"Trout" features a guitar riff replayed by Jonny Dollar from Steppenwolf's version of "The Pusher", and the drum track by John Bonham from Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks".

[5] Meanwhile, a fourth song, "Trout", received heavy airplay on US alternative radio; despite never being released as a single, it peaked at number two on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart in January 1993.

[6] In the Los Angeles Times, Connie Johnson said that although Homebrew lacks the "power of surprise" of its predecessor Raw Like Sushi (1989), Cherry's blend of "soul, rap and hip-hop with an alternative slant" remains "wholly unique".

[12] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Alex Henderson called it as "equally magnificent and risk-taking" as Raw Like Sushi, noting its "unorthodox" hybrid of genres and Cherry's alternately "humorous" and "quite pointed" reflections on "relationships and social issues".

[1] Robert Christgau, reviewing for The Village Voice, deemed Homebrew more impressive musically than lyrically, but noted that Cherry had "marked out a meaningful piece of turf: sophisticated secondhand homegirl, personally decent and artistically accessible".