Am I Wrong

[phantom]

Am i wrong to try and educate my 5 year old son about beer.
I recently asked him to try a weizen at bottling and was amazed at the level of his palate to detect hop characteristics ie( citrusy characteristics) described by him as orangey.I was totally focussing on malty bubble gummy flavours, but he picked up the hops and finish much better than me.

He has now volunteered to be my tasting assistant on all beers that i drink.
No doubt a childs palate is untainted and more sensitive to flavas than an adult.
Is it wrong to initiate one so young to the complexities of beer,or am i doing him a favour by exposing him to different styles of beer so early.

 

[kwinchee]

yer i think its ok but just make sure he dosent turn out an alcoholic

 

[Trough Lolly]

[snip]...Is it wrong to initiate one so young to the complexities of beer,or am i doing him a favour by exposing him to different styles of beer so early.

What does the missus think, Phantom?

I'd rather not get caught up in the pros and cons of this issue, as it's a rather personal thing - and I'm well aware of the parenting aspects of this one, with two young boys in my family (who haven't had a taste yet!).

Strictly speaking, it's probably illegal to be giving him beer (supplying alcohol to a minor, etc), but you're his Dad so you need to consider the downstream effect of introducing him to your beer, or anything else for that matter...Do you smoke? :blink: h34r:

IMHO, you should choose wisely mate - without knowing it, he's depending on you to make the right decision.

[\end sermon!]

Cheers,
TL

 

[spog]

phantom,in response to your post i say no you are not wrong,each of my 3 kids ( turds 1,2,and3 ) have all at some stage been allowed to have a sip of dads beer.it to me all boils down to responsibility,guidence,disipline etc,etc if you give a stuff, so will your kids.

 

[morry]

My dad used to let me try some of his beers when I was younger. I think someone who can appreciate alcohol is less likely to abuse later on, because its always been there. Most of the kids I grew up with who used to binge drink all the time had only been introduced to grog by their mates.
My 2c.

 

[Black Dog Brewery]

Hi There,

For what its worth, Im with Trough Lolly 100%

Cheers BDB

 

[SJW]

My 2 year old girl loves it. Stout is her first pref. then any of the German styles. Not big on Pilseners though. Its a bit sad when u have to split a beer with your 2 year old. And my 5 year old boy hates the stuff. Go figure?

 

[Backlane Brewery]

My 5 year old daughter is hugely interested, always wants a sip. She can spot the difference between my brews and store bought stuff by the labels (or lack thereof) and prefers lighter lager or draught to darker beer.
Think she is intrigued by the whole idea of brewing, especially cider, or "apple beer" as she calls it. She also likes coffee. :unsure:
My 7 year old son, on the other hand, has helped me capping once, and has never asked for a taste of anything- extract, beer or cider.
A few months back, when we were stockpiling empties, I couldn't walk down the street without them singing out everytime they spotted a cracked mould filled empty longneck in the gutter. Got a bit embarrassing at times- "Look, Daddy, a beer bottle! You like it !Get it!", while trying to pull me over to inspect the booty.
Their mother (my ex) gets predictably furious about Becky tasting beer...

 

[sluggerdog]

I think it is ok if you are teaching your son about beer.. I'm sure a lot of us got to sip dad's beer while young and look where we are now

Probably up to each dad/parent case by case...

Countires all around the world have different age limits (if any) for drinking...

 

[Backlane Brewery]

Of course, if you really wanted to get your kids into brewing, you could buy them a cuddly toy of a yeast microbe, from these guys:

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/exotics/beerandbread.html

just a thought.