Fermentation gasses contain a lot of impurities that are being carried out of the beer. A dislikable odor during fermentation is not an indicator of a ruined batch. Case in point, many lager yeasts have a very sulfurous gym sock-y type odor when fermenting but it will clear up once fermentation subsides.
Hot tip on brewing for chicks:
They don't dislike beer. They dislike the idea of beer. You just need to call it something else and give it a different image. 30+ years of male-centric advertising for beer have had the effect of driving women out of the market. It applies to craft and homebrew, too, because, "Well, that's beer too."
Moreover, a lot of women are rightly offended when people suggest that their tastes are childish and "girly." True, there are some women who won't drink anything but passionfruit wine coolers (just the same as there are some men who won't drink anything but weak rum and coke), but the majority of women have a mature palate. They would like beer if they tried it with an open mind. It's the pretense and preconceptions that get in the way, not necessarily the beer itself.
Braggart is an ideal choice because:
1) It's not widely commercially available
2) It's stupid easy to make
3) The romance of mead trumps the modern advertising of beer
4) It's still a complex, multi-layered beverage. It's not a one-trick pony like your alcopops or wine coolers.
5) You can use the rest of the batch of beer (minus the honey component) as a counterpoint and a "gateway."
You just need to remember a few things:
* Avoid the temptation to push the gravity way up. Keep it balanced and under 6%ABV.
* Choose a good yeast. I tend towards English strains as they tend to be less attenuated, more mild and still subtly complex. Some of them seem to do very well with honey. I do really like the Nottingham for a cheap, easy to find and keep on hand dry yeast.
* The beer component should be a relatively simple, middle-of-the-road beer. English/"nut" brown is a good starting point. It helps that most extract kits of this variety are of good quality (unlike some of the more complex styles, which really should be all grain).
* Keep the hop rate mild and use noble hops.
Take half the batch and mix it with a water and honey mixture at an equal gravity. Ferment the other half as normal beer. It'll take some time for it to finish, but your patience will be rewarded. You'll end up with 5 gallons of braggart and 2.5 gallons of beer.
Don't push her, but let her taste the braggart. Tell her it's an English preparation that uses the barley to give the mead more body, like a fine red wine would have but without the acidity. Tell her that it's really a very sophisticated beverage, but it's just not widely produced because it takes a long time, honey is expensive and few people know about it for it to be popular. Don't lie, but don't just say, "Oh, it's beer with honey in it." That's selling it short.
If she likes it (and remember, that's an IF), then get her to try the beer alone.
If not, you still have half a batch of beer for yourself and a case or so of braggart to give to other friends' SWMBOs.
