewed. I was thinking of brewing my next batch a day or two before my party. My friends have been so interested in the process I would like to show them what active fermentation looks like. (They also think I’m a bit odd, I think they believe I’m the only female homebrewer in existence!)
