What to expect from the meets

Each meet has a similar format: folks bring their homebrew along and we taste it over a few hours. Don’t worry if you don’t have any to bring, there’s usually enough to go around.

We try to order the beers in order of light to darker and stronger. This usually means we start with lighter lagers and pale ales, then move to porters and stouts. Often we’ll taste some oddities like sours in the middle.

Feedback

We encourage feedback to other members of the group at the meets. However, there is an art to giving and receiving feedback that keeps things constructive and positive to attendees of the group. If you don’t wish to receive feedback from other members, I encourage you to think again, and if it’s really not what you’re looking for, just mention that before you present your beer.

Receiving

As a brewer, you’ve often spent an inordinate amount of time brewing your beer. You’re also in a public forum, waiting for the feedback of your peers. Both of these factors can make critique hard to hear, especially when it’s not done in the right way. Please don’t be upset if your beer isn’t unanimously praised by all members of the group. It’s more common for homebrewed beer or other alcoholic beverages to have some flaws than not. With these flaws, if we can identify what they are, we can offer you feedback to up your brewing game. Often this might be an off-flavour, such as diacetyl (butter/popcorn) or acetaldehyde (green apple). These aren’t always super clear when you’re starting out. If you can learn how to identify them, you can learn why they occur, and improve your brewing.

TLDR; if you want your beer to be praised, offer some to family and friends, if you want some helpful and constructive feedback, bring it to a homebrew group.

Giving

It’s a fine line between critiquing a beer, and being dismissive of the effort the brewer has put into the beer. I’m sure I’ve fallen into this trap before as well!

All members should be encouraged to give feedback at the group, however if you wish to do so, I’d suggest a couple of pointers:

• Start your feedback with some positive points.
• Try to find out what the brewer was trying to achieve
• Ask whether the brewer would change the recipe, or improve it going forward.
• If you don’t like a beer, but can’t identify any particular flaws or offer any constructive feedback, just say that it’s not to your personal taste.
• If you can pick up flaws, try to identify and offer points of improvement. This can often be a matter of identifying what kit, process, ingredients the brewer has used to understand what might have caused the off flavour.

TLDR; feel free to offer constructive feedback, but don’t be a dick about it.