My wife never drinks beer at home, likes wine, but out she like fruity wheat beers. I couldn't imagine giving someone who's not a beer drinker to drink a Sour, I hate sours. Purple Haze, Shock Top, and the like are easy to drink, and not over the top in any way shape or form, and they even smell nice. Some of the local brew pubs always have one or two lighter ABV offerings available similar to the above.
I wish that this exact set of statements was sent to the OP every time a post like this was created. Basically, what kind of beverages and foods do they like and what flavors do they like from them? I'm not saying this because it's a dumb question; I'm saying this because not enough people think about it this way.
My significant other likes Sofie and milk stouts with a touch of a framboise in them. Every once in awhile we'll be out and she'll ask me to order her a beer instead of wine, but I don't really push her to drink it.
Let her try every beer you drink. If she likes it great. If not , oh well. One day she might like one. You can then try other similar beers and try to expand from there. DFH Noble Rot and Midas Touch are two that come to mind that are wine like but not the type of wine it seems like your wife likes. Maybe a fruit lambic? enjoy
Wells banana bread beer, Shorts strawberry shortscake, if she likes coffee Harpoons 100 barrel series coffee porter is out now, basically anything that taste more like a food or recognizable drink. Not to knock anyone else's other suggestions but I have found this to be an easy way to showcase what beer can be and snub out the misguided non beer drinkers palate.
This makes me sad... The guy wants to share something he enjoys with his wife. I enjoy finding a beer that my wife ( a wine drinker) truly enjoys. I have bottles of Sam Adam's Merry Mischief, Atwaters Decadent, etc. stocked away in my cellar so we can occasionally enjoy a beer together. The road works both ways and she will do the same with wine. Its not about converting someone, its about sharing something with someone you love.
A friends wife that hasn't liked beer was at one of our tastings tried everything we had and didn't like anything we opened. I opened a Tart of Darkness and offered er a taste her husband told her she probaly wouldn't like that, she loved it.
I would argue that acquiring that taste for beer takes baby steps. 3 stepping stones that are cheap, and also tasty would be: 1.) Newcastle. Regular good ol Newcastle. No seasonals. 2.) Negra Modelo. People who hate beer love Negra Modelo 3.) Yuengling. Best cheap domestic, period.
im all for the love. real and truly. but the post is titled "Best beer to convert a non-beer drinker". the old saying that there is no accounting for taste, that would apply to beer as well. i have no dog in this fight except that when BAs become evangelists, i have to hear about it from my sister-in-law, co-workers and anyone else who has been told "you just haven't had the right beer yet." Cheers.
+1000000 I was thinking the same thing. This is my favorite Flanders Red and probably the best intro beer for a wine drinker.
Someone who only likes sweet, fruity dessert wines isn't really a wine drinker, and isn't likely to appreciate anything with complexity (sorry if my generalization isn't accurate for your wife; I only have what you told us to go off of). I might try something like the Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, and pair it with a dessert to prime her for a positive experience. I paired this with warm pecan pie for Thanksgiving, which produced audible gasps of delight from a primarily non-beer drinking crowd (I wish I could claim credit for having baked the pie!). Give her the dessert first, then once she's had a couple bites tell her to take a sip of the beer with it. Another alternative that has been mentioned would be one of the fruity lambics or Flanders red ales like the Duchesse or the Rodenbach Grand Cru. If you go this route a little presentation will go a long way, especially if she doesn't have the most sophisticated palette, and of course serving these beers in a flute does make them taste that much more awesome. Whatever you try, make sure you serve it at the proper temperature. Cold masks sweet and fruity flavors while letting most of the bitter and "beer" flavors, contributing to a lot of the "all beer tastes the same" opinions. Let us know how it turns out!
It doesn't look like the OP is trying to evangelize anyone. He said that he hopes to find a beer his wife appreciates so she may have a better understanding of his obsession. Sounds reasonable to me. My fiancee dislikes all beer except 1 or 2 that she's tried. I stilll have her taste one of my that she hasn't tried before and I try to find beers that she will like - not to evangelize her but to share something enjoyable with her.
My wife has the same sweet tastes when it comes to wine...she loves tawny or vintage ports, Pedro Ximinez Solera wines from Montilla region, and also the liqueur, Tia Maria. The only beers I've found she'll drink and enjoy are the big high alcohol stouts or quads....she absolutely loves Ten Fidy, and the Jewbelation stuff. But then she also loves a good funky or sweet cider and enjoyed the Cassis from Lindemans, along with Lou Pepe from Cantillon. She will try every single beer I buy, but 9/10 she turns her nose up if it's not over 10% alcohol!!
Are you saying there isn't? Someone strip this man of arms, bind him to stones, and deliver him to his fair trial in the river.
For serious, get her some Lambic. It's a fruit style beer and it's delicious. Peach Lambic tastes like champagne.
I would definitely recommend Southern Tier Creme Brule and Choklat. For something cheaper and lower in ABV Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro is good too.
husband isn't much of a beer drinker.... he prefers liquor (mixed drinks, vodka)... he LOVED bcbs (likely because of the heavy brandy flavor)
My wife wants to enjoy beer but is not crazy about hops. She also likes sweet wines. I finally found a beer she enjoyed. Unibroue Blanche de Chambly. She enjoyed the light fruity flavor of this delicious witbier. Good luck.
Yeah my wife was a Dos XX, Corona and Budweiser only beer-drinker in addition a great wine pallet. After getting into Saint Arnold Amber by try at the brewery, she was open to their Christmas Ale and loved it. Next came Harpoon's Winter Warmer. She's now a big English style IPA lover and since then has gathered likes for Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra and other IPA's here and there.
I wouldn't say I converted my girlfriend to a beer drinker, she always has drank beer but wanted to dry different things. She started with things like allagash white and troegs Dreamweaver, and now sh drinks just about anything I do from ipas to stouts.
"Serious" Beer Advocates will likely shudder at the thought but women LOVE beers like Blue Moon and Shock Top. You could try those, hoping their allure will be short lived and mere gateways to "the good stuff". The Lambic idea is a good one too. Framboise is like Rasberry soda. OR you can be thankful that your GF/Wife prefers wine and you wont have to share your good stuff with her. It's nice to want to share your interests n all but you just can't make someone like beer
As a lady beer drinker who enjoys the stoutest of stouts and hoppiest of IPAs, I might be butthurt by some of the "most women prefer _____" comments. Fortunately, I don't find it's worth my energy to be annoyed. I don't even typically like lambics, sours, or fruity beers. Many wheat beers bore me. That said, I could go either way with my reply, depending on how willing your wife is to even giving beer a chance. Does she eagerly try new beers in hopes that she might find her niche? Or are you constantly trying to convince her to take a sip of yours to see if she likes it? If it's the former, that's awesome. And the latter, don't waste your time, it will only be frustrating for both of you. I have a friend who expressed that she does want to like beer, and she just feels she hasn't found the right one. I suggested we order Avery's White Rascal (a Belgian wit) when we were out at dinner. She really liked it and ordered another. I don't expect her to become a beer enthusiast, but at least she accomplished her goal of finding something she liked. And I was happy that my suggestion was worth something. But had she expressed that she hated beer, didn't want to try one, and would be ordering a cocktail, I certainly wouldn't pester her to try to choke down something just because I love it. How arrogant. People like things or dislike things for whatever reason. Sometimes it's out of ignorance, and sometimes that's okay. I despise whiskey. To me, it tastes foul mixed with anything, and it's like being punched in the mouth to drink it straight (or neat, or whatever it's called). I've tried some supposedly high quality top shelf whiskeys, and never enjoyed it. Almost the same thing with wine, but I can have a glass and enjoy it. But Franzia tastes just as decent as the $50/bottle stuff, in my opinion, and I don't love either. Obviously I'm ignorant on whiskey and wine. Obviously my palate is untrained. Obviously I wouldn't know a good whiskey or wine from Adam. And I don't really care. I like beer, I'll stick with it. I think it's absolutely awesome that people are passionate about those things, but that doesn't mean I can generate an interest or a desire to drink either of them out of thin air.
