Flavorful Beer for Women?

[sibelman]

This suggestion isn't gender-specific, but...

The roastiness of a an imperial stout can work to balance some sweetness, with less perceived bitterness. It will surprise (and perhaps please) people who "don't like beer" because it doesn't resemble beers they've tasted and disliked.

 

[bwible]

Well then there’s hefeweizen or wheat beer. Thats the one we say “people who don’t like beer like wheat beer.” Especially when its cherry wheat or raspberry wheat, etc

 

[Broothru]

My wife hated beer about 2 years ago. I couldn’t get her to go to a brewery unless they also served liquor or wine. Every time I poured/opened a beer, I poured about an ounce in a sampler glass and had her try it.
Took about 2 years but now she’s a total beer snob, expert and lover of IPAs, bourbon barrel aged stouts & barleywines (everything I like).
You can learn to like just about anything if you try them enough, I have no doubt!

Two Years? About 55 years ago, I asked my (future) wife to "go out and mop up some beers". We showed up at one of the local college haunts, and I ordered a pitcher. She poured a glass, purposely spilled some on the bar, and then proceeded to pull a sponge out of her purse and "mop up some beer". It's a good thing I'd known her since elementary school. And an even better thing that the beer was Bud, so no great loss.

Now, after more than five decades of marital bliss, I believe that I chose wisely but won't vouch for her decision making processes. Seems as if she still doesn't care much for beer! But that's O.K. Sometimes she barely tolerates me either.

 

[Mr. Vern]

I keep trying to find sometihing my wife likes in the world of ales... cream ale and wheat beer is the best I have so far.

My next trick will involve lagering, planning on a Maibock in a couple weeks and it'll be hoppy but I hope to get some tasting notes from SWMBO. I am interested if she comments on the hops, I'm not telling her about the style beforehand.

Some people simply arent into "it".

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The Wise One is French, weened and raised on red wine and with a hearty distrust of anything beery. She now enjoys a pint or two of home brew, but nothing she perceives as bitter, and nothing dark that tastes like "coke and coffee" (which is everything dark).

I'm with you exactly until the dark thing (leaving aside the whole thing of whether a Bretonne is French....).

But I think it's a safe bet in general that anyone who "hasn't really developed a taste for beer" is not going to enjoy overt bitterness that much. So NEIPAs work quite well here, but the real favourite are porters like the Fuller one and Titanic Plum Porter, where you have maltiness and in some cases obvious fruitiness, but not the roastiness of stouts. Also some of the weaker "Belgians" (or as I call them, infected homebrew bitter, ahem).

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

These replies are great. Thanks.

She seems to like wheat ale with a little strawberry syrup.

 

[tracer bullet]

Extracts, tinctures, etc. might work - you could think of exactly that, perhaps a wheat ale and then put a little extract in her glass (and not yours, if you don't really care for it).

Some of the English milds might work too? They actually take OK to a little orange flavor added (cointreau for example). Keep a pipette around so you can measure like 1ml or so.

 

[doug293cz]

I brew a honey wheat beer that is popular with my female family members. Recipe is:

OG @ 85% mash efficiency should be ~1.066. FG should be around 1.010 +/-. ABV should come in at around 7 -7.5%.

Brew on

 

[An Ankoù]

These replies are great. Thanks.

She seems to like wheat ale with a little strawberry syrup.

Then this is the beer for her. It's a wit with loads of strawberry Purée. I've got a recipe for it somewhere and it is quite extraordinary. A million miles from adding strawberry flavouring to a beer.
https://www.fruli.be/fruli#tasting-notessection

 

[PashMaddle]

My wife likes cider and has never been too into beer. From time to time she’ll tell me she likes “ the beer I got that one time”. Despite her being an avid coffee drinker, she doesn’t like stouts or at least Guinness, Reve and Old Rasputin… I stopped offering stouts after the coffee stout was a bust. There have been a couple of wildcards thrown in like New Belgium’s imperial IPA which she liked more than I did and several of their “juicy” IPAs that I didn’t like at all.

When I recently started homebrewing again, she drank as many of my dark brown ales (name pending) as I did. But didn’t like my porter… to be fair it was a test beer after carbonation and still very young…I wasn’t fond of it either.

We’re kind of dialing it in right now and I’m contemplating turning my SMaSH into an IPA for her this weekend…

I think the point is: people like different styles of beer, just try different stuff and make notes.

 

[Slim M]

3 brews that I have found most non beer drinkers will drink are Spiced Belgian Wit, Hefeweizen, or English Browns.

 

[Boleslaus]

Plenty of newer beer styles are pushing into less "beery" flavors. Milkshake IPAs and Slushy Sours come to mind for someone who wants a sweet glass of alcohol.