[dkfick]

I pretty much never drink homebrew at home.  No clue why... I guess I enjoy tasting a variety of beers too much.  I mean I brew at least 2-3 times per month... I usually just bring lots of beer to homebrew club meetings and enter alot of competitions...  When I bring beer/mead to share... that's usually the first time I had any since kegging lol.

[geek_chaser]

i prefer my homebrew, but i like trying new beers and getting an idea of what i want to brew next. or if i have a recipe in mind, i like to hunt down a similar beer and try it before i buy anything for it.

[erockrph]

i prefer my homebrew, but i like trying new beers and getting an idea of what i want to brew next. or if i have a recipe in mind, i like to hunt down a similar beer and try it before i buy anything for it.

+1

I go through phases where I get into a style (or group of styles - British ales, malty German lagers, etc.), then I end up hunting down every commercial example I can find at my mix-a-six shops. At that point, I kind of know what I like and don't like in that style and I start working on homebrew recipes.

So I'd say I drink anywhere from 2 to 4 homebrews for every commercial beer. I end up trying 6-12 beers of a style, then brewing a case of my own. It varies a bit depending on style and season. I rarely buy commercial IPA's, since mine are so much fresher (and hoppier). And there are some commercial brews (Fullers ESB, Paulaner Ofest, Bigfoot, Gueuze Girardin) that I will always buy at least once or twice a year, even if I have a homebrew recipe that I like in the style.

[reverseapachemaster]

The majority of my drinking is homebrew but somehow I always seem to have way too much homebrew on hand.

[blatz]

along the same lines.  I drink probably 80-90% of my own beer, which i vastly prefer.  I do, however, go to my local brewery for happy hour most fridays after work.

most times i am disappointed by what I buy, because i inherrently like the way i produce that particular style better.   the cigar city you pictured is a good example - I know everyone is gaga over them, but they all too often let me down.  I guarantee you, if you hone your craft, you can make a better IPA than Jai alai. 

there are also a lot of breweries coming out now that make mediocre beer - beers that i will try to give them a chance, but won't be buying a second time. 

i do tend to buy a few things every year - at least one 12 pack of Celebration and a six pack of Bigfoot (I guess 4 pack now) because of nostalgia/tradition for me, and I have much admiration for SN.  Everything else is either 1 off stuff that i have a taste for but don't have on tap now, research, or simply i dont' want to make 10 gallons of that style.

[AmandaK]

We usually drink only homebrew, but we make exceptions for limited release beers or things I want to drink, but not have 5 gallons of.

Lately, we've had a pretty constant supply of free commercial beer and other club member's beers, so drinking our own has been put on hold for a bit so we can clear out the fridge.

[Pinski]

I got to where I rarely drank commercial beers and almost always found I preferred my beers to most of what I could buy in the store. I still very rarely buy beer unless I'm at a pub. I have 4 taps in my pub room that are always pouring my beer.

There are still some sublime styles I must have - Orval, for instance. And I am always looking for beers I have not tried before. But 95% of the time I drink beers I have made.

Once you get the hang of the craft you will find it pretty easy to dial in recipes. Sure, there will be some drift here and there but you should be able to get dialed in where your beer is as good or better than what you can buy in the store. For me the key is freshness. You simply can't buy beer fresher than you can make yourself.

So true, especially with imports. Those are a crapshoot.

[udubdawg]

>90% homebrew for me.
making 4-5x as much as I drink is ridiculous enough.  if I bought much more commercial beer I might as well stop brewing.
 
side note:  picked up some Tocobago on Dec 26th that had been canned Dec 24th.  Great, great hoppy amber!

[AmandaK]

>90% homebrew for me.
making 4-5x as much as I drink is ridiculous enough.  if I bought much more commercial beer I might as well stop brewing.
 
side note:  picked up some Tocobago on Dec 26th that had been canned Dec 24th.  Great, great hoppy amber!

We need to start having "outsourcing parties" where we have people over just to drink our beer so we can make more beer.

[blatz]

We need to start having "outsourcing parties" where we have people over just to drink our beer so we can make more beer.

or you can let friends take growlers home.  although that can sometimes create other supply/demand problems...

[thetooth]

I pretty much only drink homebrew, except for the following:
- I'm out at a bar or restaurant.
- I'm looking for examples of a style I am about to brew, or have brewed and want to compare to.
- Something unique is available.
- Sour beers.

So, all in all, I probably drink about 90% homebrew.

[jaftak22]

Until recently I was drinking much more store bought beer. Now I have 5 different styles that are ready to go at any time. So my commercial beer intake is down. Like many of you there are awesome breweries here in Colorado Springs so its hard no to enjoy local beer. That and its awesome to taste their beer and be like " damn that's horrible ". I can make one 10 times better than that

[ranchovillabrew]

I would say I am close to 50/50 on homebrew vs commercial.  Between meals out,  New releases from firestone,  ballast point and Sierra Nevada.  And trying beers for style comparison I end up drinking a lot of commercial beer.

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[thebigbaker]

I've got some great breweries just within a short 10 minute drive of my house (Dry Dock and Copper Kettle) and a new one just opened up about 5 minutes away (Two22).  I try to support those local breweries, which is easy because they are constantly putting out some great beers and the people that work there are great.  So I would say that I'm probably at 50/50 give or take a few points.

[beersk]

I have found myself brewing less American,  British,  and Scottish styles,  since I can drink fresh craft brewed ales at almost every pub and taproom  I brew and drink lots of lagers and Belgians, as where I live, finding good versions of those on tap is difficult.

I don't ever see myself ever drinking only home brew, as I like going to bars too much. I do find myself going less and less to the fine beer store, though, and very rarely ever get a growler filled.

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Same here. Lately, I've noticed when I got out, there's almost nothing on tap that I want. Hard to imagine a place not having a good oatmeal stout, hefeweizen, schwarzbier, helles, pilsner, pale ale, vienna lager, dunkel, or a porter, is it? Well, it is. Anything we have is either an IPA, Belgian, or commercial lager. But the only place I really go out any more in a nice little pub & restaurant that has Weihenstephaner hefe and Fuller's London Porter. All anyone wants anymore is IPAs and imperial stouts.
I drink mostly homebrew, but buy some here and there, and go out once a week maybe for a few. But most of my drinking is homebrew at home.