It’s about 55-60% of my beer intake is in homebrew. I brew at least twice per month, but I haven’t the room nor funds for a kegging setup, so I bottle and the extra wait time 3-4 weeks often doesn’t finish in time before my last batch has run out… also, I like trying new stuff and revisit favorite beers.
I drink mostly my own beer when home, but I always keep my eye open for something new and a group of us does a case buy 4 times a year.
Yes.
I probably drink 50/50 homebrew/commercial. I like to experiment, and with only 1.5 years of brewing my own under my belt, about half the time the beer is not what I hoped. I’ve never made a bad or flawed beer, but I have perfectionist tendencies.
I also tend to give commercial beers more grace than mine. I assume they produced exactly the beer they intended, so I’m just tasting what someone else’s bullseye is. For example I brewed a Brown ale a few months back. It was OK. My wife liked it. Then I tried a side-by-side with Moose Drool - it was almost indistinguishable!
I have an IPA on tap right now that is languishing for that very reason - nothing wrong with it, it just isn’t what I want.
My friend with the discerning palate asked me if my last pale ale was Bass ale a number of times. That floored me because my opinion of the batch is less complementary. ;D But it is very drinkable compared to what I was brewing years ago.
Cutting out commercial brews is also a reaction to the prices. Anything actually imported- particularly from the Eurozone is crazy expensive and travel damaged. I’m seeing a lot more obscure domestic and local beer as the new craft breweries are coming on line. They ain’t cheap either folks.
This is why I brew a lot of German lagers. The ones we get aren’t at all fresh and there isn’t much for good German style lagers brewed in the US. All I see at bars are IPAs, Belgians, and commercial lager. Nothing I’m after.
Looking at my notes the Bass(esque) is an ESB brewed with Windsor yeast, chinook and fuggles. It was a split batch with BRY-97 which resulted in an impressive and completely different beer. Fermenting like this allows for consistency and experimentation.
Feel like I’m honing in on a consistent recipe that I’d like around all the time- one that won’t get boring.
I drink commercial beer when I’m out of homebrew, when I go out, or when I’m curious about something. lately I’ve done a pretty good job keeping homebrew in the house so it’s mostly grabbing an interesting bottle at the bottle shop or a pint when I go out to dinner/drinks.
Switching to 11 gallon batches has made it easier to keep beer in the house. I haven’t gotten bored with a beer yet but I do get excited when something new hits the tap. I only have two beer kegs so variety sometimes suffers.
Very nearly 100% of the beer I drink at home is homebrew. We sometimes shop at one particular grocery store that usually has some interesting offerings in 20 oz. bottles. On occasion I will buy one or two of those. And of course there are times when dinner guests bring beer. But most of the time I only have my own beer on hand.
I’ll drink beer in restaurants if there is something interesting available, but like others have said above, lots of places these days are offering two or three different brands of IPA, plus Bud and Bud Lite. Most of the time when we’re out, if I order an alcohol at all, it’s a cocktail or a glass of wine.
I drink a lot of my homebrew mostly and give some away to friends as well. I can buy the stuff at the liquor store any time I want to research a style or grab a seasonal brew or something I haven’t had before. Most of the time I can’t keep enough homebrew on the shelf!
Another +1
I’m a recovering beer hoarder. I’m getting much better though. I used to buy beer by the case at Costco and drink a few and have a most of the case left sitting there taking up space. I still have about 2 cases of beer that’s at least 3 years old out in the shop. I think I’m passed that now. If I want a commercial beer, I’ll get either a big bottle or a six pack, 12 pack if I really like it. A couple months ago I saw Red Chair at Costco (in cases, of course), I love the stuff. I went to another store and bought a 12 pack. I think I still have a few left, but they’ll get drank.
I guess I’ve finally figured out that my fridge space is valuable. More of theirs means less of mine. I try to have a variety of homebrew for guests (and me) on tap.
When we go out, if there isn’t a beer of interest to me it’s JD or just water as I not a pop drinker.
Bruce
I am mostly a homebrew drinker at this point but do enjoy visiting local breweries and sampling.
I guess you could call me a craft beer drinker rather than just a homebrew drinker. While I enjoy my own homebrew at home, I also enjoy trying new craft beers and old favorites when I’m out. Aside from pure hedonistic enjoyment, I think it also helps to train my palate (in a BJCP style sense), tweak my curiosity and challenge my creativity for new or improved homebrew recipes. I do keep a nice selection of crafts beers at home as well, variety being the spice of a beer-ful life.
I thought of this thread today while trying to pick out a 6 pack at a local beer store. The entire cooler was PACKED with micros, and almost every one of them was IPA. They used to carry a couple pilsners that I liked but they’ve replaced those with IPA’s as well.
Doesn’t anyone want variety anymore?