Postgresql – Fatal Error. application server could not be contacted

Use the operating system user postgres to create your database - as long as you haven't set up a database role with the necessary privileges that corresponds to your operating system user of the same name (h9uest in your case):

sudo -u postgres -i

As recommended here or here.

Then try again. Type exit when done with operating as system user postgres.

Or execute the single command createuser as postgres with sudo, like demonstrated by drees in another answer.

The point is to use the operating system user matching the database role of the same name to be granted access via ident authentication. postgres is the default operating system user to have initialized the database cluster. The manual:

In order to bootstrap the database system, a freshly initialized system always contains one predefined role. This role is always a “superuser”, and by default (unless altered when running initdb) it will have the same name as the operating system user that initialized the database cluster. Customarily, this role will be named postgres. In order to create more roles you first have to connect as this initial role.

I have heard of odd setups with non-standard user names or where the operating system user does not exist. You'd need to adapt your strategy there.

Read about database roles and client authentication in the manual.

It appears that your package manager failed to create the database named $user for you. The reason that

psql -d template1

works for you is that template1 is a database created by postgres itself, and is present on all installations. You are apparently able to log in to template1, so you must have some rights assigned to you by the database. Try this at a shell prompt:

createdb

and then see if you can log in again with

psql -h localhost

This will simply create a database for your login user, which I think is what you are looking for. If createdb fails, then you don't have enough rights to make your own database, and you will have to figure out how to fix the homebrew package.