Craft beer for wine lovers

My mother in law is a wine drinker. I've had Meads and Barleywines and she said that those were ok. The only beer she likes is blue moon and redbridge gluten free.

 

Maybe a flemish red/flanders style beer. Duchess de bourgeone comes to mind. Maybe even Rodenbach. Russian rivers Consecration or something along those lines I guess. Wine barrel aged beers. Sours that aren't too sour.

 

I've always felt sours are the way to go with wine drinkers - especially Berliner Weiss

 

My dad has over 700 bottles of wine, a wine collector, but drinks and tries all the beers I drink.

 

Easy, Rodenbach, other flanders reds, and lambic.

 

Beer that tastes good.

I never understand the wine lover = sour connection when this topic come up.

 

flanders reds and oud bruins work well

 

I have had good success with barrel aged variants that are flavored. Most recently I shared some Mocha Wednesday from the Bruery with a nonbeer/wine enjoying friend.

Depending on the style of wine they like would also affect my decision, but stouts done with chocolate, fruit or coffee. Also I would lean towards beers in the higher abv range hopefully giving a little sweet note.

 

I find that wine drinkers like mainstream craft beers. They are happy to have brews like SNPA, Brooklyn Lager or an IPA ect.What they don't like is beer with dinner.

 

I was a wine collector before I REALLY got into craft beer. Personally I would stay away from sours and Lambics. I have found that most of the wine drinkers I know who gravitated towards beer started with Witts and Pilsners. Liked red ales and amber ales when I first started in on beer then moved towards stouts and porters before breaking in my palate on big IPAs and DIPAS. I would suggest Saisons and Belgian Tripels for those a bit more adventurous. The reason I say stay away from sours is that the acidity in wine is not like the funky bite of Sours etc...

 

The problem for me with articles like the one linked to in the OP, is that amont the folks I know who enjoy both wine and beer, there isn't any direct obvious relationship between preferring one type of wine over another and preferring one style of beer over another (except maybe when it comes to pairing they with foods, but thats a whole nother story/situation).

Similarly I know folks who love both malt whisky and beer and there's again no obvious relationship between preference in one type of beverage and preferences in another type of beverage.

Personally I think that a lot of the people who write these articles are just keying in on one or two things and trying to establish parallels the real trick is to convince hard core wine drinkers that there are beers in the world with ranges of flavors they haven't and won't experience in wines.

 

I would maybe a Berliner Weiss or hose, especially for a white wine drinker. Refs might be a bit tougher, but maybe Rodenbach?

 

I love beer and wine and understand fermentables very well. Beer is more "manufactured" than wine, with more components from varying places. Wine is literally an agricultural product dependent completely on the health of a harvest. Beer was a great discovery, but wine seems to have been with us for a great while. That said, Achel Extra is extremely vinous and is a beer that seems to cover all of the bases.

 

Rodenbach
Dogfish Head - Midas Touch, Noble Rot

 

I've been very serious about wine for 15+ years and craft for about 5. The first beers that really steered me to craft were the incredibly tropical west coast IPA's. Wine people don't want beer that takes like wine, they just want something delicious and well-made, just like beer people. Style doesn't really have anything to do with it.

 

I've converted a few wine folks with Chardonnay or Pinot barrel aged sours.

 

It seems in some cases we could be confusing "wine lovers" with "people who drink primarily wine - because they are comfortable with it." I imagine that like "craft beer lovers", the true wine lover would have a sophisticated palate and therefore be able to appreciate the nuance and flavor profiles of many craft beers.

In my experience, people who drink wine because they are comfortable with it generally do not respond well to craft beer extremes and even the mild bitterness of a pilsner could be too much.

 

Completely agree. As someone that got married at a winery and loves wine, I can't draw a comparison to my IPA obsession. The only thing that is in common is my palate, which has developed quite a bit through a lot of...practice.

Having said all of that, DFH Sixty-One was damn good near room temperature and probably isn't a beer that is enjoyed by a non-dry red wine fan.

 

I've had the most luck with Abbey and Trappist ales, specifically Chimay Blue and ABT 12. The fruitiness tends to go over really well and hits on a lot of flavors that can be found in wine, be it dry or sweet.

I would imagine that a Berliner Weisse might be a good option to try on a Chardonnay drinker, as well. Maybe even Gose/Geuze. Actually when I tried the De Troch Geuze I couldn't help but think it was extremely similar to Riesling in a lot of ways.