Saw a friend today to whom I had recently given a few bottles of my Mucky Pup Oatmeal Stout. He’s a new acquaintance and I hadn’t given him any beer before, so I was keen to hear what he though. I was delighted to hear that he thought it was excellent. What I was not delighted with was the surprise that he clearly felt about it!
This is a common reaction to homebrew and it annoys me. It is usually due to the fact that the person tried a friend’s homebrew once and it was really dodgy. It seems like people have had one go at making beer, or tried someone else attempt, and based on that one experience they’ve decided homebrew is universally crap. Usually it was their first attempt, was from some cheap beer kit, or was done in the unsanitary environment of a student dorm. Of course it was going to be crap! The first time they cooked a meal it was probably crap too. Especially if they used cheap ingredients and minimal equipment. That doesn’t mean all home cooking is bad.
In fact, home-cooked food usually enjoys a higher status that store-bought food. At my work people often bring in cake to leave in the staff kitchen for colleagues to share. There is always much more interest and expectation from a homemade cake than from one bought in the supermarket. Why shouldn’t it be the same with beer? Instead, a homemade beer is viewed with suspicion.
This really annoys me. Its really just a niche of cookery, so why should it be so different? If you go for a meal at a pub or an average cafe or restaurant, the chances are (if you are a reasonably good cook and had the time and ingredients) you could cook an equally good meal at home. You may not be able to cook like they do at a really good restaurant, but could probably do better than the average pub/eatery , and certainly much better than most fast food places. Its the same with beer. A reasonably good brewer (not me obviously, but a reasonably good brewer!) might not be able to brew like the best artisan craft breweries, but he should be able to make beer comparable to output of your average commercial brewery, and certainly much better than the mass produced crap that fill our bars and supermarkets!
I guess the problem with homebrew is consistency. If, like me, you are always experimenting and trying new recipes and techniques, you are always going to get the occasionally batch that’s not quite so great. If we want to change people perceptions of homebrewing, then we need to be careful who we give those ones to! Frustratingly, they are the ones you are most keen to give away!
Anyway, rant over.