Wedding Beer and Cider

Pappers_ · Sep 12, 2017

Boy #1 is getting married in 11 days, we're very excited. The caterer for the dinner would serve whatever beer he wanted -as long as it was Coors, Miller or Budweiser, but they told him it would be fine for him to bring other beer if he wanted. So he asked me if we could brew for wedding and they choose:

and

The cider is a simple, semi dry, light and spritzy, backsweetened with pomegranate juice. The IPL is a basic IPA recipe except no dry hopping, lager yeast, fermented at 50F and lagered for a little more than a month. He wanted to use the newish German hops - Mandarina Bavaria, Huell Melon and Hallertau Blanc.

We'll bring a jockey box, CO2 and fittings, set it up for the caterers but then let them do the serving. We'll print out the above labels and have them in plexiglass holders so guests will know what's available.

GPP33 · Sep 12, 2017

You're gonna brew a beer that takes months to lager and have it ready in 11 days?

magno · Sep 12, 2017

Looks good, and congrats to your son!

I made three different meads for my wedding, a traditional, one with prickly pear fruit, and a carbonated cyser with cinnamon added. I only had one year or so heads-up, which did not give them enough time to age... They were much better for the one year anniversary. When I first read your post, I thought that you were in the same boat, trying to get these pushed out in less than two weeks, but it sounds like you are better prepared.

I'm interested to hear how the beers go over at the reception.

Pappers_ · Sep 12, 2017

GPP33 said:
You're gonna brew a beer that takes months to lager and have it ready in 11 days?

LOL no, I brewed this a in June, fermented at 50F for a month, lagered for about 1 1/2 months, and its sitting in the keg now.

Pappers_ · Sep 12, 2017

magno said:
Looks good, and congrats to your son!

I made three different meads for my wedding, a traditional, one with prickly pear fruit, and a carbonated cyser with cinnamon added. I only had one year or so heads-up, which did not give them enough time to age... They were much better for the one year anniversary. When I first read your post, I thought that you were in the same boat, trying to get these pushed out in less than two weeks, but it sounds like you are better prepared.

I'm interested to hear how the beers go over at the reception.

Thanks. Yes, the IPL is ready to serve, the cider will be by this weekend.

The pomegranate cider was definitly the bride's choice, she doesn't enjoy beer but does enjoy semi-dry to semi-sweet ciders. Also, for the non-craft beer drinking guests, this should be an option for them.

The IPL is kind of an inbetween beer - it isn't as over the top as a big 'ol IPA, but its a little more accessible, cleaner and brilliantly clear.

Mainer · Sep 12, 2017

Sounds great! I just dropped off two cases of wedding beer for a co-worker's wedding this weekend.
They requested a pic of their dog on the label.

Mainer · Sep 12, 2017

(I left my logo and the abv info off, in the interest of simplicity, but it's 5.25%, 31 IBU (calculated), and 3 SRM.)

TrustyOlJohnson · Sep 12, 2017

I have brewed a hard cider, that has brown sugar and cinnamon and vanilla added to taste like apple pie, and an Oktoberfest and a Hellas. I'll be presenting them to my nephew and his fiancée and her family at a get together in mid October. If they like what they taste, I will be brewing the same for them next fall for their wedding. Her family is German and my family is 1/4 German. It looks like right now I'll be brewing about 30 gallons, 10 gallons of each type. I like the jockey box idea and may have to build one of those.