have YOU brewed an amazing beer?

[BigTuna]

I've brewed only about 15 different all grain batches. I don't think that I have brewed a truly "amazing" beer but I have brewed a few really good ones.

Usually when I brew a good beer I brew it again, and again, and again. This is the case with my pale ale.

Oh yeah and it's derived from Edwort's Haus Pale ale

 

[sputnam]

my "original" recipes are inspired by's as well. But I feel like you try a recipe and decide that you think it would be good or better with chocolate (or whatever) in it and perhaps a different hop would work better too...it's yours at that point. I have made and remade and given variety to Beirmuncher's blond and will always give him credit online but at my house with my variations, it's simply named Blondie.

 

[Zepth]

I'm always uncertain as to how much modding needs to be done to a recipe to claim it as your own. Recipe I followed used Nottingham, but due to a beer inspired failure I pitched S-33 into it. Then the Nottingham went into the parti-gyle. Oopsie.

The thing is: Did I make that exact brew? No.
Would I have come up with the grist and hop schedule alone? No.
At what point does it become my own creation?

 

[sputnam]

all beers have certain guidelines they must follow in order to be considered as X-type beer. Color, flavor profile, ibu's, et al. All of this begins to put a limit on the ingredients that can be used. I.E. - you can not use Crystal 120 in a pale ale, I mean you CAN but it won't officially be a pale ale. So, in general all beers of a particular style will be in the neighborhood of similar. Obviously the ingredients can still vary a great deal; weight, hops, hop addition times, yeast varieties, ferm temp...etc.
Just because you and the burger joint down the road use similar meat, spices, cooking processes, and bread do you not consider that YOUR hamburger when you cook it?
One more thing to consider...a local brewery made a wort, split it in half and used a different yeast in each and named them different names. I'd say it's what you are comfortable with in calling it your own.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

If you make a batch of brownies from a Betty Crocker cook book, whose brownies are they? What if they win Grand Champion at the state fair??


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

 

[Homercidal]

I am a long ways from brewing anything close to amazing on a regular basis. I have a Rye Pale Ale that is on the path to the sewer system via the kitchen sink. The other 5 gallons of it (Split between two yeast strains) got dumped a couple of months ago. I only kept the second keg because I thought I might run out of beer at some point.

Thankfully I have a blonde ale that I hope is much better (but still not "amazing") in secondary, just waiting for me to remember to keg it. I have a BGSA and a RIS that are both potential amazing homebrews. I can't tell yet because I haven't sampled them yet.

 

[Calichusetts]

If you make a batch of brownies from a Betty Crocker cook book, whose brownies are they? What if they win Grand Champion at the state fair??


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

Your brownies...you made them.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I have had one huge success in brewing thus far. Only disappointing part of it is that I used a recipe found online and that it is not my own creation. Being one who believes in giving credit where credit is due, "Orfy's Hobgoblin II."

In my opinion, recipes are only 1/3 of the equation to making great beer. 1/3 brewing great wort and 1/3 yeast preparation / fermenting it right are the other parts.

And who is to say that Orfy's recipe can't be improved?

 

[QuercusMax]

If you use somebody else's recipe to make a fantastic beer, I don't think that takes anything away from your own accomplishment. There are some styles, e.g. German Pilsner, where every recipe is going to be very similar, but making a fantastic example is no small accomplishment.

I currently have a gold-medal-winning beer on tap that I actually don't like all that much, because I'm not really a fan of the style. It's a classic German Rauchbier, my own recipe, first time brewing a smoked lager. It's objectively an excellent beer, and all my friends love it (even my wife likes it!), but I just don't care for it.

What really annoys me is when I have a batch that I love, rebrew it, and to me it's just not as good. Maybe this is the "ugly baby syndrome" in reverse (or maybe rebound?). It's hard for me to tell if I'm just being overcritical with the rebrew, or if I had rose-colored glasses the first time around.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I'm always uncertain as to how much modding needs to be done to a recipe to claim it as your own. Recipe I followed used Nottingham, but due to a beer inspired failure I pitched S-33 into it. Then the Nottingham went into the parti-gyle. Oopsie.

The thing is: Did I make that exact brew? No.
Would I have come up with the grist and hop schedule alone? No.
At what point does it become my own creation?

Who is to say that the guy you copied the recipe from didn't copy the grist and hop schedule from somebody else and also did some of their own tweaking to it? Maybe that one recipe has been tweaked a few dozen times by different brewers. I think it's pretty pointless to worry about who MADE a recipe and who is just COPYING someone else's recipe. We stand on the shoulders of countless brewers that came before us, tried something new, and it worked out.

 

[TheCanisDirus]

What really annoys me is when I have a batch that I love, rebrew it, and to me it's just not as good. Maybe this is the "ugly baby syndrome" in reverse (or maybe rebound?). It's hard for me to tell if I'm just being overcritical with the rebrew, or if I had rose-colored glasses the first time around.

That's the WORST! You'll rebrew a beer you havent done in months and when it's time to drink you'll take a sip and get the... "****, last batch was so much better than this one!". lol i hate what that happens.

 

[QuercusMax]

I suppose one other cause might be that I'm unconsciously comparing to the previous batch at its peak, possibly consumed under particular circumstances (I'm thinking especially of the Oktoberfest I served last year at my Oktoberfest/Birthday party).

 

[Eric_B2B]

I did a coconut coffee porter last year that was good enough that I'll be repeating it every fall from here on out. Got great feedback from the half dozen or so people who sampled it.

It tasted like a mix of Maui Brewing Co. Coconut Porter and Kona Brewing Co. Pipeline Porter...solid coffee taste and just enough toasted coconut to give it a faint coconut scent. Plus toasting the coconut in the oven made the whole house smell amazing.

 

[DSorenson]

Still working on finding that perfect storm of ingredients! I have brewed good beer for sure... to the extent I don't feel the impulse to buy commercial brews. I also have never, knock on wood, produced a bad one. My biggest complaint about my brewing is that I probably play it too safe and don't take many risks. This results in good beer, but it won't stand you on your ear.

 

[jbaysurfer]

you are missing my point. I'm trying to showcase my theory that ALL homebrewers experience a "This is the most awesome beer ever" moment. I am in no way trying to brag. I do not care if Batman AND Chuck Norris say they don't like my beer - by Gosh if I think it's amazing, then it's amazing! (to me).

LMAO...I actually had a beer named Chuck Norris. It's the stuff of legends. Best. Beer. Ever. Brewed. Period.

 

[dhutchings]

I've definitely brewed some crap beer. I've also brewed some half-decent beer. The best compliment I've given myself was "Well, I'm pretty happy with how that one turned out" on an APA made with my own fresh home-grown Chinook hops, a Cinnamon-spiced Oatmeal Porter last Fall and my Aventinus clone that I finished up this Spring.

The best compliment I've received was for a Weissbier I brewed for a friend. He shared a bottle with a friend of his one day who was very surprised to find out it was homebrewed and not commercially-made. It did feel pretty good when I was told that later.

I still would not say that I've brewed an "amazing" beer.

 

[jbaysurfer]

Regarding the side subject:
Great beer is about process. Recipe formulation is the easy part. I always thank and credit those who share recipes with me, but we've done parrallel projects for our brewclub and it's guaranteed we're going to have as many different beers as we have brewers.

 

[m1k3]

Yesterday I pulled out some MiniDiscs of music that I records 10-15 years ago. It was exactly the same as the day I recorded it.

The great (or sad) part of brewing is you will never have that experience. I have brewed a beer that is fantastic one day but 2-3 weeks later it is just average.

Brewing is an art form where you can never rest in your success, even if one beer was amazing.

 

[zeptrey]

No, I don't think I have.

I've made some excellent beers. Some were award winning, some were really great tasting and enjoyed by beer snobs, and many were better than many commercial beers I've had. Many times I've been more than pleased with the results of my brewing, and some of my best beers have earned fancy ribbons and awards.

But "amazing"? No, I don't think I've ever had or made a beer that I would call "amazing".

Wha?!?! You? Come on...I think I've even brewed one of your beers and thought that! I see what OP is saying, but will say taste is objective...and as much as I think my buddies beer is awesome, he hates it. Vice-versa is also true, I'm as tough on my beers as anyone. I am not a good judge of my beers...for sure. Tough to say. Although, Yooper, come on your beers almost always seem to come out great!

 

[chato]

I'd love to brew an amazing beer. At this point, I'd be really happy just to brew a flawless beer. All my beers have some flaw that I can pick out even if others can't...off flavor, over-carbed, under-attenuated, too bitter, too sweet, etc, etc, etc. Some of them are still really tasty, but I tend to focus on the flaws.

 

[zeptrey]

I'd love to brew an amazing beer. At this point, I'd be really happy just to brew a flawless beer. All my beers have some flaw that I can pick out even if others can't...off flavor, over-carbed, under-attenuated, too bitter, too sweet, etc, etc, etc. Some of them are still really tasty, but I tend to focus on the flaws.

You and me both...I like my beers, but others love them. I'm fine with that. I nick pick my brews to death.

 

[Calichusetts]

Coming from someone with 100+ batches. I can say that a handful were really amazing. I mean, commercial level awesomeness. Repeating those recipes has been a different story. I'm a tweaker and always try to improve a recipe. Usually those outstanding ones are never as good the second or third time around

 

[Billy-Klubb]

my beers are so amazing, it can subconsciously make you close threads out of shame. and this is coming from an expert palate. I've had over 7,000 different beers. I'll never give anyone my super-ultra-uber-maxi-duper recipe, but I will post a 4 hour video of my toilet while I chug beers and tell you how great I am.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I'm a tweaker.

this is all that stuck out. admitting to it is the first step.

 

[dangerbrew]

I get critical with the minor aspects of my beers, but for the most part I have my process down to the point that nothing I have brewed in past 4 years has been less than "solid." And I'm happy about this fact. I'm glad to finally be at that point in my brewing where I don't have to worry any more and have my system down with all the kinks worked out.

As far as an 'amazing' beer, I leave that type of assessment to the judges at BJCP competitions.

This past year I got a 45/50 averaged score for my Vanilla Whiskey-Barrel Coffee Breakfast Stout at the Coal Country Brewer's Cup in Accident, MD and got 3rd place in Best of Show. I'll take that as 'amazing' since I've rarely even scored above a 37 in most competitions and it was more than I had hoped for. But yeah, on a personal note, I did enjoy that beer quite a bit, and apparently others did too.

 

[Paradigm]

http://www.boomchugalug.com/downloadables/recipes/whiny_the_youngster_all_grain.pdf

By far my favorite recipe we've ever made. It's such a good IPA, honestly. We drank them waaaaay too fast

Given it to friends and family and the responses are all, across the board, "you made this?" It would do ever better with Pale Ale water, but I haven't gotten into water chemestry yet. I highly recommend it to new all grain brewers. It was our first all grain and was actually very straight forward to make. I'm torn between making it again and trying a new style...

 

[zeptrey]

I get critical with the minor aspects of my beers, but for the most part I have my process down to the point that nothing I have brewed in past 4 years has been less than "solid." And I'm happy about this fact. I'm glad to finally be at that point in my brewing where I don't have to worry any more and have my system down with all the kinks worked out.

As far as an 'amazing' beer, I leave that type of assessment to the judges at BJCP competitions.

This past year I got a 45/50 averaged score for my Vanilla Whiskey-Barrel Coffee Breakfast Stout at the Coal Country Brewer's Cup in Accident, MD and got 3rd place in Best of Show. I'll take that as 'amazing' since I've rarely even scored above a 37 in most competitions and it was more than I had hoped for. But yeah, on a personal note, I did enjoy that beer quite a bit, and apparently others did too.

I go to the masses, judges are fine and good but after tasting beers all day...and beers like a vanilla whiskey barrel coffee breakfast stout your taster gets outta whack. Not saying your beer isn't awesome, but big IPAs, DIPAs, Crazy Stouts all take a toll on the tasters. I often wonder if order didn't play a bigger role in scores than anything else.

 

[catdaddy66]

I have had beers that I drank and was very surprised at how good it was. My first Irish stout was that way, and since I've gone all grain about 2/3rd's have really been beyond my expectation. Amazing? Maybe not but pretty damn good!

I made my first clone (2 Hearted ale) and my brother said he was going all grain because it came out so well!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[b-boy]

my beers are so amazing, it can subconsciously make you close threads out of shame. and this is coming from an expert palate. I've had over 7,000 different beers. I'll never give anyone my super-ultra-uber-maxi-duper recipe, but I will post a 4 hour video of my toilet while I chug beers and tell you how great I am.

Where's the You Tube link?

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Where's the You Tube link?

I tried to post it, but the amazingness crashed YouTube.

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

my beers are so amazing, it can subconsciously make you close threads out of shame. and this is coming from an expert palate. I've had over 7,000 different beers. I'll never give anyone my super-ultra-uber-maxi-duper recipe, but I will post a 4 hour video of my toilet while I chug beers and tell you how great I am.

Well played B-K, well played!!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Ive only been doing this about 18 months. With 36 batches done, I know Ive got way more to learn than what I know. Having said that, Ive made several that myself and others were surprised that I made. Its been encouraging! Watching kegs tap out in 3 evenings has been bittersweet. Especially the aged high ABV ones Lots of room to move forward


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."