When I first began homebrewing, I was puzzled as to why so many hobby brewers attempted to replicate their favorite commercial beers at home. Why on earth would you spend all of that time and effort to create something that you could just pick up at the store? If you like to drink Stone/Arrogant Brewing's Arrogant Bastard, then why not just buy Arrogant Bastard? Why not be creative and create something new?
Well, I’m older and wiser now, and I’ve come to understand that there are some very good reasons to try cloning a commercial product.
- Cloning forces you to improve your sensory skills.
- Cloning offers a chance to learn from the pros.
- Cloning lets you create your own particular interpretations of elusive beers that may or may not enjoy distribution in your area.
Let’s be clear: It’s next to impossible to really, truly clone a commercial beer, even if you have the recipe right under your nose. Differences in equipment, volumes, process, timing, water composition, and other variables mean that the beer you brew at home, while possibly very good, is unlikely to be a carbon copy of the original.