commercial vs homebrew

[dad_of_jon]

Hi all,

Is it just me or are you finding as you brew that many of the commercials you would have drunk in the past, you can't now bear to as you prefer your own beer more? :thumb:

I'm finding less and less on the supermarket shelves that I like. :shock:

I'm worried that the muntons oaked ale I just bottled will finish off my fondness for hobgoblin for instance. I had another oakham's citra but prefer my galaxy hop2 (citra & galaxy). The ingredients cost me around 95p a bottle but I paid £1.99 for oakham's citra. so it's cheaper AND tastier.

Heavens help me if I get the hang of brewdog's beers, I'll have no excuse to visit brewdog in Cardiff then!
:drink:

 

[clibit]

Yeah I totally agree. Hardly ever buy bottles now. 95p a bottle is a lot for Homebrew. Mines more like 30p, AG obviously

 

[CreweBrewer]

I'm not quite there yet due to a local beer shop that has the most thorough choice of craft ales. Although the couple of Bulldog kits that I've got conditioning and my first extract now done could change that. A few sneaky samples of the Bulldog show promising signs. Getting a few bits together to start simple single malt, single hop AG brews so I'll see how it all goes.

It's still nice to go out for a pint or two still.

 

[LarryF]

Lidl £1.24 for a brewed ale, Tesco £1.25 for a brewed ale (in the buy 6 boxes). Tonight I am drinking my own prison hooch and Coopers English bitter and it's taken me an age to type this as my fingers have obviously drank a lot more than I have.

 

[568ml]

I have just started to brew from kits and my cost is about 68p per bottle. Thus will go down the more I brew and find great offers.

I was very surprised how good I could make a beer in a pot at home. So it will be hard to go shopping for beer, even if I live in an area with 20+ breweries.

And if I manage to clone a few of my favourite ale this next year it will become even harder.

Though I gotta try some commercial brewed beers for inspiration.

 

[rodabod]

Things may change further down the line, but I can't beat the best of the craft brewers. Don't care more most bigger commercial brewers apart from some lagers. My local (Brodie's Brewery / King William 4th) has their ales on tap, so I had their 6% Leytonstone Stout last night for £2.60 a pint which I think is great.

I find most supermarket ale to be ****. Waitrose has a couple from Thornbridge, but that's about it for me.

 

[clibit]

Yes I still go down the pub and drink some great beer. I'm lucky, I live within walking/staggering distance of Chorlton in Manchester, which has about 25 real ale bars within a square mile. Beers from micros all over the country in bars that take it all very seriously and take a lot of care of the beers in some cases at least. More and more craft beer from kegs available, as an alternative to all the cask. Too much choice. I don't often have a pint that is clearly better than my own beers though. But the variety is good, it all helps the research!

 

[CreweBrewer]

My sister used to live in Chorlton. Lovely place.

 

[rodabod]

I was up at the Marble bar (taproom?) recently. Great stuff.

 

[MyQul]

I'm coming to the last couple of bottles of a guinness clone I made - made to my particular taste, dry as the saraha. I mashed at 64C and used notty (a clean high attenuating yeast).

Last night I had a pint of guinness in the pub, the first for a long time.
*whispers* - I can honestly say mine is far superior

 

[Cwrw666]

Hi all,

Is it just me or are you finding as you brew that many of the commercials you would have drunk in the past, you can't now bear to as you prefer your own beer more? :thumb:

Basically I have to agree. The only exceptions really are beers from proper craft brewers - lets face it, most craft brewers are homebrewers who really know their stuff, enough so that they want to do it full time.:lol:
After last summers holidays I took my youngest daughter back to her digs in Bristol and we went out for a drink - all we could find in her area was a real dive with draught bass. It was like drinking p**s - so bad we left after one pint. Give me homebrew anyday, and I include 1 can kits in that as well.

 

[rodabod]

The only exceptions really are beers from proper craft brewers - lets face it, most craft brewers are homebrewers who really know their stuff, enough so that they want to do it full time.:lol:

^ This.

It was a guy who worked for the same company that I do who started Weird Beard. He got made redundant, liked brewing, and kicked off this amazing company. Tried their Something Something Darkside the other day and was blown away.

 

[clibit]

When I've had weird beard ales they have been fantastic. Sadly not enough up in Manchester.