Looking for that WOW factor - am I falling out of love with beer?

[Arcs]

I don't think so but that's OK. Even if I did I would keep buying beer. A Michelin starred chef will still eat in other restaurants.

I would probably agree with that. The best of show winner at the INHC competition a few years back was an extract brew.

Ok, not dissing you ole buddy ole buddy ole pal. So why is it that you guys big up AG so much to the point of subservience the altar of AG?? Not that I am not going to try it. But I don't want to make a sport of it ie collecting scores on efficiency etc. For me, I just wanna drink the beers my dad did while he was alive during the seventies and can say yea or nay on whether (again opinionated) they were actually any good. It will take a few years and possibly in the mean time, I may make a recipe of my own too =)

 

[strange-steve]

So why is it that you guys big up AG so much to the point of subservience the altar of AG??

I don't think I have done that, at least not knowingly. AG is a big step up in quality from kits but not necessarily from extract. One of the biggest advantages AG has over extract, for me anyway, is that it's much cheaper.

It's probably been suggested already, but how about trying some beers/styles you've never had before? Have you had a brett beer before? What about a sour (I mean a proper sour, not the kettle soured **** you get in Tesco)? Maybe a couple of quads? Get on Belgian Beer Company and order yourself some Orval, Oud Beersel Gueuze (or 3 Fonteinen if you're feeling flush), Rochefort 8 & 10, St Bernardus Abt. Something there should reignite your love for beer.

If all I'd ever drank was homebrew, supermarket beers, pints down the local then I too would probably have lost interest long ago.

 

[Arcs]

But I guess that WOW factor is purely subjective and anecdotal. I am still looking =)

 

[strange-steve]

But I guess that WOW factor is purely subjective and anecdotal. I am still looking =)

Of course, but if you can't find it in the usual places why not try somewhere unusual?

 

[Rodcx500z]

Hi Arc's, i know were your coming from i get sick of drinking from time to time, i had a spell in the summer were i didn't brew for 2 months i just sat looking at 50 odd kg of grain hops and yeast, now i flirt between biab and kits and the odd biab stove top, hang in there mate it will come back

 

[Arcs]

I don't think I have done that, at least not knowingly. AG is a big step up in quality from kits but not necessarily from extract. One of the biggest advantages AG has over extract, for me anyway, is that it's much cheaper.

It's probably been suggested already, but how about trying some beers/styles you've never had before? Have you had a brett beer before? What about a sour (I mean a proper sour, not the kettle soured **** you get in Tesco)? Maybe a couple of quads? Get on Belgian Beer Company and order yourself some Orval, Oud Beersel Gueuze (or 3 Fonteinen if you're feeling flush), Rochefort 8 & 10, St Bernardus Abt. Something there should reignite your love for beer.

If all I'd ever drank was homebrew, supermarket beers, pints down the local then I too would probably have lost interest long ago.

I think I will take a visit to the ship and mitre instead =)

 

[strange-steve]

 

[samale]

I think the secret is variety. When I started brewing I used to finish one type of beer just as the next batch was ready to drink.
So I would spend just say 4 weeks drinking the same type of beer. This can get boring. Fast forward to today, I can go out to the garage and select from maybe ten different homebrew beers.
Very rarely now will I sit and drink the one style of beer for the duration of the night.
As for commercial Vs own brew. I will side with Steve, I enjoy cooking at home but that doesn't stop me buying take aways or visiting restaurant's.

 

[Richard_H]

Variety is critical for me and almost as important is being experimental. It would be more cost effective to buy 1 big sack of MO, some English hops and a few packets of Nottingham yeast that will be reused for several brews but that would see me with an endless supply of a similar type of ale.

Would rather spend a little more money and money and have a variety of base malts with some kilned and cara malts for good measure, a few completely different types of yeast and a variety of hops. Just brewed a dunkel weiss, have a Belgian abbey beer in the secondary and have a healthy selection of kolsch, strong English ale and a ruby Belgian abbey to choose from previous brews.

Half the fun is finding out what different hops, yeast and grains taste like

 

[Duxuk]

A big advantage of AG is that it's cheaper. You have more control over sweetness since you didn't mash the malt for extract so don't know what it will be like 'til you've made a brew. AG won't make your beer better, your methods will do that.

 

[Arcs]

A big advantage of AG is that it's cheaper. You have more control over sweetness since you didn't mash the malt for extract so don't know what it will be like 'til you've made a brew. AG won't make your beer better, your methods will do that.

True but more variety and recipes at my disposal also