Not your typical wedding beer question

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

nukebrewer

Brew the brew!
HBT Supporter
Joined
Oct 8, 2008
Messages
5,636
Reaction score
2,861
Location
Groton
I don't normally ask for recipe advice, but I have a situation on my hands, so here's the scoop. I have been asked to brew a beer for the after party of a wedding I am going to in mid-October. It turns out the father of the bride is in an investment club and is good friends with the owner of Harpoon who will more than likely be at the after party. I am probably going to get a chance to meet him and if he ends up trying my brew, I want to hear good things. I was wondering if anyone had any opinions on what I should brew. I don't want to brew anything super crazy, but I want it to have a somewhat complex flavor profile. I was thinking an amber or brown of some sort at first, but then I thought maybe I could try cloning one of their brews, or would that just be insulting? My other thought was that I could go seasonal with a pumpkin ale or something along those lines. Any advice here would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
Brew something simple that allows the ingredients to speak for themselves.

Remember...you were asked to brew for a friends wedding after party - not your impress the guy at Harpoon opportunity.

I think the guy at Harpoon will be more impressed at how you were able to make a clean and enjoyable beer.
Cream Ale, Blonde Ale, Pale Ale....all would be good choices in my opinion.
 
Thanks for that advice. I know it's not my goal to impress him, but it's hard for the mind to not take off in that direction. I don't know why I didn't consider a cream or a blonde ale. Those both sound like really good ideas, especially since I don't know what the crowd there typically drinks, so it would probably be a smart idea to brew something that the BMC crowd will receive well. Thanks again.
 
Make something better, but similar to Harpoon IPA. It's their flagship beer.
(FYI - this isn't too tough to do :))
 
Haha. I thought about doing something like that, but like E-Mursed said, the goal isn't to impress (or one up) the Harpoon guy. I'm going to play it safe and do something the crowd will like. My guess is that most people aren't going to dig an IPA.
 
You can make people dig an IPA if you keep things smooth, highly drinkable, lowly bittered, moderately aromatic, with good malt character and low alcohol content. This is more along the mindset of English IPA.

Harpoon manages to do all this to some extent, but their version just tastes awful... and not because of bitterness.
 
Hmmm... at the very least it's something to consider. Its been a very long time since I've had Harpoon IPA, so I don't remember how it tastes. I've still got until next weekend to decide what I am going to do, so I have time to decide, develop a recipe and post it for comments. Even though it's not strictly my goal to impress Harpoon guy, it wouldn't be a bad thing if I did. ;)
 
Brew your best beer, or the one you're most comfortable with. No sense in getting fancy with something you or your friends have never tested.
 
That's also a good point. I'll be weighing my options over the next few days and probably formulating my recipe this weekend since I won't be able to brew. Thanks for all the advice.
 
My choice would be a brown ale it always seems to be a good choice for fall. However since this is for your friends wedding you might want to ask him what he would like or go even one further and ask your friends soon to be father in law if he has a favorite style of beer.
 
You can make people dig an IPA if you keep things smooth, highly drinkable, lowly bittered, moderately aromatic, with good malt character and low alcohol content. This is more along the mindset of English IPA.

Harpoon manages to do all this to some extent, but their version just tastes awful... and not because of bitterness.

Never had it, but how bad can it be? http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10097/311

I would go with something simple and seasonal. A brown ale, or for some extra pzazz a pumpkin ale. Go with a recipe you are confident in, I try to stay away from introducing new recipes/techniques to a large crowd of strangers.
 
My choice would be a brown ale it always seems to be a good choice for fall. However since this is for your friends wedding you might want to ask him what he would like or go even one further and ask your friends soon to be father in law if he has a favorite style of beer.

I might do that. Apparently the groom (I don't know him personally, but I do know the father of the bride) is one of us (craft beer lover, not brewer), but I don't know if this is supposed to be a surprise or not. I'll ask for a recommendation from the father of the bride before I make a solid decision, but I tentatively have it narrowed down to a blonde or a pumpkin ale, as far as what I think would be a crowd pleaser.
 
Never had it, but how bad can it be? http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10097/311

I would go with something simple and seasonal. A brown ale, or for some extra pzazz a pumpkin ale. Go with a recipe you are confident in, I try to stay away from introducing new recipes/techniques to a large crowd of strangers.

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't want to try anything new for something like this. As they say, KISS.
 
Brew something simple that allows the ingredients to speak for themselves.

Remember...you were asked to brew for a friends wedding after party - not your impress the guy at Harpoon opportunity.

I think the guy at Harpoon will be more impressed at how you were able to make a clean and enjoyable beer.
Cream Ale, Blonde Ale, Pale Ale....all would be good choices in my opinion.

Ditto.

Make something that the crowd will enjoy, that you like and that you have had success brewing previously. This is not the time for experimentation IMO. Your first objective is to please the crowd at the party and make it a success. I can guarantee you that the guy from Harpoon has had crazy f'd up homebrew foisted upon him previously. Think quality and consistency. :mug:
 
Never had it, but how bad can it be?

Yeah, I can do that all day. Their scores don't make them actually taste any better.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/35/57252
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/10099/2093
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/130/35246
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/199/10386

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Though I attribute a lot of this high prais mostly to popularity, availability, sweet tooths, not tasting too many other beers in your life (especially decent ones), and for some... being extreme is all it takes to get high marks.
 
Brew your best and do it right. I was recently in a similar situation and did a tasting with some industry people. Opened up what I had been saving for myself to share with them and found out half of my stash had not aged well at all and felt like an ass. Hopefully when we meet up again next year I can show them something great.
 
I have to agree with everyone else. Keep it simple, crisp and clean for the crowd. I did a party to introduce a crowd of people to homebrew, so I brewed 5 different beers. Not surprisingly, the cream ale went well, but what suprised me was that the keg of my amber almost kicked in a few hours. This is a crowd of BMC drinkers, so that result suprised me the most. I think if you impress the crowd, he will be the most impressed with your skill. Good luck and let us know what happens!
 
I'm a slightly paranoid pessimist, so I'd probably brew two or three different batches. Murphy's Law and all that. Once they're finished and kegged/bottled, then decide which is the strongest and most universal.

Pumpkin ale is a little risky for a big event. Not everyone likes pumpkin, and even some people who do don't like spiced ales.
 
Back
Top