Beer Selection for Wedding (Urgent)

Timely thread for me as I will be getting married in October and am going through this process as well. We decided on budweiser, bud light, mich ultra, founders all day and ithaca flower power for the beer selection. Many guests from all different walks of life and we want everyone to be able to have a beer if they so choose.

 

I got married 3 days ago. Unfortunately it was in Peru so I was stuck with Pilsen Callao. Hopefully your selection will be better. Congratulations!

 

All walks of life stumble like zombies towards LIQUOR first. It's a "free" wedding. Why not go with the strong stuff. I think thats a given and some wedding planners play their cards away from that aspect.

I would say beer and wine only is definitely a viable option.

Depending on your area, it may be a Bud light, coors lights, busch light type of crowd.

i want to recommend the following:

Bud light/coors light/ miller light for the softies
Yuengling for the intro crowd
Blue moon type beer for the women and those that like the sweet beers.
Two personal choice beers. Maybe you like the stouts or the IPAs (the more extreme styles as some would say).

Finding the ratios will be harder than finding the 5 beer choices though.

Maybe a 30 pack of bud light type beer, 12 of Yuengling, 12 of blue moon, and depending on what you will be drinking a 6 or 12 of your personal choices. You'll end up with about 78 bottles/cans of beer.. The 30 could be split into a Dos Equis lager 12, Corona 12, and a budlight type of two, or any combo in between. It may not be that ratio of craft we all prefer, but I think the guests will be happy about some choice.

best of luck and congrats

 

Just decided on my wedding day line up for this Friday's celebration. Had to go local, but crowd pleasing: Trumer, Anchor, Lagunitas IPA and FW DBA
And I will be bringing a couple Enjoy by 5/16/14 (only fitting given the day of the wedding).

 

I'm a craft beer drinker (obviously), and I would be very disappointed if I went to a wedding and there was no liquor. There are also many people who don't like beer OR wine.

Anything is a viable option, it's not my wedding. Dry is a viable option, as is a cash bar. Just expect guests to be disappointed if there isn't a full open bar.

 

You need to up the total amount, whatever the product is. I know I would have folks attending that would put down a case, on top of drinking liquor. And you have no liquor. It's a wedding, people are going to get smashed!

 

I'd recommend checking out a Costco if you're near. Very inexpensive 24 packs available and they usually carry a "mainstream" craft portfolio. Here in Michigan they've got Stone Go To, Founders Centennial, Bells Oberon, etc.

 

Maybe I'm too judgmental on my own family. They flock to the liquors first. Margaritas, mixed vodka and lemonade drinks, rum and cokes, whiskey, and bourbon on the rocks. Beer becomes a second rate option ONLY after the liquor is depleted.. Reading OPs latest post about a 4 hr time frame, and the hassles of a liquor license, it would make sense to go to a Total Wine type place in VA (send us your specific TW location and we can help), and stock up with at least 80-100 bottles of mixed beer.. I would even venture to recommend some Weihenstephaner german beer that seems to be at every TW in the nation.. Vitus, Original Munich Helles Lager, and the Hefe are strong contenders. Price is nearly double that of other 12 packs. But if you want a cache of 4-5 beers for yourself, I'd tell the wait staff to set those aside for only you.

 

You could always get a 1/4 barrel keg of something local, I'd recommend Jackalope Rompo (malty red rye) / Thunder Ann (pale ale) or Blackstone Chaser Pale (kolsch style) or just wait until you're back in Virginia and hit up Total Wine. Frugal MacDougal is about the best place in town for a large beer/wine selection, so if you still don't want to do a small keg, run by Frugal's and grab some local stuff from Blackstone and/or Yazoo, both of which have a couple beers that would be good general crowd pleasers and decent enough for a beer lover...... Or you could just get a Shiner keg, cheap and pretty good party beer.

 

For years I've tried to educate family and friends who think Heineken or Corona the height of beer risk taking. I gave up after all the good beers I bought went unconsumed (it wasn't anything exotic, just a high quality lager like Full Sail Session). I finally gave up and told them that if they wanted to drink beer that wasn't craft to bring their own. I suggest you just buy Bud and Miller for the weed-benders an some good craft for yourself and the friends you know would appreciate it. And save the receipts.

 

First of all, congrats! I was just in a wedding where one of my best friends got married and they were able to bring in all their alcohol to the reception venue so they picked out 2 types each of red and white wine and then I think they only had 3 beers. They are from Kansas City so they had Boulevard stuff. They had the 80 Acre, Single-Wide IPA (I suspect they did not buy as much of this one), and the Pale Ale. They didn't provide any BMC stuff and there were definitely people from the BMC crowd at their wedding. She and her new hubby got no complaints and actually a lot of compliments from the guests so I think that sticking with a few styles is better, especially if they are styles that aren't too intimidating to most people that aren't part of the 'craft beer' crowd. As long as the beer available isn't too far out of their comfort zone...I find people will drink it, especially at a wedding. Of course, if there's something that you particularly want at your wedding then get it and make sure you get your fill because it's your night. Congrats again!

 

Congrats on your wedding!
Lots of great suggestions and comments so far, here's my two cents:
You want your guests to be comfortable and feel welcome... so... lots of Coors Light... seriously.
Then maybe something like Yuengling and Sam Adams, still familiar and basic but for those who prefer a more "regular" beer.
Then absolutely have some craft beer on hand for those who will appreciate it or be willing to try it.

Best of Luck!

 

Founders variety

Oskar Blues Canundrum

Stone variety

Troegs variety

not sure of the availability of these in Tennessee but all GREAT variety packs

Or....As mentioned above, tons of SN Pale.

 

Dales. Lots of flavor, not too strong in alcohol, very approachable.

 

Compromise completely and just get Hacker Pschorr Gold for everyone, if it's available. If not, Spaten Lager will work. Simple and good is the key.

 

A few cases of Sam Adams seasonals should do the trick. Easy to drink, but actually has flavor.

 

Samuel Adams; The gateway beer.

 

Exactly, it was definitely mine!