How does your homebrew compare to craft beer?

[codyw]

How do you feel your homebrew compares to more common craft beers like sierra nevada, blue moon, magic hat, etc? How about any microbreweries or brew pubs in your area? How much of your love for your brew is because its your baby vs. the actual taste in comparison to a microbrew? Are you working with extract, PM, or AG?

 

[JamesKY]

When I brew with extract, I can definitely tell a difference between it and commercially available craft brews. When I do an AG batch, assuming it's a decent recipe, it's absolutely the same quality that is commercially available.

That said, it is possible that it tastes better because I made it myself, but other people tell me they think it's as good as they can get from a professional so take that for what it's worth.

 

[cubbies]

I am all grain, and it is hit and miss. For the most part, I think my beers are better than I get at craft breweries. The big one here in St Louis is Schlafly's. I had their ESB last weekend at a bar, and the first thing I said after trying it was "mine's better". And I like my pale ales better than their, but that is just because my PA focus on hops and theirs focuses on malts. Their PA is actually very good IMO. Just made differently than mine. I don't particularly like SNPA, or any other beer that just goes crazy with Cascades, so I always think my beers are better than those.

Of course, with all that said, I have made some yuckos too. One of my most recent beers was an attempt at one of Thomas Jeffersons ales, and while drinkable, and with moments of good, it is all around a bad beer.

 

[cglkaptc]

I've only done extract, and I've only drank 2 batchs worth (red ale and irish stout). My beer is good, and my friends think it is good too, but it doesn't compete with Old Pennisula (local Brewery) or Bell's (which is local for me)

 

[RICLARK]

I like my beer better, But However I also think it could be a mindset for me, However The IPA I made does not hold a candle to craft's I have had.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I'd like to think that some of my beers are better than a good number of craft beers that area available.

I'm also honest enough about the beers that I make to acknowledge that I've had some real stinkers and also some that may be good, but are not near the quality of craft brews. That's all part fo the fun in brewing though. If it's not what you want you tweak is and brew it again.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Better, cheaper, done at home, no DUIs...yep pretty much way up there... :rockin:

 

[david_42]

I'd say most of my beers are comparable in quality, be they extract, PM or AG. The best are hard to compare because they are outside of style and not by just over-hopping. My porters are right up there with the best, but my stouts, I can only say they are good.

 

[malkore]

I have had an extract porter that would've fooled anyone into thinking it was a commercial microbrew.

i've also had some bad microbrew that makes any craft beer look amazing.

the more you brew and the more effort you put in, the better the results.

 

[niquejim]

Some are , some are not.
My Fat Owl Pale Ale is as good as most commercial APA's.
My Full Owl ESB is really good.


My attempt at a Westmalle clone was not as good as(not even close) the original.

Some of my experimental brews should not be attempted a second time

 

[jfish63]

I think my honey porter and hefe weizen are as good as any I can buy. But then again I am a tad on the cheap side. spending 8 or 9 dollars a six pack for craft or import makes mine taste better by being more economical.

 

[brewhead]

having thomas creek brewery just 20 minutes from my brewhouse and also our lbhs - i bring beers to the brewmaster to taste. we have an understanding that i'm looking for his most critical critique, what would you change? what would you add?

so far my beers seem to pass muster so i would say that my beers are at least equal craft beer

 

[Bernie Brewer]

When I taste a micro, the first thing I say is either:

1. Eh, I can do better, or

2. This stuff is awesome! I can't come close to this!


I'd say that about half the time I feel like I could do at least as good a job as the the brewery in question.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I cant remember- *cries*

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

It's usually better!

 

[brewt00l]

Generally, as good..if not better.

Course the deck is stacked in my favor since I brew to my tastes and to date, no commercial brewer has asked for my feedback on their recipe and they don't guarantee I am getting it at it's peak flavor

 

[MULE]

I have yet to go all grain. My beers have been pretty good so far. The IPA I have in the secondary is showing great promise to compete with the big dogs. One Caveat: I believe it is going to taste exactly how I like my IPA's. And that's all that matters to me.

 

[njnear76]

I've always been pretty happy with my brews. Some are better than others, but all have been very drinkable. I usually don't compare to craft beer.

That being said I love the All Grain Blond Ale (Jamil's recipe) that I recently brewed. My first All Grain (Knockout Porter) probably needs some more time to mellow, but it is getting better with time.

 

[Evan!]

I can typically best most American micro/craft brews---simply because I can tailor my recipes to fit my tastes, whereas they have to (at least most of the time) appeal to a much larger audience.

I have a harder time recreating or besting Belgian brews, however, since their character is so yeast-centric, and even if I have the Rochefort strain, it doesn't necessarily mean I can recreate their fermentation conditions.

 

[discgolfin]

I think it really can also depend on where u can get the craft brew..for example if I buy a stone or sierra or anchor on the shelves I think my versions or other styles have a fresher and better taste with out a doubt..however if you have anchor on tap in san fran..well that would be a hard one to beat. I think my beers that lean towards hops and aroma are always better because I have the beer at a fresher state..IMO

Jay

 

[dantheman13]

I was just thinking about this the other day. As a new brewer, I have to wonder, just how good can I make beer? I drink some good beers from some pretty outstanding breweries when I get a chance (Pizza Port, Alpine, Stone, Dogfish Head, etc.). How hard will it be for me to make beer that will compare to the greatest craft breweries in the U.S.?

 

[RichC999]

Up front I'll admit I haven't drank a lot of micro brew. I know that was the question but I can say hands down my beers are way better than any macro brews I was drinking. I dream about my beers. At work sometimes all I can think about is getting home and pulling a tall cold one off my keg. No beer ever did this to me before. I am 100% infatuated with my beer. What more can a person ask for? I gave one beer to a co-worker. He's coming over next weekend so we can brew him 5 gals. Nuff said.

 

[statseeker]

I think my IPA can kick the tar out of most commercial brews out there, and that's without a dry hop. I need to work on my stout and my saison though. The pale ale I did last year was a hit in the neighborhood so that seems squared up to me. I think I'm well on my way to evening the score with the bigger guys.

 

[beergolf]

Most of my brews have come out very good. They are as good or better than all but the very best craft brews. Of course I am making brews tailored to my tastes. I have not bought much beer since I started brewing since I am very happy drinking my own.

 

[Tepe]

The Home Brew Club I belong to have won 2X to have a beer brewed at a local Brew Pub. One was brewed at Iron Hill Maple Shade NJ and the other Tun Tavern in Atlantic City NJ.
So in a answer YES our beers can go shoulder to shoulder to craft brewers
http://barleylegal.ning.com/
Tom

 

[coastwx]

Mine are getting better and better as I've gotten 1.5 years into this hobby. Some have been noticeably better than your typical craft brew, some have small imperfections, more so in my bigger beers. My first American wheat was so good and a huge hit at a recent party. A friend that has been drinking a bunch of wheat beers in the last year commented that my wheat had a lot more flavor and intense aroma than any he's had. Other's raved about it's freshness and considering the keg was killed by 6-8 guys in one night, I think they were honest. A new brown ale (first brown ale) that I'm drinking on now is as good or better than any of the local (New Penny, Sweet Josie, Georgia Brown) brown's I've tried. Since I've moved to 10 or 20 gal brewdays in the last 4 months, my pipeline is full and I buy much less commercial beer than in the past, so that really answers the question for my situation.

 

[Pick]

I am really happy and satisfied with my wheat beers, they always turn out great. My recently brewed Pilsen sMasH, finished at 1.018, and it's kind of sweet tasting. Once I get a freed up fermentor, I may pitch some champagne yeast to try and dry it up.

 

[McMalty]

I've my own worst critic.......i always taste my brew and think, yeah it's good, but could i have done better? the solution to this problem is getting other people taste my brew. I make a pretty good brown porter. A beer lover wanted to try mine next to Flying Dog's Road Dog Porter. I wasn't fishing for complements at all, in fact, i was fulling expecting to receive some criticism. But no, he said he'd rather drink my porter than flying dog's and he was 100% serious. You can't put a price on that kind of satisfaction.

 

[likwidbliss]

I got into beer making, not because I thought I could do better than craft beers. I did it to make beer the way I want. I can make any style of beer the way I want. I do enjoy a good craft beer, example Custom Brewcrafters Double Dark Cream Porter. I can make a beer that is nearly as good as that, not the same. I don't try to copy craft beer because I know that I will be disappointed with the results. Instead I make beer I like.

With that said, my beers are enjoyed by friends and family. My wife said to me the other day "You have made me a beer snob! I don't like beer from the store." When we go to the bar she orders an appletini instead.

 

[McMalty]

Normal craft brews.....i think i can go head to head with......but when you get into some of the imperials or specialty brews........its difficult to compete with those (yet)

 

[shanecb]

Overall, I feel like I can more or less hit an average to above average craft level. But comparing anything I make to a "classic" example of the style, and I usually fall short. Really depends, though.

 

[jbsg02]

The ipa I made is as good as any ipa I've had, the only issue was that it was a bit hazy and not as clear as commercial beers

 

[mrk305]

I guess it was brew pubs that pointed me toward this hobby. I was pretty much a BMC drinker until I went to a few. I loved getting a sampler platter of 8 different styles. At the time, they were the best beers I ever had.

That being said, I think the beers I brew now are better than any brew pub I have been to. They brew much lower ABV and IBU to appeal to the masses.

I make pretty darn good beer, but I cannot compare mine to a premium craft brew like Arrogant Bastard or Rogue Dead Guy. Close, but not quite. I really should try more craft brews "for educational purposes", but I have a full pipeline at the house and don't get out much.

 

[zachary80]

My first two batches of homebrew have been garbage compared to the craft beer I buy. I have higher expectations for my third batch which is bottled now, but don't think it will come close to its craft equivalent

 

[brrman]

I only have a couple of my own recipes where I think I have bested the craft equivalent. The rest are so so and fall short. Still, they are good beers, and I enjoy them. They'll get better as I brew them more and tweak the recipe.

 

[Chad]

Most of mine are better than many of the craft beers I've tried. Some of my beers have been failures or at least didn't come out the way I wanted. All part of the learning and experimentation process, I suppose. As has been said before, though, I brew to my taste. I like crisp, clean, moderately hopped session beers rather than the overhopped, over-citrusy, over-amped paint stripping beers that have been the trend among American craft brewers over the last several years. If the pendulum swings the other way and craft brewers start making my kind of beers maybe I'll have new Holy Grail or two to chase.

 

[Tomtanner]

My first brew was an oatmeal stout. For the sake of comparison went and bought 4 pack of samual smith oatmeal stout. The Sam smith certainly was better (and more expensive). The Sam smith I noticed was richer, and slightly darker. That being said my stout is still very young, and it was a heck of a lot more fun to make it than to drive to the store and buy it.

 

[JohnTheBrewist]

I brew only AG. I think all of the beers, that I brew full batches of, would stand up to a craft beer, and in many cases are much better. I do my experimenting on a small scale (1.25 Gallons) so I don't waste a 10 gallon batch on something I may not like as much.

Last weekend I went to a new local brewpub, and got a sampler of their beers. The Blonde and Spiced Ales were undrinkable, The Brown and Scottish ales were good, but I can do better; the rest were really just so-so.

I pretty regularly pick up a sixer of microbrews I haven't tried yet. Many times I'm disappointed in the purchase.

As someone mentioned before, I brew to my taste, so It may taste better just because it has a balance of flavors that I like.

 

[McMalty]

Most of mine are better than many of the craft beers I've tried. Some of my beers have been failures or at least didn't come out the way I wanted. All part of the learning and experimentation process, I suppose. As has been said before, though, I brew to my taste. I like crisp, clean, moderately hopped session beers rather than the overhopped, over-citrusy, over-amped paint stripping beers that have been the trend among American craft brewers over the last several years. If the pendulum swings the other way and craft brewers start making my kind of beers maybe I'll have new Holy Grail or two to chase.

i hear ya about making what you like. when i first started out, EVERYONE drank BMC. but i liked dark beer, so i would always brew porters and stouts and make them as dark as i could. ......needless to say, i was the main consumer of my stash. Which bothered me a little at first. But then i thought....to hell with them.....if their favorite beer is a Carona, they're just not gonna like my beer. So from then on, i vowed to make what i liked and never to try to appeal to everyone else's tastes. As for the pendulum.....i think it's gonna swing towards sours.....i think sours are gonna be the next big thing.....altho, i'll take my porters and stouts over sours any day.

 

[Yooper]

Some of my beers are as good as the best craft beers, especially my "standards" that I"ve been working on for years. Mostly IPAs, APAs, and American ambers, and I have one awesome oatmeal stout. I have a couple of lagers that are as good as a good craft beer. Some other styles- my pilsner, for example is ok but not as good as a well-made Czech Bohemian pilsner that's for sure!

The great part of this hobby is I can take the things I love- the roastiness of Edmund Fitzgerald, for example, but take out the things I don't like a too-strong bittering, and tweak it to exactly what I want.

My husband gives great feedback. He'll say, "I love this beer. But I wish it was redder in color, and not as bitter up front but with more hops nose" and I can go tweak it to exactly what we want.