Mr. Beer Premium Gold Edition Home Brew Kit

After years of wanting to get into home brewing, I came across the "Mr. Beer Premium Gold Edition Home Brew Kit" on sale at amazon. After reading a few reviews, I decided to take the plunge. This particular kit comes with two styles of beer: Cowboy Lager and Blonde Ale. The kit is incredibly straight forward and easy to use. They essentially replace the more laborious parts of brewing with a can of HME (Hopped Malt Extract) which is a condensed form of wort. Although the brewing process is extremely simple and quick, it allows for a great deal of experimentation. The basic beers (American Series) have a low alcohol volume (3.7%) and all fall in the lager/light ale category. But their deluxe brews allow for both higher alcohol volume (4.6%) and a wide range of styles (ales, stouts, porters, fruit beers, white beers). Finally, it is fun and easy to experiment using your own add-ins as the instruction booklet tells you exactly how extra adjuncts affect the abv level. For instance, I made the Witty Monk Witbier (4.6%) and added a half cup of honey (0.9%) to create Pine Creek Witbier (5.5%). I can't wait to try this one!

The variety and potential for creativity on the Mr. Beer website is huge. They have a large selection of regular and premium refills in all the styles imaginable. They also offer seasonal refills that typically sit at 6.5% (Belgian Dubbel, German Hefeweizen, English Strong Ale, Imperial Pilsner)and they even offer a recipe book where they combine different HMEs with UMEs and other adjuncts to create some very interesting brews (they have over 60 recipes right now). Using the same set-up, you can even by cider refills in a variety of flavours and old-fashioned root beer! As I mentioned earlier, this kit really satisfies the beer connoisseur because of the immensity of flavours it can accommodate. The "ingredients" section allows you to buy single cans of HME/UME in whatever combination you want. They also sell hop pellets and yeast strains in a variety of flavours and styles. All this allows you to get closer to the "true" brewing experience as you gain comfortability with the system.

Another reason I love this kit is its size. The brew keg holds about 8L of beer (equivalent to 20-24 standard beers)and is small enough to fit in an apartment closet. You don't need to have an elaborate set-up or an entire room devoted to brewing. I actually like that it only makes a case of beer at a time. If you don't like a particular beer, you don't have to slog through 5-8 cases before you can brew another one. I bought two set of bottles, so I generally have a rotation of two different beers in the fridge at any given time. The beer itself is very good thus far (I have only tried the Cowboy Lager) with a high level of carbonation leading to a nice, lasting head. With the lager, I found that it was really two beers in one bottle. The top half was a lager with nice clarity and head. The bottom half was cloudy in appearance with a diminished head. Swirling does little to counteract this effect. Overall, I'd say the beer is on par with an MGD in terms of taste and appearance.

As for the price, you are generally looking at $20-$25 for nearly a case of beer, which puts it on par with lower end beers at the beer store. (Carling, Lucky Lager, Bohemian, etc.)I would say the quality of the beer, even the basic recipes, surpasses those beers. Plus, you get the thrill of making it yourself! All in all, I'd say it is a very good deal. Amazon has a few of the deluxe styles and recipes and they offer free shipping. The Mr. Beer website has far more product but the shipping to Canada can be a killer.

In the end, if you are looking to get into the home brewing hobby and/or you don't have much space or money, this is an excellent way to start. It is simple for beginners and the variety of beer styles allows you to grow with the kit as you learn. If you are creative with your taste in beer then you will love the Mr. Beer Home Brewing Kit.

Phenomenal product.
Beer turns out each and every time, perfectly. Keg brews a 24 at a time, which is perfect; both on space, or those with low will power.
Ive made

Black Tower Porter,
Witty monk,
Bewitched Red Ale,
West Coast Pale Ale,
English Nut Brown Ale
Pilothouse pilsner(which wasnt a normal pilsner by any means >.<)
MR Beer Hard Cider (not a beer but it brews in this kit good)

Of all those, the witty monk was was below average and the pilothouse was gross.
My favorites are english nut brown and west coast pale ale.

the refill kits are $15 (basic) and $20(premium)
basic kits come with a single can that makes the whole keg with a "booster" pack that is various sugar types that
give the beer a bit of head and flavor. This is not new as top shelf kits do the same thing "brew a can of coopers!, what do you think the 'enhancers' are"
These kits are comparable to the cheaper beers at the store, but remember that they will still turn out fantastic "one of my favorites is a basic kit"
the premium kits come as 2 cans of extract, giving you a slightly better mouth feel, a only slightly higher ABV%
comparable to middle row beer in the store. "only all grain will get you top shelf stuff, but that isnt for someone who hasnt done a few extracts, my 2c"
You will NEVER be disappointed with the beer from this kit, dont let the beer snobs scare you off.
I gave mr beer to a beer snob, he loved it! "He knew it was Mr beer too, the bottles are obvious rofl".
Stating "Id pay $10 for a bottle of this - its very good stuff" - It was the nut brown ale.

In no way will a mr beer beer turn out bad if you do as it tells you.
Sure you may not like all varieties, but remember it turned out, you just dont like that one!

Got one for my college level brother; now every month or so he has a case of beer to relax; it costs him $15 for a 24, ($50-60 for a case here!)
and if he buys 2 kits ($30 - $100-120 in store) he saves on shipping from amazon too!!!

Super easy to create a batch of beer from this kit. So easy that you might want to just go ahead and choose a more complex system for larger batches and higher quality results.

Still, I don't really regret buying this. I had fun with it and produced a low end, but not offensive tasting beer. I will continue to play around with it. I'm in no rush to move on to a better system right away.