Amateur brewer (started in may) who is mostly always doing partial mashed right now. Looking to step up my game in the new year…
I prefer Zymurgy, although both are good. Zymurgy comes with an AHA membership, so besides the mag you get pub discounts and the great feeling of supporting the hobby.
Both good mags, I am getting Zymurgy right now because I like the beer judging column where four judges evaluate two different beers in each issue. Plus we have a new homebrew store and they offer 10% off for AHA members.
+1
Thats my main reason for having a membership. 10% off at the LHBS.
I get both but prefer Zymurgy, it is mostly the regular articles like the judging article mentioned that I like most. The main stories are about the same quality between magazines.
I’ve been getting BYO for about a year and just signed up for Zymurgy a couple months ago. If I had to pick only one, I would go with Zymurgy. Consider the full scope of benefits–which includes the pub discount program (which could pay for your membership or a meaningful chunk of it). They also have several years of back issues available online.
Every now and then BYO does a 2 for 1 deal where you can sign up for a year and give a year to a friend. I partner up with a friend and split the price. So basically, I just renewed for $16.50 for a year. A very good deal if you can partner up with a friend.
I get both and like both - they have some commonality (ask the professor and Mr. Wizard), but differ enough to maintain appeal for me. Zymurgy online would be the tie breaker if I were forced to vote.
I look at it a bit differently…
I used to subscribe to Zymurgy but gave that up a while ago. I’ve been buying BYO for the last two years but still read Zymurgy (in the bookstore) pretty regularly
If you’re really into beer judging, competitions and brewing to win them, then Zymurgy is the way to go. It seems like almost 95% of an average issue has something to do with competitions in some way. For someone like me who doesn’t compete and has no interest in doing so, it can get tiresome.
If you’re more interested in brewing history, styles, ingredients and general home brewing tips, techniques and info, then I think that BYO is better.
Not to say that Zymurgy doesn’t cover this stuff too. I just find BYO to be a better generalist type magazine because it’s not nearly as competition-focused as Zymurgy
Hmmm, I guess I don’t see the competition focus in Zymurgy. There may be one article per issue, if that. But it’s certainly not 95%. For instance, none of the articles I’ve written for Zymurgy have anything to do with competitions or brewing to style.
Does NB offer the AHA discount as well?
