Converting your loved one into a better beer drinker

Yeah my wife has slowly built herself up to be a 5/10 beer nerd (I consider myself a 7). And she’s managed to do it in a 100% financed way. No skin in the game. All upside. Beer is still considered my expense (and still held over me during higher spending months) but she skulls about 40%. I respect her a lot for it.

 

My wife and I have been together for 24 years. I have always been a beer nerd, progressing from probably a 5/10 to about 8/10 now. My wife has always preferred champagne (nothing expensive) and the occasional beer, typically a farmhouse ale. I had her try a barrel aged stout about 4 years ago and she became hooked. Now she has me picking up new beer releases for her and she comes along with me on Black Friday to get her own Bourbon County. I've created a monster because if the stout isn't thick and boozy she'll exclaim "tastes thin". It really is a lot of fun enjoying the beer experience together.

I also got my father in law into IPA about 7-8 years ago. He used to be Miller Lite exclusively (he was so excited to get an 18-pack on sale). Now he drinks nothing but IPA but shames me for lightening his pocketbook due to increased beer costs for him.

 

She has good taste. I was skeptical about a beer from a brewery I was not familiar with, but with a band that I like.

So, picked up a 4-pack. Surprisingly, this was actually quite good.

 

Perhaps this goes under the category of "Be careful what you wish for"?

Are you 'happy' she drank the last 3 cans?

I have adopted a strategy of putting some of the beers in the refrigerator and then 'hiding' some in the basement so I can get my fair share. So far this has worked.

Cheers!

 

Worked for me as well.

 

My wife loves IPAs and sours. She's not a big fan of stouts, which is fine with me.

 

By any chance is she of Irish heritage?

Cheers!

P.S. For full disclosure my wife is of Irish heritage. She is fond of 'reminding' me about Saint Brigid:

"Probably the best known Irish saint after Patrick is Saint Brigid (b. 457, d. 525). Known as "the Mary of the Gael," Brigid founded the monastery of Kildare and was known for spirituality, charity, and compassion. St. Brigid also was a generous, beer-loving woman. She worked in a leper colony which found itself without beer, "For when the lepers she nursed implored her for beer, and there was none to be had, she changed the water, which was used for the bath, into an excellent beer, by the sheer strength of her blessing and dealt it out to the thirsty in plenty." Brigid is said to have changed her dirty bathwater into beer so that visiting clerics would have something to drink. Obviously this trait would endear her to many a beer lover. She also is reputed to have supplied beer out of one barrel to eighteen churches, which sufficed from Maundy Thursday to the end of paschal time. A poem attributed to Brigid in the Brussel's library begins with the lines "I should like a great lake of ale, for the King of the Kings. I should like the family of Heaven to be drinking it through time eternal."

 

You forgot the 'share evenly' clause in your wedding vows.

When I started my craft beer experience, I did a lot of what you mentioned. The old phrase that you can't teach an old dog new tricks doesn't apply here because she came around quickly, and always shares equally. (We've been married 47 happy years.)

 

One for me and three for her? Is this the 'new' evenly!?!

Cheers!

 

In 15 years of marriage, I've only managed to turn my wine/cheap beer wife to wine/cheap beer/faux craft/Benchtop sour drinker.

 

My wife is a “cheap date” so to speak haha. She drinks a lot less frequently than I and much less amounts. When I met her she was a Red a Stripe gal (still is). She basically tried everything I had at my place when we were dating, and she was always super open to stuff.

but she is definitely an IPA lover, likes browns/ambers/stouts within a reasonable ABV. She can appreciate and distinguish a well made lager vs. an iffy one. Still can’t get into BBA stuff (she really doesn’t like oak in beer).

But her go-to descriptor for an IPA is still “IPA-ish” after all these years

 

Met at 15 drinking Busch Light at high school parties. Started dating at 18 drinking more Busch Light and Nikolai. Now 12 years later. She drinks sours, and seltzer’s. I’ll span the whole variety of craft. And sprinkle in some Coors lights to stay humble.

 

I turned my fiancee into a beast when it came to all things beer, tempered her in the flames of beer festivals, tap rooms, tap takeovers, and more. She asks ME when we're going to such and such brewery and sends ME pictures or posts from breweries about certain releases. I must say It's been fun knowing I can come home and she's already filled the fridge with stuff we both like.

 

Back in the '70s, I once got 2 cases of beer (Ballantine India Pale Ale and Prior Double Dark) for my wife.

Pretty good trade.

 

I can see the appeal of the idea in theory but in the back of my mind I'm thinking that's a lot like teaching her how to use a gun.

 

I'm not going to touch that line, even with a 10-foot pole.

 

That's why I placed it in the past - you could get away with stuff like that back then. Actually I heard Bob Dylan say it once in concert (well, he substituted "a bicycle" for my two cases of beer) but I'd guess it's a very old joke. I can imagine Dangerfield saying it.