My club started in 2003-2004 timeframe, and I was a member from day one. My club was just like you describe for a few years. Then... it got better. We learned a lot from each other. Most of us had only been brewing a couple years; the hobby was relatively young yet, and the internet barely had a presence yet beyond rec.crafts.brewing etc. Most of those original club members from 20 years ago are no longer with the club, most of them left years ago, maybe because their beer sucked, or maybe because life got too busy, they lost interest, whatever else. BUT... several of those original members (including me) ARE STILL homebrewing today... AND our beer is MUCH better, even excellent. And that's because all of those factors like improvements in online knowledge, as well as from having technical discussions at club meetings and events, brewing together at people's houses, with stronger club members not being afraid to tell it like it is but tell a person when there's something wrong with the brew and offering advice on how it might improve. That's the key... how not to sound like a dick but to be able to offer great suggestions to someone on how they might improve their process. And that requires some boldness on the judger and some thicker skin by the recipient. My club today is made up of tougher skinned nerds who are pretty much all on a constant quest to improve their beer. Anyone who couldn't handle criticism left a while ago. This is both good and bad... but mostly good, IMO. The trick is to try not to sound like a dick when providing feedback. One idea for how we'd done this in my club is to have a ton (probably 3 or 4 per year at leaast) of BLIND competitions where we judged each other's beers briefly, took a few notes on a small slip of paper on what was both good and bad about it, then turned over all those sheets to the brewer upon completion. Or we've also done several where we judge them Best of Show style where we are still blind but audible, where the bad beers are eliminated immediately for good reasons and we usually quickly reach consensus, narrowing down to which beers are the best and why, without knowing exactly whose is whose (asking also that if you KNOW which beer is yours... try not to be selling it too hard, jeez!). It is in these same ways also, tasting blind, that I have even been able to give MYSELF OBJECTIVE feedback on MY OWN BEER! THAT is cool. I love when I have nasty comments about my own beer, it really can open up your eyes to your own biases.
So anyway. Sounds like your club is full of noobs, or maybe stubborn old guys who don't give a crap about quality but just enjoy a good buzz, or some of both. Or they just never bothered to learn anything from each other, but would rather just socialize, maybe get wasted, whatever. There is a little merit in that approach, but... look into blind tastings, if they haven't already, and/or the manner in which those blind tastings are conducted. That might help a bit. And encourage everyone to read up on the best sources in books and online, that's helped me immensely... reading a lot. And tasting a lot. Encourage people who are interested to become certified BJCP judges. That I think also is the point at which our club started turning around. Three of us went to BJCP class, myself included... and things haven't been the same since. It can be eye opening.
Topic: deeply disappointed in homebrew club beers (Read 768 times)
