How did you win her over?

I've set myself a goal of one day making a beer that the anti-beer ladies in my life will drink. My wife won't be too tough of a sell as I've got her drinking Blue Moon and from there she's been pretty open to branching out to other wheats.

My mom will be tough though. She won't drink anything that isn't absurdly sweet. She puts cream and sugar in her coffee until there's no trace of coffee taste left and only drinks white zin, moscato, and the like when she has wine.

Since I'm a glutton for punishment, and supposedly "if you like wine there's a beer for you," I'm taking on the challenge. Who here has won over a complete non-beer drinker, and what did it?

When I got into beer making last year first extract batch was Caribou Slobber. My non beer drinking SWMBO loved it. Second batch was a bourbon barrel stout. She was hooked then. Now I'm into all grain and she became a fan of IPA's. She won't touch a big name beer tho only microbrew if we are low on beer.

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Irish Red. Malty and pretty much no hops, and really dry finish.

Raspberry Wheat.

You just have to give them a lot of samples of different styles. Beer is diverse enough pretty much anybody can find something they like.

Things that have gone well with the wine/mixed drink only crowd are fruit beers (obvious) and sweet roasty beers (coffee/chocolate notes).

duchess de bourgogne tastes a lot like red wine to me.

My dad wouldn't touch any of my beers, except for a cream ale. That was it. He never did like any of my beers, except for cream ale.

Some people love beer; some don't. Sometimes non-beer drinkers will find something they love- like Young's Double Chocolate Stout. But not usually.

Fiance didn't much care for anything other than red wine or bud light. Made a kolsch, now shes requested it at our wedding and refuses to even look at junk beer. She also loves milk stout because its not really hoppy and is smooth.

Black Island Brewer said:

Raspberry Wheat.

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THIS.

Mention fruit and the ladies will come running.

My favorite that most women cannot pass up is a Mulberry Wheat that comes out pink in color. Lots of honey malt so it's sweet, not too dry.

BamaPhil said:

I've set myself a goal of one day making a beer that the anti-beer ladies in my life will drink. My wife won't be too tough of a sell as I've got her drinking Blue Moon and from there she's been pretty open to branching out to other wheats.

My mom will be tough though. She won't drink anything that isn't absurdly sweet. She puts cream and sugar in her coffee until there's no trace of coffee taste left and only drinks white zin, moscato, and the like when she has wine.

Since I'm a glutton for punishment, and supposedly "if you like wine there's a beer for you," I'm taking on the challenge. Who here has won over a complete non-beer drinker, and what did it?

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My Wife commented once that she actually liked a beer, it was Wasatch Devestator Doppelbock, which I am trying to replicate but have no clue how to

I had it pretty easy with SWMBO:

1. She likes Guiness & loves Stone Imperial Russian Stout
2. A friend gave me his gear to start brewing so start up cost was $0
3. She loves the smell of wort on brew day
4. She loves the malty beers I make

I believe that is the quad-fecta!

adiochiro3 said:

I had it pretty easy with SWMBO:

1. She likes Guiness & loves Stone Imperial Russian Stout
2. A friend gave me his gear to start brewing so start up cost was $0
3. She loves the smell of wort on brew day
4. She loves the malty beers I make

I believe that is the quad-fecta!

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I believe you have a keeper.

Interesting thread. My lady used to only like drinking blue moon, so after constant nagging and forced samples I've finally got her to like and appreciate pale ales and IPAs, her favorite being Ballast Point Sculpin. Like someone mentioned in this thread there's enough styles out there for anyone. Next step is getting those in my family that only drink coronas, a daunting task lol.

Like a few others in this thread I am SWMBO so no issues there
For the white wine drinkers you might try a lighter Belgian blonde. My dad who claimed to hate beer and usually drinks chardonnay really liked my patersbier and a couple similar styles.

Jayhem said:

THIS.

Mention fruit and the ladies will come running.

My favorite that most women cannot pass up is a Mulberry Wheat that comes out pink in color. Lots of honey malt so it's sweet, not too dry.

Click to expand...

Interestingly, I have lots of female friends. ONE of them will drink a fruity wheat beer. I don't think that gender really is to blame- I have a male friend who thinks Leine's Sunset Wheat is the best beer in the world. It tastes like Fruity Pebbles.

You do notice that it's only males who say that females love fruit beers? Just sayin'!

Yooper said:

You do notice that it's only males who say that females love fruit beers? Just sayin'!

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I think that they like to think that they have us 'figured out'

Melana said:

I think that they like to think that they have us 'figured out'

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LOL! My wife is good at subliminally reminding me I know nothing about women, the day I say I have anything figured out about women is the day I'm dead from pissing them off.

I put a ring on her finger!!!

My wife will drink exactly two beers. Lindeman's Pasteurized Raspberry Sugar Bomb (what they try to call a Framboise), and PBR, and the second is on rare occasions and she usually won't finish it. She's sampled most of my stuff, and the best I've gotten was "that's not terrible but it still tastes like beer" in reference to my Kolsch.

That said, if your mom likes things to be cloyingly sweet, going the Lindeman's direction might work. Because it really doesn't taste like beer.

Melana said:

I believe you have a keeper.

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Yes, indeed. 28 years and counting...

Yooper said:

Interestingly, I have lots of female friends. ONE of them will drink a fruity wheat beer. I don't think that gender really is to blame- I have a male friend who thinks Leine's Sunset Wheat is the best beer in the world. It tastes like Fruity Pebbles.

You do notice that it's only males who say that females love fruit beers? Just sayin'!

Click to expand...

Melana said:

I think that they like to think that they have us 'figured out'

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Qhrumphf said:

My wife will drink exactly two beers. Lindeman's Pasteurized Raspberry Sugar Bomb (what they try to call a Framboise), and PBR, and the second is on rare occasions and she usually won't finish it. She's sampled most of my stuff, and the best I've gotten was "that's not terrible but it still tastes like beer" in reference to my Kolsch.

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It's not that we don't "get" that some women like more than fruity sweet beers, and in fact the women of HBT are far more versed in the diversity of beer and open to the subtleties of flavors than most non-brewing men (and many brewing ones as well). It's just that many women who say they don't like beer really don't like what American mass produced beer has shown them since prohibition ended, and can be enticed to try something different by the promise of something sweet. Most of the time they can then be persuaded to branch out. I've won over ladies with my foreign extra stout!

When my dad brought me my first homebrew kit, it was a Christmas present for my wife and me. She hated anything other than Coors Light, so it was really more of a dig at her than anything else. I tried for years to brew something she would drink more than a sip of. In the end the only thing I ever made she liked was a sickeningly sweet cyser. She LOVED Lindemann's "Frambois"

My NEW wife likes everything except highly hopped ales and stouts/porters with too much coffee flavors.

Jayhem said:

THIS.

Mention fruit and the ladies will come running.

My favorite that most women cannot pass up is a Mulberry Wheat that comes out pink in color. Lots of honey malt so it's sweet, not too dry.

Click to expand...

Update: SUCCESS!

I brewed 3 gallons of of Razzmatazz from the recipe forum here. The wife loved it and mom drank half of one in front of me (she didn't leave a fallen soldier behind, she split it with my stepdad). She said it reminded her of her white zinfandel (translation: an alcoholic beverage she enjoys) and she texted me last night saying she was having pizza and beer for dinner. It was undoubtedly the first time in her life she CHOSE to drink beer.

I said I would consider myself a successful brewer if I could pull this off. This was also my first AG batch. Up next: cream ale for the father in law!

My wife loved the creme brulee porter and peanut butter porter I have currently. She also loves the authentic Hef I made last summer with the weihenstephaner weizen yeast, and 50/50 wheat : pilsner grain bill. Hardly touches the quadruple quintuple ipas I hold so near and dear to my heart.

I completely converted my wife with a Blueberry Lambic