Beer Selection for Wedding (Urgent)

If you're getting married in the Blacksburg area you should check out Vintage Cellar there. They have the best craft beer selection in SW VA. They may have some good suggestions or be able to do a custom order for you.

Edit: And if you enjoy IPAs, Get Bent Mountain IPA from Parkway Brewing Co. outside of Roanoke is a really solid local offering

 

We had a similar experience when deciding what to do for our wedding. What we ended up doing is choosing one beer we really liked - Jack's Abby Hoponius Union - and getting two cases. We also did a specialty drink.

The beer was gone early, but was a huge hit. People are going to drink coronas and bud light, mostly. Some will convert, but most not at a wedding. Get a beer you like, don't get a beer that "might" go over well.

 

If you want to keep it crafty, I haven't seen anyone suggest Allagash White yet, great 'gateway' beer for the Blue Moon crowd.

Did you really say 72 beers for 80+ people? Even if the majority are wine drinkers, you'll be dry very quickly.

I recommend a keg of BMC, definitely won't run out, don't have to care if there's leftovers; a case or two something(s) for the 'gateway ready' like Allagash (or if cost is an issue, Blue Moon or Sam Adams); and then a case of each of the 'his' and 'hers' beers so you two have enough for yourselves and some to share.

edit: Could also go with a quarter keg of BMC and more 'gateway' options, 4 cases instead of 2 perhaps to broaden the style options.

 

How about some Nuptiale?

 

As mentioned, check Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg. Stopped in there last fall while in town for the Terps vs VaTech game. Great selection and they know their stuff. The shopping center that they are in offers one stop shopping for all your needs: Vintage Cellar, a State Liquor store (if you decide you need some liquor after all) and a supermarket (I want to say a Kroger's) with a fair selection of BMC products and some more mainstream craft selections at fairly good prices. Congrats.

 

Grab some pony kegs for grandma!

 

OK, so if it's a licensing thing, different story. Guests will surely understand not having liquor. That's kind of sucky you have to deal with that crap. Guess PA doesn't have ALL the bad alcohol laws!

Anyways, there's no reason you have to get a BMC beer. One of the perks of planning a wedding is that in the end, people will pretty much drink whatever is available. And chances are, under normal circumstances, your typical BMC drinker is loyal to a particular brand, and not going to be getting what they like anyways.

So, make some accessible choices. Find a decent pilsner that is brewed in TN or VA as your BMC substitute, and make that your go-to beer - think 3-4 cases. Then maybe an IPA - something not too high in alcohol and accessible, I think a nice English-style IPA works well. I myself would choose Port City Monumental, but I don't know much about local VA or TN beers, so there might be another choice. Finally, something dark. Again, Port City makes an excellent porter; but any decent 7-8% porter or stout will do.

What my wife and I also did was serve a specialty beer - in our case Backwoods Bastard - that was butlered around cocktail hour and served in mini-snifters in 4-6 oz. pours. It's our favorite beer, so I wanted to serve it at our wedding. If you and your wife have a favorite beer that is high in alcohol, this is a pretty cool way to serve it. The service will get people to try it. Given where you are, I'd highly recommend giving Williamsburg Alewerks Bourbon Barrel Porter that kind of treatment, although I don't know if any is available right now. Of course, if you have your own beer that fits the bill, great.

 

Think we're talking to the wife here

 

No one remembers what alcohol is served at a wedding they attend. They only remember how pretty the bride was and how good of a time they had at the reception. Your beer selection will play little into how much fun people have. Don't worry about converting people. Make sure you have some BMC.

 

That's a great idea.

And I love Alewerks BBP- that stuff is nectar. It'll prob be pretty hard to find in a large quantity right now, though, if it all.

 

I was recently at a wedding that had:

Allagash white
Leffe brune
Yuengling lager
Corona light

 

I had a lot of beer and still almost ran out with 128 people I had the following:
FW Double Jack
Case of Pliny for the groomsman, myself, and VIPS
Southern Tier Pumking
Natty light bottles for my High school boys as a joke really
Allagash White
Amstel light
Dogfishhead 60 minute


Everyone was escatic and drank through everything but 7 bottles of beer!

 

Caldera Amber allllllllll day everyday.

 

I had a 50th birthday party and served cases of union jack, flower power, sculpin, arrogant bastard, southern tier 2xipa, hoptimum, Goose Island Pere Jacque, bells two hearted, coors light and Sam Adams. Guess which were the only two beers I ran out of before morning. As George Jessel said "Give the people what they want..."

 

When you do pick, let us know! I'm interested to see what you end up with!

 

Based on "less than 2 weeks" from the OP's 5/13 post, I'm guessing the wedding was 5/24 (or the 23rd) ... Now that the wedding is over, I'd also love some feedback what you guys actually did, and how it worked out! After the honeymoon, of course...

 

Hey man. Just remember that for the majority of people, they want a standard lager beer - just more of it at a wedding. If you are looking for a 'mid-way' beer to tempt people into something a bit fancier, why not try Asahi and Anchor Steam Beer. Get some Kwak for the main table - a very easy-drinking beer for non-ale drinkers.

Oh, and congrats man. Good luck with the future

 

I was just at a wedding that had your normal bud light, Stella, etc. But they also had farmers tan. It was nice for people who enjoyed a good ipa but didn't want to get blasted before the salad was served. A good session ipa is a good idea IMOIMO

 

I'm getting married in a little less than a year at a winery and I'm kind of fortunate in that I don't really have to worry about it. They don't let you bring your own beer but they have BMC offerings, they carry Schlafly's lineup, have hard cider/mikes lemonade for the women that don't like beer/wine, and obviously plenty of wine. It covers all the bases except for the people that like liquor and they're out of luck because they don't allow hard alcohol at their site. If I had to opportunity to choose I would likely get a pony keg or two of a couple craft beers that I enjoy but it's not a big deal as Schlafly is a pretty solid brewery with several style options.

 

Frugal McDougal's is usually the place to go in Nashville for stuff like this. It's off of 8th once you start getting close to downtown. Not to far from the interstate if you're coming in from outside the city. And I echo whoever suggested Yazoo, especially the Dos Perros.

Best of luck with the wedding and congratulations!