What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[MrC]

Wow, I wasn't expecting this many comments re. a bottle of Coopers Sparkling Ale. Bambule seems to have infected us all. I haven't opened mine yet. I ate too much curry last night and thought that 750ml of gassy liquid would be too much.

Mine's "Best After Jul 09" so I'm assuming it's at it's best right now! I guess "Best" is a relative term though. We'll see...

I've brewed my share of Coopers kits over the years too. Most were rubbish but I point my finger at the K&K technique rather that the quality of the kit. I was quite partial to the Coopers Old Dark with a kilo of dextrose for a while there. Seems comical now. I even purchased some mysterious dark grain from Great Expectations when they were on Hutt Road to add to a kit of Coopers Old Dark. The lady in the shop crushed the grain and told me boil it for 15min in 2 cups of water then strain it into the fermenter before adding the kit & kilo. I stopped brewing for 5 years after that batch :(

[JoKing]

I stopped brewing for 5 years after that batch :(

It's so typical. You'd think they'd do a bit of homework and learn about what they are selling before they start dishing out bad advise. It is experiences like this that put SOOOOO many people of home brew. And then the customers blame the "homebrew" instead of the idiots who are supposed to be the professionals! Then the customers dish it out to their friends because they can't palate the shit themselves and put everyone else off homebrew!

Oh well... at least we know our homebrew is good.

[MrC]

I think for many people the term "homebrew" is a derogatory term. When I give people my beer for the first time I don't call it homebrew, I simply refer to it as "my beer". Homebrew seems to be synonymous with the words Danger, Warning, Achtung or just Shit Beer! I'm slowly educating people though.

[JoKing]

I love calling it homebrew and then seeing the look on peoples faces when I finally talk them into trying it!

[Pilgrim]

Everyone's got a tale or two of their favourite uncle who used to make 'Home Brew' 20 or 30 years ago, and how foul and potent it was. Fortunately home brew has come a long way since then, but memories linger on and a lot of people are retiscent to try it if you call it home brew today. A friend of my son's who is part owner of a local bar, tried my APA and described it as "Stunning". He couldn't believe that it was home brew.

[Barry]

"Fortunately home brew has come a long way since then"
Beer has come a long way. Look at the modern interpretations (the American ales et al). The fact that there is such a thing now as "craft beer" and the modern resurgence of real ale thanks to CAMRA means that people are open to something other than mainstream lager. I reckon it's that which is changing peoples perceptions rather than the 100 or so quality homebrewers in this country.

In a conversation the other night a mate introduced me to someone as a homebrewer but then qualified it by saying that I brew from scratch. The other guy said "oh! so you grind the hops and everything". Grind the hops? People have no idea how beer is made or what the individual constituents look, taste or smell like. Or how you use them and in what quantities. The difference is now they are willing to take an interest rather than be completely bored with the making of.

We've come off a couple of decades of quick dirty fake stuff - fast food, cardboard cask wine, mass produced lager. The turnaround probably started 15 years ago but now even more than ever people are starting to value quality. It's the one differentiator you can't fake - it's more expensive, it takes more time, but in the end it's just undeniably better.

[Tony]

Nice rant Baz. ;)

[MrC]

Just thought I'd provide an update on my Cooper's Sparkling Ale experience.

I had mixed emotions on it. It definitely reminded me of the Cooper's kits that I've brewed in the past and although that sounds like a bad thing, it does make the kits look quite good considering they're Cooper's kits. It was definitely drinkable and far from being a drain pour but I won't be rushing out to buy more and it didn't inspire me to harvest the yeast and brew an Aussie Pale Ale.

Glad I had it, it was an itch that needed scratching.

[jt]

It definitely reminded me of the Cooper's kits that I've brewed in the past

Glad I had it, it was an itch that needed scratching

My sentiments exactly Mr C, I'd been thinking of Coopers for quite awhile

[Stu McKinlay]

Mac's Amber Ale... If this is an ironic seasonal release to "celebrate" closing down of the Wellington brewery, and the fact that they are no longer going to use hops, then it is quite amusing. Otherwise it is sort of best described as "Mac's Draught". Thoroughly disappointing. I struggled through a glass hoping to find something redeeming in it... no luck.

[jt]

I almost read iconic
Thanks for the heads up Stu, another beer to avoid

[Greig McGill]

Yes well. The last one was shite also. Mac's with a twist my arse. And this is the same brewery which gives us Brewjolais? Stop with the "hip" marketing and BREW BETTER BEER!