by Josh Helton
The culture in America is in a constant state of evolution and always has been. Some aspects of our daily lives have remained unchanged for decades and others only last for a couple of weeks until the next new thing takes its place. In the last few years, there has been a revival of the home/craft brewing industry. Its effects have taken many forms, one of which is how we celebrate certain occasions and how we socialize when alcohol is involved. As the millennials are now in their 20s and 30s, it’s only appropriate that some of the trends they created and grew up surrounded by begin to show up more often and with a broader acceptance.
Let’s say you’re spending this Valentine’s Day with a new significant other, but you’ve never been much of a wine connoisseur. You want to impress, but you both prefer beer over vino, so what can you do? It’s pretty clear that if they walk down a path of rose petals to end up standing in front of you on a bearskin rug with a 6-pack of Natty Ice, it’ll be the last thing you do. Well, friends, I am here to help. There is a cornucopia of beers out there that are perfect for not only St. Valentine, but for any sort of encounter that you may find yourself in and wishing you had a bottle of something fancy to share.
Let’s start with something classy. The Bruery from California makes a wonderful wheatwine by the name of White Chocolate. A wheatwine is similar to a barleywine if you’re familiar, but understandably uses more wheat than barley. This gives them a soft mouthfeel, and they are usually not very bitter. The White Chocolate specifically is aged in used bourbon barrels and comes out with flavors of coconut, caramel, and you guessed it, bourbon. Then they add some cacao nibs and vanilla beans to give it the flavor of white chocolate. Not only does it taste great and make a wonderful dessert beer but the bottles that The Bruery uses for their beers look as though they’ve been pulled from a cellar in a French castle.
Clearly, if you’re planning on getting something to drink for you and someone else, it’s best to know what you both like, or at the very least, what they likes. Maybe you’re unsure of the beer to get for the occasion, but you know they love raspberries. Crooked Stave L’Brett d’Raspberry is a fantastic brew, aside from the French syntax errors. It’s a golden sour ale, which in this case is going to consist of a fair level of juiciness from the raspberries as well as some tart to back it up. That tartness may make your lips pucker, and the person you’re with may see that and think you’re trying to make a move, so if all goes well, you should send Crooked Stave a thank you letter for their part in your blossoming new relationship. They also make a version with blueberries if that’s your “go to” fruit. As far as beers go, sours are usually pretty light, but of course there’s the “sour” aspect which many consider an acquired taste, similar to “hoppy” beers. Sours and pale ales are usually quite different, but in my experience, wine drinkers are more open to getting into sour beers because many of them share qualities with wines.
If neither of those styles are for you but you still want to switch it up with something other than wine, perhaps a mead is for you. Also called honey-wine in most countries, mead came thousands of years ago and in its simplest form is created by fermenting honey with water. Usually it was made by adding some combination of fruits or spices or whatever else they had lying around that sounded good. In 2018, the market for meads isn’t huge, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t phenomenal meaderies around. Moonlight Meadery is in New Hampshire but they distribute to most of the 50 states including Kentucky. If you are on the fence about the change from wine to beer but you like ciders such as Angry Orchard or Woodchuck, look into meads. Moonlight’s meads also have some of the most romantic names to bring on a date such as Desire, Sumptuous, Smolder, Admiration, Flirt, and Indulge. Just be sure not to get a bottle of Fling for your significant other or they’ll hit you with a bottle of Fury (all real names).
