Help with wedding reception beers

If I were to made suggestions to one of the young people in my Orbit (also knowing their friends as I do) the beer selections would be Bud and Coors Light, Sam Adams Boston Lager and Summer Ale. This touches the bases well enough and keeps the overall ABV within social standards suitable for the occasion. Of course the afterwards parties are a different matter.

 

It's a wedding dude.

 

True, but some of those folks will be driving home and PA has a dram shop law in places.

 

For my wedding we served wine and beer. Sam Adams Summer Ale and Bud Light for the majority of the guests. Why? My in-laws paid for all of the Bud Light and I paid for the Sam Adams Summer. Sam Adams seemed like a good choice for 104 degree August afternoon. I had a few good beers ready for the groomsmen, but never really saw them myself.

At the end of the day...here is my advice:

1) youre going to be so busy shaking hands and taking pictures, you may only get a stray beer here and there. Make your guests happy. Our venue made us supply the beer, so an overage we got to keep. If that is the case...get something you want to drink.

2) if you want great beer? Drink it at your bachelor party.

3) you are the only person that is going to remember the beer you serve. The day is a whirlwind marathon so I would strongly suggest against anything over 6%. You don't want people passing out or getting too shitty so early. That includes you.

That's my $.02

 

Oh, I apologize, I should've began my post by saying congratulations.

 

I am getting married this September, and beer is still up for debate.

Our caterer is letting us supply any alcohol we want, and I'm not sure if we are able to do kegs -- and I've been wondering whether we should serve beer at all.

It get's pricey if I want to serve something good, minimum of $2.50 a can of something. That's a lot pricier per drink than the shot of Knob's Creek.

It's also hard to think through numbers. How many people will truly appreciate the beer? Probably only a few. How many will ORDER a beer? Probably a lot more.

If we do end up doing cans, I like the idea of Oberon + Two Hearted + a lager; or Sixpoint The Crisp + Resin + a wheat beer.

 

How has nobody mentioned Fat Tire yet? I remember when it hit Michigan and everyone lost their damn minds. Every wedding that year I went to featured Fat Tire.

Edit: Congrats, too!

 

I'm getting married at Stoudt's in October. There will be 14 of their beers on draft! For people who enjoy the standard macro's I believe they'll find something they like. For those not feeling adventurous we did opt for a full open bar as well. The last thing I want to hear is people complaining afterwards.

 

would love to go to a wedding where everyone was served a 40, as they walked in, would be a crazy time

 

How many people are you going to have? Are you going to have wine and liquor too? If it is about 100 or so adults or less just get some 1/2 kegs of beer. Go with an IPA that is about 6-6.5%, then perhaps some kind of amber at around 5%. If you can find it perhaps a good quality Maibock, Dortmunder or hefe, (again keep the abv in the lower range) they go great with warm weather or being inside. Again depending on the size of the party and expected drinkers go with 1/2 kegs or if you can keep the left over beer go with full kegs. If you keep the ABV lower you don't end up with the shit show that can happen when people drink beer they may not be familiar with. I've been at weddings where the only beers available are 7% or higher and a bunch of people got sick or consumed more then what they were expecting. You don't want to muck up the night of your guests. Wine and liquor are usually a known factor, beer can be an x factor for people. I also suggest posting the ABV of the beers for your guests as a courtesy.

If it were me, given my local breweries, I personally would go with Little Juice IPA from Three Magnets Brewing, Mai Oh Maibock from Anacortes Brewing, and a third would be Alaskan Stout. If I did 1/6th barrels I would add a 4th of Iron Horse's Quilters Irish Death for my own enjoyment.

 

You said that the venue charges a set amount--does that mean to serve your purchased keg? The variation in sixtel price is huge on a lot of the stuff mentioned is pretty big and so would the markups be if they purchased them. If used to buying bud light, some of the stuff here is 2-3x or more.

Congrats--

Would highlight where you are. Assuming PA---

Troeg's pils perfect or Victory Summer Love or Primo Pils other strong options.
Out of state but agree with Oberon as another. Would have at least 2/3 in that format and plenty of it.

Then a straight up IPA from Victory/Troegs or somewhere else close by depending on how many beer folks you have. That would be where to pick out something good others haven't heard of. I have seen weddings where even the SNPA was the last to go because the majority of the world still is comprised of light lager folks. Keep the EtOH in the 5% range if you can-agree with @drtth --the era of everyone shitfaced is over.

Have some fun--will go so fast you will blink and over.

 

Two of the best bridge beers to serve macro lager fans are Pranqster and Weihenstephaner Hefe Weissbier. Those used to BMC should like either of these. Both should be available in kegs, though could be pricey. Could also try Weihenstephaner Pilsner.

 

It is nice to try to please your guests, but at the end of the day you are serving the best beer in the world-- free beer.

At my wedding, we brought an IPA from where my wife and I were living at the time and called it the "Groom." We also served Budweisers and called it the "Best Man" (who was my father). We then served wine selected by my wife and her maid of honor.

The bar service we contracted assured me that we would not need as many IPAs. I ended up having to send one of the bar tenders to buy a new "Groom" from local choices. We found that people were more interested in the the story behind the beer we served than the beer itself. Plus, what better time to branch out to new beers than when someone else has already paid for them.

Going back I would have had at least three styles of craft beer with each beer being selected based on our personal stories rather than trying to please everyone.

 

Anchor California Lager or Sierra Nevada Summerfest.

 

Oberon is an easy beer for all. Maybe a nice Pilsner, like Voodoo KillaPilz or SN Nooner.

 

Jai Alai

 

Brooklyn sorachi ace tastes like champagne

 

How many kegs do you need? I'd go in this order (I know these come in half barrels), depending on how many you need.

- light domestic (Bud/Miller)
- Stone Go-To, SNPA or similar
- Bells Oberon or similar

Anything additional I'd either get another light domestic and/or a craft beer of choice (whatever style you like).