Beer recommendations for Wine snobs.

sophie is an excellent choice, great for champagne fans as well.

i would also recommend:
-russian river supplication and consecration
-flanders red ales such as cuvee des jacobsins rouge, duchess de bourgogne and rodenbach grand cru

 

Are we talking red or white? I think a nice farmhouse is quite impressive (e.g. Foret (my preference) or Dupont) and has complexity and depth. For Reds - maybe a nice Quad (St. Bernardus). If you have access to RR, perhaps a Consecration or Temptation. Maybe something from Cascade (the Vine, Sang Noir).

 

Wine-to-beer drinkers always seem to go to sours/lambics/gueuze; that being said:

This beer/lambic is hard to get; but my bro is a viticulturist/enologist (winemaker) that I had this brew for him. I acquired different years of Cantillon Saint Lamvinus (lambic that is merlot grape based). I believe that I was on the right track. Again, this may be hard to acquire, but trading for it prob is not too hard. This IMO is one of the best beers/lambics out there.

Cheers OP for trying to get wine enthusiasts to appreciate the depth of beer these days. I am not sure if this is your goal, but I know that my brother is now drinking more beer than wine.

The mention of Supplication is a great one too! If you are not able to find Supplication (I see that you are in CA, so you have the chance to find Supplication), try to find something as simple as La Folie.

 

The Ducuhesse of Burgogne....such a beautiful lady

 

Supplication is very good too!

 

Yes to supplication!
Any good American wild or sour should be liked by at least one wine drinker. Belgian styles are next best I think, with Gueuze and Flanders styles being the best for them.

As said above, some quads and saisons might impress. Three Philosophers is widely available.
If you want to be a little more risky, look into some barelywines, you might have access to one that has some of the qualities wine descriptions talk about (dark fruit, leather, tannic, w/e).
Cheers!

 

Agreed - if you can score a DDG, you'd blow their minds!

 

I think you always need to take a pairing to wine snob parties in order to impress, especially if you're taking beer. Take any good quality sour like Cascade, Tilquin or Cantillon if you're lucky. Then choose something to pair with either a cheese or cured meat.

i.e. Cascade w/ apricots & some prosciutto to pair.

 

If you can get your hands on it, FFF Arctic Panzer Wolf might be a good choice. A great DIPA flavored with white wine...assuming they enjoy/tolerate hops.

 

Supplication is a sour that is pinot noir barrel aged. Bingo

 

I was going to suggest that one, but didn't know if you had Bruery distro/on hand. Had it last month, great. A fair amount of Bruery beers would be good for wine people, due to them being 'wild', barrel-aged, fruit-having.
If you're in SF (or other markets with it), Jester King makes some awesome beers that I'd bet some wine people would love (their non-regular line-up).

Be careful though, some of the best 'wilds' might be off-putting to wine people. E.g. Beatification is great, but to a wine person, wet horse, gym socks, and urea aren't exactly friendly terms.

 

Two things that wine snobs detest and many BA people like--Brett and vinegar. I would actually stay away from strong sours. The lambics may not only appear too sour, but weak at the same time. And other wild ales are just way too sour. If you can't differentiate between a Kriek and a Framboise, it's not going to appeal to a wine drinker. Same goes for a lot of really funky stuff. Another problem is that all those tend to be too weak.

Still, I would go with three recommendations--Belgian, Belgian, Belgian. The sweeter and the stronger Belgian ales will likely win over a lot of wine drinkers, especially with food (but not the overwhelmingly sweet ones). One thing that appeals to a lot of wine drinkers is complexity (which is one reason why you age wines), so Dubbels and Tripels are easy.

Second, anything that's good an barrel aged, but not overly syrupy or sweet (no Dark Lord, I guess).

I would also suggest as a possibility the more tropical IPAs. Wine snobs will balk at overwhelming bitterness, but if tropical notes are dominant, it just may win them over. Flower Power (despite the concerns over onions and cat pee I just picked up from other threads) is in that category. Torpedo is not. Wine drinkers will not drink Torpedo or anything like it for the simple reason that bitterness lingers and transfers to subsequent drinks for quite some time.

Being both a beer and wine drinker--and, perhaps both a beer and wine snob--this pretty much describes my palate. I am no longer offended by the sourness of something like Odio Equum, but, given a choice, I'd rather pick up an Ommegang Abbey Ale for dinner. At the other end, Uncle Jacob's and Insanity, both drinkable like a good wine. One way in which I depart from most wine drinkers is that I actually like yeastiness and brett in my beer (but it would be awful in wine). Wine drinking is all about balance and nuances, so one-dimensional brews are good to avoid.

PS: One other thing, most wine-barrel aged beers would not pass. The flavor profile is just all wrong or a wine drinker, despite the apparent proximity, but "Champagne beers" might be a good pick sometimes.

 

Wine barrel aged beers?

 

Oh yea, Mikeller Bad Worse Red Wine Barrell Edition. I had it not too long ago and it was really good.

 

These are popping up all over now. Mexican Cake in Red Wine barrels, CCB 110k Batch 6 in Port Wine barrels, to just name a couple. If a spirit comes in barrels, someone will age a beer in it, even tequila -meh.

 

Yes, you had the beer. But do you drink wine? More to the point, can you differentiate between wines? (Hint: Yellowtail and Two-Buck Chuck don't count).