Looking for a style suggestion

[dlutter]

I've nearly completed brewing all of the beer for my wedding reception and am looking for style suggestions on one last brew to round out my lineup (or I might just call it good bc I'm currently feeling uninspired and a little tired of brewing). I have 7 weeks and am planning to bottle it.

The crowd will be pretty eclectic as far as beer taste goes with a good portion being new to home brew/craft beer. Just looking to appeal to the most people while also broadening horizons and introducing a new style (ie. fairly different from what I already brewed). I'm thinking something more malty than hoppy but am still open minded.

Here's what I have brewed so far:

1. 10 gal Czech Pilsner (2 different recipes)
2. 5 gal dark lager (I'm calling it a Schwarzbier; base recipe is a Vienna
lager with extra chocolate malt added for color)
3. 5 gal American Pale Ale (inspired by Mirror Pond, Deschutes Brewery)
4. 5 gal American IPA (Northern Brewer Dead Ringer IPA kit)
5. 3 gal Imperial IPA (120 min IPA clone)
6. 3 gal Pale Mild ale (Nortern Brewer AK-47 Kit)
7. 2 gal Chili pepper ale (Pale mild with Anaheim peppers in secondary)
8. 3 gal Gose
9. 2 gal Cherry Gose (cherry puree in secondary)

Also,
10. 3 gal blackberry melomel
11. 5 gal cyser


Thanks for reading and any suggestions.

 

[bfish]

Other than your dark lager, I am not seeing much "browns", so I would go with a brown/porter/stout.

Otherwise, I would go light... say cream ale, KY common, CA steam, or kolsch.

 

[Kent88]

Cream ale.

I'd recommend a lager if you had more time.

Its close enough to commercial beer that the people who aren't into craft beer will have something they can try. Besides that Czech Pils and maybe the dark lager everything is geared more for the craft beer enthusiast.

 

[brewcat]

Irish red. Or American amber.

 

[brewbama]

Scottish Ale. A nice malty 70/- you have the crisp Pils and hop forward IPA(s) covered. Time for something more Malt forward.

 

[Frodo]

I second a dark ale, foreign export or dry irish stout would be good.

P. s. Can I come to 'monitor' your pours?

 

[PADave]

P. s. Can I come to 'monitor' your pours?

Seriously, sounds like a fun wedding.

 

[dlutter]

If you can make it to KS in May feel free to swing by! We're just looking for everyone to have a good time!

I've basically brewed all of my old standby's and will be breaking new ground with this one. I originally was thinking cream ale but was worried it would be too close to the Pilsners. Brown ale is on the short list, also amber ale (not usually my style, though). Today I was wondering about an American wheat or a Hefeweizen.

I'm not personally a fan of porters/stouts, scotch ales, or red ales. I would hate for this beer to flop and have a bunch of these left over to drink.

I'll keep watching the replies and let that influence my choice.

 

[woo_pig]

Im doing a hibiscus manderine blonde today. If that sonds good to you.

 

[Brownalemikie]

Other than your dark lager, I am not seeing much "browns", so I would go with a brown/porter/stout.

Otherwise, I would go light... say cream ale, KY common, CA steam, or kolsch.

Yep this^, I was just going to say there's no Brown, Porter or Stout on your beer menu. Can I recommend White House Honey Porter? Or maybe some Caribou Slobber?

 

[kh54s10]

I made this Brown Ale from left overs. It was so good that I have brewed it (slightly differently) 4 more times.

6 lbs American two row
2 lbs C-60L
1 lb Brown sugar
8 oz. Belgian CaraMunich
6 oz. Belgian Special B

1 oz Cascade 30 minutes
1 oz. Centennial 10 minutes
.5 oz Willamette 10 minutes
1 oz Centennial Dry hop

WLP051 California Ale V

I would do something similar to this, or a medium ABV Porter?

 

[dlutter]

I normally like to come up with my own recipes but I think a tried and true kit is the way to go in this case.

Yep this^, I was just going to say there's no Brown, Porter or Stout on your beer menu. Can I recommend White House Honey Porter? Or maybe some Caribou Slobber?

That settles it for me, then. I think I'll do Caribou Slobber. Any recommendations on extract vs all grain versions. I'll probably choose extract for easiness unless the all grain is substantially different/better.

 

[Brownalemikie]

I normally like to come up with my own recipes but I think a tried and true kit is the way to go in this case.



That settles it for me, then. I think I'll do Caribou Slobber. Any recommendations on extract vs all grain versions. I'll probably choose extract for easiness unless the all grain is substantially different/better.

FWIW, extract is all I ever brew and I gotta say...Slobber is hands down the best brown I've ever drank. However, I can't compare to all grain because I've never tried it.

2 weeks in fermenter and 3 weeks bottle conditioning and you're good to go.

 

[MaryB]

16 pounds golden promise
3.5 pounds Victory
.75 pounds UK extra dark crystal

2oz Perle at 60min
2oz Hallertau at 5 min

11 gallon batch so 2 packets of Nottingham Ale yeast

Category? Not real sure! Strong bitter maybe.... it is sweet with a biscuit backbone and not bitter. I came up with it for the BMC drinkers who hate ales... and I like it as an everyday beer. Usually about 5.4% ABV so not real strong.

 

[Sadu]

It's a great lineup if you like craft beer, not so much if you don't.

For a wedding crowd I think you need a boring beer in there somewhere. Even a pilsner can be a bit hoppy for many tastes and if someone doesn't like a pilsner they won't be into a porter or stout either.

I'd go for a cream ale / blonde ale / or an easy going English bitter.

Good work though - I'm planning a lineup of german beers for my 40th next year, got a big doppelbock lagering away already :rockin:

 

[Kent88]

@Sadu a doppelbock sounds great. Any chance you are located in the U.S. Midwest... ?

 

[Pugnax88]

I would add maybe a Wheat/Wit, or maybe a Roggenbier/Dunkelweizen to your line-up. Most folks tend to enjoy Wheat beers, especially in the hotter months.

Me and a buddy brewed the beer for my wedding two summers ago, we had a Cream Ale, Belgian Wit, Roggenbier, CA Common, and a hoppy Pale Ale on tap. 10 gal each of the first 3, 5 gal of the last two. Much to my surprise the Pale Ale was the beer that ran out first. Most of my guests were typical BMC drinkers, but everyone seemed to be enjoying the beers available. I walked away with a full 5 gal keg of Roggenbier (it was cloudy and we used my buddy's keg first) and a little Wit left.

 

[mkyl428]

Altbier

 

[dlutter]

Thought I would close this thread up with some thoughts & results in case anyone else stumbles across this thread looking for suggestions.

All total, for roughly 300 guests, I had almost 500 bottles of homebrew (plus 5 gal kegged) in addition to 100 bottles of Boulevard Wheat, a case of red wine, a case of white wine, 75 pre-mixed craft cocktails, and a half gallon each of whiskey, vodka, and rum.

1. I ended up brewing and bottling the Caribou Slobber extract kit as well as brewing & kegging a cream ale extract kit that turned out more roasty than expected.

2. The Caribou Slobber was the most popular beer followed by the Pepper beer, the all grain pilsner, and the cherry gose. None of these were left over. The least popular was the extract pilsner. Most of these were left over.

3. Not a single person drank a Boulevard. Half of the kegged homebrew, roughly 150 bottles of home brew, 6 white wines, and about half of the liquor was left over. The craft cocktails ran out first, then the red wine.

The only thing I would change if I had to do it over again is that I wouldn't buy the Boulevard before hand.

 

[Jtk78]

Sounds like a good time was had. Congratulations and good luck to you and your new bride!