dr K
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 22/9/05
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What is it about some (and someone flicking through this forum might be tempted to say so many) Homebrewers that gives them the authority to decree that MegaSwill (and I take it by MegaSwill they are referring to the products of the major brewers, here in Australia CUB and L-N) is crap, is garbage, is made by accountants and marketers who have no idea of what beer is, of what hops are ,of quality grain..in short is Swill.
What is it about buying a can of liquid Mars Bars sans chocolat with some tetrahop extract added, diluting to 11 litres or adding more processed sugar in what ever form (maltose, dextrose, sucrose etc) to make up to 18 or 23 litres and tossing in some form of generic yeast that makes this person able to make a fairly strong statement regarding the quality of "Megaswill" cf this persons own "brew"?
Of course Kits do not allow one to fully express ones artistic talents..so lets go all grain..which is the smartest move most will make but whilst it should improve the quality it may bring its own devils.
What is about marginally elevated levels of brewing products such as diacetyl, acetaldehyde, dimethyl sulphide, phenolics, fusels, buckets of esters, spoonfulls of caramel.and thats just the start that makes this "brew" superior to "Megaswill", different certainly but better..come on...
Yes, I enjoy my own brew (thats when I choose not to throw it out) and I enjoy many of my friends brews, but I equally enjoy a cold clean Resch's at the local in good company.
I have tasted a lot of different beers in the last 30 years and a heck of a lot of homebrewed beers in the last 10, over the last 5 I have judged a lot of homebrews and tasted a lot of commercial with judging in mind.
Now, I have tasted some rather dismal Commercial Brews (none by the way fall into this "Megaswill" catergory), but none so many as dismal and worse as the homebrew. I have also tasted some wonderfull homebrews but not so many as the wonderfull commercials I have been privledged enough to sample.
Strange as it may seem, the brewers of the wonderfull homebrew have no problem with the commercial beers, they may chose not to drink VB or Tooheys or whatever but that is choice, I choose to drink Reschs and not VB...got a problem?
There is great joy to be had by making a product with one's own hands, I make pasta, I make cheese, I make gravlox, I extrude my own sausages, I cure meats, I smoke chicken and fish, I make bread both leavened and unleavened, I even bloody make soy cheese from the soy milk I make myself from soy beans...oh I make beer as well, and I am sure that many members of this forum do some, or all, or even more than that..does it follow, therefore, that all those products produced commercially are crap/swill/garbage etc.. I think not (though there is a good case for the vilification of most cheese but that is a different thread and one based on far more substantial reasoning than that given for "Megaswill")
CUB and LN are not running "homebrewers" down, quite the opposite they sell them extract (like the James Squire all the way from Maltexco in NZ..so perhaps in fact, they are).
Making a better product is all about doing the best you can, and nothing about wildly slinging off at the other products..for homebrewing to truly establish itself in Australia the general public need to see us in the best light..and the Luddite like baseless bagging of technically excellent beers (aka Megaswill) just aint gunna do that.
Sorry.....
Between the third note of the octave and the miasma ....lies the truth.....(an interesting turn of phrase)
K
What is it about buying a can of liquid Mars Bars sans chocolat with some tetrahop extract added, diluting to 11 litres or adding more processed sugar in what ever form (maltose, dextrose, sucrose etc) to make up to 18 or 23 litres and tossing in some form of generic yeast that makes this person able to make a fairly strong statement regarding the quality of "Megaswill" cf this persons own "brew"?
Of course Kits do not allow one to fully express ones artistic talents..so lets go all grain..which is the smartest move most will make but whilst it should improve the quality it may bring its own devils.
What is about marginally elevated levels of brewing products such as diacetyl, acetaldehyde, dimethyl sulphide, phenolics, fusels, buckets of esters, spoonfulls of caramel.and thats just the start that makes this "brew" superior to "Megaswill", different certainly but better..come on...
Yes, I enjoy my own brew (thats when I choose not to throw it out) and I enjoy many of my friends brews, but I equally enjoy a cold clean Resch's at the local in good company.
I have tasted a lot of different beers in the last 30 years and a heck of a lot of homebrewed beers in the last 10, over the last 5 I have judged a lot of homebrews and tasted a lot of commercial with judging in mind.
Now, I have tasted some rather dismal Commercial Brews (none by the way fall into this "Megaswill" catergory), but none so many as dismal and worse as the homebrew. I have also tasted some wonderfull homebrews but not so many as the wonderfull commercials I have been privledged enough to sample.
Strange as it may seem, the brewers of the wonderfull homebrew have no problem with the commercial beers, they may chose not to drink VB or Tooheys or whatever but that is choice, I choose to drink Reschs and not VB...got a problem?
There is great joy to be had by making a product with one's own hands, I make pasta, I make cheese, I make gravlox, I extrude my own sausages, I cure meats, I smoke chicken and fish, I make bread both leavened and unleavened, I even bloody make soy cheese from the soy milk I make myself from soy beans...oh I make beer as well, and I am sure that many members of this forum do some, or all, or even more than that..does it follow, therefore, that all those products produced commercially are crap/swill/garbage etc.. I think not (though there is a good case for the vilification of most cheese but that is a different thread and one based on far more substantial reasoning than that given for "Megaswill")
CUB and LN are not running "homebrewers" down, quite the opposite they sell them extract (like the James Squire all the way from Maltexco in NZ..so perhaps in fact, they are).
Making a better product is all about doing the best you can, and nothing about wildly slinging off at the other products..for homebrewing to truly establish itself in Australia the general public need to see us in the best light..and the Luddite like baseless bagging of technically excellent beers (aka Megaswill) just aint gunna do that.
Sorry.....
Between the third note of the octave and the miasma ....lies the truth.....(an interesting turn of phrase)
K