Help with wedding reception beers

Allagash White is always a nice bridge for me. Will work well for a June wedding also.

 

We had a keg of a local IPA and Porter, something lighter and something darker, along with red and white wine (bought Bota Boxes and served out of carafes), and EVERYBODY had a great time. We also had a "cocktail hour" beforehand where we served the same beer and wine with finger foods (fruit, veggies, hummus/pita, etc) because let's all face, folks are there to have a good time and nobody likes a wedding without a buzz I highly suggest having a "pregame" like that so everyone isn't looking past the wedding to the festivities. Everyone that attended said it was the best wedding they had been to in a LONG time. Its a wedding after all, not a funeral, make sure everyone enjoys it and (kinda) remembers it as a good one!

 

Was married in March. I picked all of our beer. No kegs were allowed. We wanted at least 1 beer from NY, 1 from NJ and 1 from CO. Heres what we served:

Bud Light - her family has members who will only drink this beer. It's almost the default event beer.
Blue Moon - See above. Some of the guest list gravitates heavily toward this one beer.
Brooklyn Lager - If you like Sam or Yuengling this will appeal to you. Seems to have crossover appeal to marco drinkers. Fit the NY beer stipulation, was easy to obtain and affordable as well.
NB Ranger - Originally wanted Avery IPA as the single IPA and CO beer but was told two days before the wedding this beer was not in stock. Chosen due to its availability, cost, and appeal to IPA drinkers.
Cape May Honey Porter - The wedding was in Cape May so we wanted a beer from them. Already had two IPAs so wanted to avoid another. This beer provided guests with something other than a light/er lager or an IPA.
Carton 077XX - One of the groom's favorite beers. Drink dub when your night matters. I splurged on this one.

I wanted a nice variety of beers that would appeal to all kinds of beer drinkers. Factoring in availibility, cost, and regional representation I think we did a good job. All of our guests raved about having good beer at the wedding. I have so many photos with orange cans you'd think O'Dub was an omnipresent invited guest.

I think your idea of Sunshine Pils, Boston Lager are solid because those two beers will appeal to many people. Maybe toss in Victory Summer Love as well since it's a summer wedding and that would go over as not only tasty and seasonally appropriate but 'cute' because of it's name.

 

For my wedding, I just bought a bunch of mixed variety packs (in my case from Modern Times) instead of a keg. I'd recommend going that route for two reasons:

A) It's hard to know exactly how many people will be drinking craft (or wine, or scotch, etc)
B) People who do drink craft like variety more than anything else, so a variety pack is fun for them

Our wedding was 80 people and we got something like 5 or 6 of the pint can 20-packs. Had some left over. I did a lot of math and it came out great (something like 12 cans left over for me!).

 

went to wedding with two hearted and oberon as well as a macro offering, made everyone happy.

 

At my wedding we arranged for the venue to have draft of Bell's Two-Hearted IPA, Long Trail Ale, and Yuengling Lager (it was in PA after all). My wife and I enjoy all of those beers and we felt they covered the needs for craft to non-beer drinkers. As far as I could tell our guests were happy.

One thing we did that I think helped our guests not familiar with the beers is we put a brief 1-2 sentence description of the beers in frames on the bar, so people knew what to expect.

 

@dwarke I had my wedding last Fall and we picked out the kegs for our venue in SEPA. Since you're in PA, too, you might find some suggestions. We did each keg a different 'style.' Our draft list was:

• Cigar City Jai Alai
• Spring House Big Gruesome
• Sly Fox Pikeland Pils
• Free Will Barbera Grape Lambic

We also had plenty of non-craft and craft bottle options with regards to beer, too. Plus wine & liquor.

And, congratulations!

 

Man would I love to go to a wedding with a good beer selection. I doubt it will ever happen though so i just stick to wine.

 

What I would NOT do, which I exactly what I did, is to have Chimay Cinq Cents (which is $150/sixth or $450/half) because people will get blotto and lose their minds!!!

 

I second the Allagash White. I got a keg of this for a barbecue with mixed company (macro/craft crowd) and everyone was happy.

 

I was planning a decent selection, then said fuck it. A few of my friends and myself would have been the only ones happy with the selection. I just went with Yuengling, Corona, and Miller Lite to appease the guests. I drank vodka tonics throughout the reception because we had an open bar. We had the hotel rooms loaded for the after-party with 12 packs of local craft beers my friends grabbed on the way to the wedding, bourbon, wine, champagne, as well as a bottle of 2010 BCBS Rare I had been holding onto for the occasion. I wouldn't get too caught up in the beer. It was one of my priorities when we first started planning and by the time all was said and done, it was one of the last things I gave a damn about.

 

Two kegs domestic: to please the largest amount of people.

Mango Even Keel. Easy drinking, great taste, low ABV

Maine; Mean Old Tom: for dessert.

 

I've done a few big parties over the last few years where I selected the beers to be served and my advice is to keep it simple, pick 3 styles where something is bound to appeal to everyone, and stick with lower abv beers assuming this is a 4 hour event as the 7% abv+ beers are dangerous after a while. I'd also go with bottles or cans over kegs.
My party list included:
DFH 60 Minute
Weihenstaphaner Heffeweisbier
Victory Prima Pils

 

I would add a keg of either Allagash White or Victory Prima Pils plus a keg of Two Hearted.

 

For mine we just had typical Coors/Miller beers for the reception (as dancing/getting as drunk as possible is usually the norm for the attendees) but had a better selection for the cocktail hour/dinner (New Glarus and Lakefront beers, nothing too crazy).

 

The wedding I went to last weekend had three beers on tap:

- DC Brau Pils
- Hardywood Great Return IPA
- Homebrewed Belgian Wit (maybe sub for Allagash White or Weihenstaphaner Hefe)

It was perfect. Folks seemed to be drinking each beer in equal amounts. I don't really see a need for a dark beer for a summer weeding.

 

Sierra Nevada nooner. Quality beer, pleases both crowds, and lower abv keeps the beer drinkers from getting hammered

 

Troegs Sunshine Pils

Also, I suggested Yuengling Summer Wheat to my buddy for his wedding. It's actually a very good German Hefeweizen, and is only 4.6% ABV.

As a bonus, it should please both crowds.

 

Instead of a chocolate waterfall, how about a beer waterfall of this: