Exactly. My first beer was a Munton’s ESB ‘kit’. Back then ('92/93), a kit often consisted of two can of hopped extract and a packet of ‘ale yeast’ . I followed it to the letter and felt like it was great at the time. But when I switched to all grain brewing, there was a definite learning curve. There still is, as I try out new techniques. Just keep learning and enjoying the results. They get better.
You might need to add some minerals to your distilled water to get a better result.
I started back around 1995 or so…I thought my first batches of beer were great… I shouldn’t have thought that, but I did.
They were mediocre to bad. From time to time I had a good batch of beer I made. But nothing special. Honestly, I would say that the first 10-15 years my beer was this way when I look back on it. I would say somewhere around 2010 I kind of reinvested myself in brewing. I read A LOT, tried to learn from others, used sources on the web, learned new things or expanded on what I knew (water, sanitation procedures, fermentation, yeast starters, etc)… that is when I feel like I consistently started to make good beer.
Lots of good advice above. If I had to give one piece of advice for getting better at brewing… Make sure you pick one beer to brew frequently - over and over. Find a tried and true recipe or kit to start with - good source of ingredients. It does not have to be every batch, but you should brew it every 2-3 times. I found repetition and tweaking small aspects of the beer (Procedure, temperature, ingredients, water, etc) to be a key element in improving.
You folks are all awesome. Thanks for the advice. Braufessor, I like that approach. I don’t think I’d learn much jumping style to style. My two biggest beers that I enjoy are IPA’s (of course) and Belgian Ale’s. The IPA’s for when I need a hop fix, and Belgian Ales (or Belgian PA’s) when I want a more laid back, smooth, malty biscuity drink.
I loved my first few batches. They were swill, but they were my swill that I made.
now Im making decent beer. I like to think its amazing, but that’s just my bias coming thru. I know they aren’t that great. I learn a lot from my mistakes and that’s what matter.
I know you said you are using distilled water. That water doesn’t have any minerals or salts in it so flavor can suffer from that. I used to use spring water until I got into learning about water chemistry (which believe me, its not as hard as it seems when you first start reading about it… use Bru’nWater! its a great resource.) So basically I would use spring water until you want to learn about water chemistry.
Hell no! It was 23 years ago, and I was hooked from the start. It was a ordinary bitter in a can, add water, boil, ferment and voila, I had beer. I can still remember drinking the last bottle thinking how good it was. Was it? I don’t really know, but I thought so at the time.
Same story as most when it comes to my first beer. I made it 19 years ago and only vaguely remember anything about it. I jumped right in with an “Advanced Extract Kit”. ;D Which basically meant it included some crystal malt that was steeped for 30 minutes before boiling and liquid yeast.
It was good enough to get me to brew a second batch. It took a few years to be willing to share my beer with people outside the house. Many of the first batches were awful but they got better. I think my all-grain batches must be decent now because I hear from people who tell me some mutual friend was raving about this or that beer. That kind of thing can keep you going awhile. 
To be completely truthful here, I still bomb a batch now and then. I kegged a Farmhouse Saison (new to me recipe) last night that will take some convincing to make me believe it’s any good. ::). Who knows? Someone may like it.
Welcome back to the obsession!
Paul
Paul
Yeah - I think every new home brewer likes to brew a different beer every time, and brew beers with all kinds of complex ingredients and unique additions. However, once you get a little of that out of your system, there is just no substitute for picking a particular style/recipe and brewing it 10-20 times (or more). Make it something that does not take a lot of time to turn around, something that is not super expensive to brew, something without a mountain of over powering ingredients, personally - I preferred low ABV type beers for this. And, it has to be something you and friends are eager to drink up… Some of the styles I used for this type of thing - Dark Mild, British Ordinary Bitter, Blonde, APA, IPA, Porter, Dortmunder Lager, Helles… I just picked one at a time and brewed it over and over and over until I got it where I felt like I really had it nailed down.
I mixed the priming sugar unevenly, and the carbonation varied throughout the bottles, with most of them quite low. So, yes. But I have very high standards; most people thought it was fantastic.
Looking back I wish I hadn’t shared as many bottles from my earlier batches. I’m sure I turned a lot of people off of brewing.
My first batch had some flaws, but I had already started reading How To Brew and following this forum by the time I started drinking it, so none of the flaws were surprises. I lowered the temp midway through fermentation instead of raising it and ended up with diacetyl. I also used the full packet of priming sugar, even though I boiled off more than expected, and ended up with a smaller yield. Needless to say, there was some gushing going on.
Batch 1 was passable, and was enjoyable simply because it was my first batch of homebrew. I was already working on batches 2 and 3 by the time the bottles were ready, and knew what I had done wrong with my first batch. Each batch was better than the previous, and my brewing grew by leaps and bounds for much of the first year.
my first homebrew kit came with a bulging can of hopped extract,3 pounds of corn sugar and an unlabeled package of dry yeast. I was instructed to put my fermenter on the top of my fridge or my attic to keep it warm because it ferments better that way. It was a thin insipid mess.
My first homebrew was a Coopers Pale Ale kit. I was pleased with the results. First steeped grain/extract was good too, as was my first all grain. I’ve chucked loads of disappointing brews too, will be ditching a crap saison this weekend (assuming it hasn’t improved in the 2 months since I last tried it).
My first batch was the Brewer’s Best Belgian ale kit. I brewed it in a bucket in my apartment kitchen. It was so hot that summer that it fermented well over 80F and my apartment reeked of esters for days. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t awful. I’ve had worse Belgian beers from US craft breweries, sadly.
I’ve brewed some really awful beers in the names of experimentation, dialing in my brewing system and occasionally making truly stupid mistakes.
Mine was an extract stout of LME and it turned out pretty good for my palate at the time. The next 2 were disappointing, ales from the LME. Glad I stuck with it.
My first was a pale ale LME kit that came with my gear from Liberty Brewing Supply in Seattle. I still recall popping the cap on the first one, hearing it go “pssst” and feeling like I’d done magic. The beer turned out great and inspired me to get into brewing. A monster was born…
As I get past the first batch, in anticipation of kegging my second batch (I hate bottling), I recall my first bitter 25 years ago. It was like Bayareabrewer’s experience. I had a paper catalog for home brew supplies as we had no shop locally. I mail ordered the “English Bitter” with two cans of LME. They sat on my porch in the box in the sun for a weekend until I got back home. The yeast was in a packet taped to the lid of one of the cans. I just chucked it in after the boil/cooling. The hops were added somewhere near the beginning of the boil. I remember thinking…“Wow, hops are green but pellet hops are gray…interesting.” So my reincarnation is better for sure this time around, but I’m enjoying the journey. Of course I’m devouring books at a fast pace and all the info. I can get. Oh…the last batch that I did 25 years ago ended when I dropped the carboy, full of stout wort, on the kitchen floor. I gave up but am glad I took it back up…with a carboy hauler of course : )
When my bucket of beer started bubbling the first time was a pretty “holy shit this is awesome” moment.
Yeah, these were my two “oh s#^t” moments when it all became amazing and magical. I’ll never forget the feeling.
Edit - Resistance was futile from there. 
My first brew back in 2001 was an English Brown Ale extract kit. I thought it was fantastic, but I really hadn’t had any great beer back then. If my current palate tasted it, probably a meh reaction,