Homebrew, Commercial, or Both

I have a triple tape on my kegerator and try to have all 3 going at the same time. I keep a lighter session beer like a Kolsch or a Wheat beer or a light Pale Ale and then the other 2 taps are whatever I am in the mood for. I have 7 kegs and usually have one ready as a spare when one kicks. I love the sense of accomplishment when I come home and crave a beer. I go down to the basement, open the tap and have that first smell/taste. Last night it was my house Porter that I truly love. I buy commercial beers when I have people over the house but even then most of them want to drink or at least try the homebrew. I only buy what I would drink, getting something like a Sierra Nevada in case people don’t drink a porter or a stout or an IPA, etc. I try 6 packs from time to time though as I appreciate every Micro Brewery out there. My latest commercial I have really liked is Heavy Sees Loose Cannon IPA. I like a few of the Heavy Seas line brews. I won’t drink macro swill even when out somewhere. I just drink water or wine if they have it. The other night I was in a bar and asked what’s on tap and the waitress said “oh, anything you’d like - Bud, Bud Light, Miller Lite, Coors light.” She stopped there. I said “is that it?” She said “oh, we have a few others…Raging something…some IPA.” I said “Raging Bitch?” She said “i think that’s the one.” It amuses me that servers just assume a person wants some sort of macro swill. I am sure 90% of their customers may want that but maybe they’d sell more Raging Bitch if the 10% were informed about it.

I have a keg fridge for my homebrew and a beer fridge for commercial stuff. I live in Montgomery County, MD which is the only county (AFAIK) that regulates its alcohol (instead of the state). This leads to a rather mundane and repetitive beer selection locally. My LHBS is one county away and there is a fantastic beer shop nearby… so I make sure to have a good beer hunt when ever I travel out that way. Beer fridge ends up looking something like this :slight_smile:

I am probably 50/50 on commercial/homebrew. I like to try the different styles and breweries, but what is really happening is that I’m more and more dissatisfied with the commercial ones, they have funny/off flavors or maybe they just taste stale. It is hard to find a good beer when we’re out at restaurants, etc.

When I started brewing years ago I was really worried about making sure my technique was repeatable, but now that I’ve done a dozen+ batches in the past year, I’m more interested in seeing how all of the flavors work together, and seeing if I can pick out the malt or yeast flavors in my favorites with an idea of copying some of the flavor profiles. So last year I brewed an American Amber but with Belgian yeast, and yeah the yeast really gave it a ton of flavor. Other one was an amber recipe, but with a pound of chocolate malt grains in it, and yes that one is dark, and smooth, but not bitter like a porter/stout. Will definitely be brewing that one again and splitting it in half to try two different yeasts.

I’m probably at least 95% homebrew these days.
I have a handful of favorite commercial brews but unless I run out of homebrew there is no compelling desire or need to buy any of the store bought stuff (especially when the prices seem more and more out of line for what you’re actually getting).

If I’m dining out, or knocking a few back with some friends at the local hangout (which fortunately has long been a ‘good beer’ destination), then I’ll enjoy some commercial drafts and try things out. That’s probably the bulk of the 5% exception.
At home, it’s pretty much all homebrew, all the time.

For beer consumed in my house, it’s 99.9% homebrew. The other 0.1% is on the rare occasion that someone gives be a bottle. I don’t buy beer unless I’m out at a restaurant and they have something good on tap.

Around the house its mostly home brew, not because I don’t love me some good craft beers, but there is sooo much home brew to “get rid of.” I never thought I would have too much beer. What a great problem.

Interestingly, I don’t drink much beer at restaurants any more because I just cant see paying $4 to $6 for a pint of a macro I have to choke down. I usually just have water. My wife even noticed that and said something about that the last time we went out to eat. If its a craft beer bar or a brew put that’s a completely different story. Always up for trying different craft brews.

I like picking up bombers, partially to enjoy the beer and partially to have more bottles. I tend to buy on special. Love to have my stand-by every so often, Goose Island Honker’s Ale. But mostly it’s home brew.
And nothing wrong with a Miller or Coors at a ball game!

ive been on a brewing respite for the last few months and down to half a keg of british ale…

50/50…i love surly cynic ale and belgians when i make it to the right bottle shops; my homebrew has been going to private parties and gatherings a lot, with people starting to request growlers for a “keep fill” program. i have damn near perfected my pub ale and farmhouse tap offerings, venturing into some stouts.

when i grow to 10 gallon batches, we will see.

Interesting question. I’ve only been homebrewing since Nov 2011 and brewing AG since Jan 2012. If you had asked me two months ago, my answer would have been 70:30 Commercial to HB. Lately I’ve been closer to 30:70, since I have a stash of HB’s that I think are very good.

I really don’t see going beyond 20:80, because there are so many great commercial brews out there. There are some annual releases that I look forward to, new brews I must try and a few standard brews I like to keep on hand. I also need to replenish the bottle supply periodically.

Both. i brew ales and buy lagers. i also like to sample the local brewpubs. i just can’t get enough of the stuff. This thread is making me thirsty!!