So I just sampled my first ever home brew, a pale ale. Not to toot my own horn but it tastes amazing! In fact, it tastes a lot better to me than a lot of beers that I have had lately of that style. Not sure if it's actually that great or if my pride in my first ever creation is shining through. All of you home brewers, do you feel great pride and enjoyment while drinking your own brew or does it usually end in disappointment as you begin comparing it to other great brews you've had?
Enjoyment, yes. Pride, sometimes. Disappointment, check. I did a Founders Breakfast Stout clone a few months back - I thought it tasted fantastic. Then I tried it side by side with a bottle of Founders and it's a totally different beer - not even close. So I don't drink them side by side anymore and the homebrew version is fantastic in my eyes again.
It's probably as good as you think it is. I find that homebrew is often better than commercial examples.
My first homebrew was a train wreck. I tried to make a BIPA with Stones usual hop profile and ended up ruining Stone brews for myself... FML
i enjoy my homebrew more than most commercial beers. i attribute it to freshness in the case of IPAs and APAs, but definitely mostly pride across the board. it helps when your friends enjoy it too and ask for more!
Some of my homebrews have been every bit as good as commercial examples of the style, others not so much. But there's always the pride thing, especially for the really good ones.
