Significant Others and Craft

Fortunately I was in the beer business before I married my wife over 18 years ago. Every time she gets upset about my work, I always use the exact same line...

"Honey, I love you. But when your Father walked you down the aisle, I was selling beer...not bibles." If she lip-syncs it with me, I know I'm not in too much trouble.

 

My girlfriend doesn't drink anymore, and when she did it was pretty much only wine...she hated all of my beers except for Chimay Blue.

 

Fortunately I have a wife who lets me enjoy this hobby without putting any limitations on it. She has her wine/vodka, I have beer. We've both been to wine & beerfests together and never questions each others spending habits. I don't think I could be with someone who tried to control me or stop me from "having another".

 

My wife is celiac so she can't have wheat, barley, or rye. Still, she enjoys our beer shopping time together, and encourages me to continue the hobby. Periodically we find something interesting that she can have, and I she swears up and down that she loves to see me get excited when I find something rare.

 

Haven't thought about it before as it's been a non-issue. My wife probably enjoys her white wine as much as I enjoy craft beer. And then we both enjoy red wine. Time and money spent may actually favor the wine, but I have no complaints.

 

My wife is pretty amazing, she doesn't drink beer at all but...she will stump to bottle releases and fests with me like a champ. When we went to the 18 party it was her who was setting up trades for me there by getting to know people and hobnobbing with folks. She probably knows as much about rare beer and what to ask and look for as I do but since it isn't her hobby she isn't as excitable about it as I am so she always keeps her thoughts in order. In short my wife is awesome!

 

Almost word for word what I was going to write, except we're unsure about the Celiac's part.

I get excited looking for ciders for her because she actually likes 'em and has started to get into them more once we moved up here. I've found a couple of ciders that have made an, 'OMG' escape from her mouth. Love when that happens.

Hell, I even check them in on untappd and we compare opinions about them with each other. I think she enjoys that and likes to see me get excited about beers/ciders because I rarely get excited about anything.

 

I 'trained' my wife into liking craft beers (she had always liked light lagers), but now she tells me when it's time to go on a pub crawl. I created a pretty nice monster.

 

My wife drinks literally almost everything I do, 50/50. Our tastes don't match up 100% perfectly, but they're pretty close. Makes buying decisions and taproom visits pretty easy.

 

My girlfriend currently (potentially fiance/wife someday)'s father actually is the one that got her..and then, me, into the whole craft beer thing.

The three of us have been to 4 beer fests and are going to a 5th in a couple weeks. Outside of a cocktail she also does not really like wine at all..so 98% of the time her drink of choice is a beer...outside of a few occasional rolling of the eyes when i take to long to decide on something in a beer store...we are pretty much on par! :]

 

My wife is an IPA fan. She doesn't really "get into it", as she likes Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin...and would be ok drinking just that. But she's ok to pop over to Trillium or Foley Brothers with me, and likes to head out to a bar with good taps. She's game to go to craft beer cellar in Waterbury with me, so we get an extra 4 pack of Heady Topper. She's also helpful for splitting those 750ml Trillium IPAs and IPA bombers. She indulges my hobby and got me a beer tasting glass and paddle set for Christmas.

But she has no interest in Belgian beers, and will only occasionally split a stout or porter with me (preferably not barrel aged for her). She absolutely would not wait in line at Treehouse or Hill Farmstead or anything like that. I'm pretty blessed really.

 

I write up reviews on here for gluten-free beers when she purchases them because not really anybody else does.

 

I stopped buying Bud light for her about 5 years ago. First it was Harpoon ipa, then SN celebration and bigfoot. Last year she finished my last 3 nugget nectar tall boys (one sitting, yes she's a keeper This year she's like" this Heady Topper is great, got any more? Will not touch the Belgians or stouts, I'm ok with that.

 

My girlfriend is an Untappd badge ho (her words) so usually I have to suffer through the let's get a flight of everything everywhere we go. She used to be my mule for beer releases but now she is drinking her share. The first time I heard her proclaim how much she liked a barrel aged stout I muttered "fuck" under my breath a little too loudly.

 

Thankfully my girlfriend enjoys craft beer, though not to the degree I enjoy it. She thinks the prices are a bit crazy at times, but she can see why I like it. I'd consider myself pretty lucky. She likes going to breweries and beers bars with me.

She mostly enjoys stouts and porters, though she's been coming around to IPAs lately.

 

My wife hates beer, except for sours, and only certain sours. As in, the more sour the better. Even then, though, she has never been much of a drinker.

Over the last 14+ years I would say "tolerated" would be the best word for how she has treated my craft beer obsessions. She tolerates it with a grin that says "boys will be boys". That kind of thing.

Our whole family went gluten-free a few years ago. One of our kids is autistic, and so we did our research etc., etc., and decided to try gluten-free. He had serious stomach problems before (as in, gas. BAD gas.) that completely disappeared once he was gluten-free for only a week or so. So we have kept with that.

So...my recent re-interest in craft beer (beer has gluten, of course), and even my new home brewing hobby, have not gone over great, but she knows I am not going to quit, so the point is pretty much moot. As for food, I stay away from the gluten, if only to not have it in the house, and so to not tempt our son who can easily go into meltdown mode if he sees a pizza and is told he can't have any. Gluten also affects his behavior. It's impossible not to see the difference as an observant parent. This is only for our particular autistic child, mind you. I don't think going gluten free is the answer, in general, but it has worked for him, so I'm all for it. I only miss bread, pizza, doughnuts a little bit. I still have beer.

 

My girlfriend doesn't love beer but she likes it and drinks it often. We go to many beer bars and and breweries together. Frankly, I pity people who can't revel in any sense of excitement with their significant other over a fine ale. It was always a prerequisite...."must like beer."

 

This thread is a good reminder to appreciate my wife that shares this hobby with me. As an example just last Saturday she said "You should trade for more Haze soon, this beer is amazing."