Beer and Wayward Spouses

[bhoshour]

I have been sampling great brews from around the world since before I met my wife. I have constanty made her outstanding taste examples of every style of beer in the world and her response, "It's all right, but beer is beer, so hand me my Michelob, please." My question is this: After sampling quality beer, what is it that makes a person stick with that piss-water excuse for beer? I have been brainstroming for wways to get my wife to "switch" over, but have not succeeded yet. She has tried some that she defintely likes, but still preferes her damn Michelob. So....how do you get a person to appreciate the difference? Granted, if they prefer pilsner, there are much better examples than Michelob. Forum is open......

[fretlessman71]

Have you asked her what makes her like that stuff so much? Sometimes it has less to do with the complexity of the flavors that she is savoring than the fact that she began drinking Michelob during a time in her life that she looks back on with good feelings, and it makes her feel good to remember those times. Sometimes potato chips are better than filet mingon, if you know what I mean... it depends on what you like. I like Mr. Pibb better than Dr. Pepper mainly because I used to like it as a young child and have fond memories of going to the soda machine with a quarter to get one at the grocery store. (Also, they've made it taste richer with the "Pibb Xtra" version.)

You think YOU have it bad... my wife hates beer. The only beer she's been able to even halfway tolerate, believe it or not, is Murphy's Irish Stout out of a widget can. And yes, I've been torturing her by asking her to try every single new beer I get. She really can't tell a difference in the way they smell; I'm guessing it's an aversion to the hops. My wife has an incurable sweet tooth, and it's time I just admitted it and went on with life "sleeping single in a double beer bed" (if that isn't a tortured analogy, I don't know what is!).

At least your wife likes her Michelob, and my guess is that the less you try to ram beers down her throat, the more she will be willing to come around. Back off, and when you pour something that looks GORGEOUS, she may say, "Wow... what's that?" And you'll be ready to tell her, show her, give her a taste... and let her come to her own decisions. Remember that taste is relative, and since there's no accounting for it, there's no forcing it either. We say all the time here, "Friends don't let friends buy A-B products," but then again, wouldn't you do just about anything for YOUR wife? I know *I* would. Let her be until she's ready to come around. She'll get there!

[bhoshour]

It's more of an on-going joke between us; I give her a hard time, but it's all in jest. I let her buy what she wants, but she has to try mine! Actually she likes most of teh stouts I bring home, but prefers Michelob. I suppose that isn't such a bad thing. It's just that if she had ot go to the store for herself she would always buy Michelob rather than trying something new or something she knows she likes, such as Murphy's. Trust me, I HAVE to let her be herself. I just fail to understand how she can drink that stuff. And I don't think it's nostalgia.

[hopjack13]

there are other threads about this, i posted a thread about beer history in the U.S. craft beers are just recently making a come back that started in the early 80's . sence the end of prohibition the fizzy yellow beer has reigned supreme. it's all people know.
their fathers drank it ,their grandfathers drank it . there first introduction to beer was probably a bud , miller or coors. people have been brought up thinking that pilsner style lagers (if that what you want to call their chemical waste) is what beer is suppose to be. sad but true. two words "training wheels" start with those or if she like's or can tolerate stouts give her a smoked porter, my wife loves them! especially stone, or you can look at some other threads in the general beer section a few pages back like, "What was the beer that changed it all? " " Trying to create a convert... " or " an introduction to real beer! "
there are some great idias there by a lot of good beer drinking people like you and me.

[fretlessman71]

Hmmm... maybe it's a chemical imbalance...? ;)

Hey... any truth to the rumor that Michelob and Bud come out of the same barrel? I heard that they pound the tap into the barrel about a third of the way up and drain it from there; that's Bud. What's left is Michelob, or so I've heard.

My dad used to drink Michelob and Coors, so if you're worried that it's a hereditary thing, fear not. Your children will still have the "good beer" gene somewhere inside them. (My mom is 100% German, so that must be where I get it from. By the way, she hates beer, too!)

[SeaPA]

I'll have to take advantage of this opportunity to brag about my wifey, who has unusual drinking habits ocmpared to most. She rarely drinks at all, but when she does she likes good stuff. If drinking beer, it has to be:

1. A Stout, preferably either Guinness or Murphys, or
2. Samichlaus

If not beer, she will only drink tequilla, and only in shots - no margaritas or any other form of mixer.

[S.F.B.]

My wife loves beer. When I started bringing home craft brews, she hated them. "Ewww, too bitter", she would say. The way I got her to come over to "our side" was to stop buying beer that I didn't like. The more she had to either drink mine or run to the store and get something else, the more she started to like mine. Now she loves the "good" stuff that I drink. She even asks me to bring home new ones to try. I guess I have it pretty good now.

[denver brewhoo]

I guess I lucked out here...my wife loves good beer. Cask conditioned bitter at 55 deg. F, in London? No problem. None of this, "ewww, it's warm," or "eww, that's bitter" from her. Only problem is, she will drink the last "good" beer in the fridge, w/ no compunction whatsoever...

[hopjack13]

ooooh, i felt your pain there. i can't tell you how many times i'd be on my way home thinking "im going to have me a beer when i get home!" and SNAP! there's none left!!!!:mad: she likes porters and stouts , im more of a hophead but if there are no porters or stouts......well mine will do just fine for her. she wouldn't touch the dos equies thats been sitting in the pantry for who knows how long.
oh b.t.w. i didn't buy the dos equies for me thats why it never got drank.

[b3s]

my fianceé likes beer. she hates crappy beer. it all works out well. there are only two things she hates about home brewing:

[list=1]
the smell of the boil/mash.
all of the "crap" taking over the shelves in the laundry area.
[/list=1]

on st. paddy's we sat around the apartment, eating irish stew, drinking guinness and bushmill's, and watching a few movies...

she likes black-n-tans made of guinness and my homebrews, too.

definitely a keeper :D

[paul84043]

My wife likes beer as much as I do, she's typically a bit more partial to the ales and the "lighter colored" beers but has no problem with a B&T. The only thing she doesn't like is the way the beer attaches to her hips!! I run several times a week so I manage to keep things in check.
Her sister hates beer peroid, I think that she feels it's "below" her and I truly believe that she doesn't even try to like it. She will drink Un-Natural BLight from a can and that's about it. She likes everyone to know that she's a wine person...much more sophisticated.....(gag..puke..)

I think it's a mentality/stereotype thing for alot of people.

[fretlessman71]

It's not a mentality... it's just mental. I'm STILL trying to get into wine, but there's only a few that I even like. Guess beer just does it for me, and I'm satisfied... know what I mean?

My wife, on the other hand, is a chocolate person... I'll let her have her little thing to droooool over, I suppose, just as I have mine....

[chazwicke]

My wife is a non drinker so she can always be the designated driver. When I am sampling a new or different beer, she will take a small taste and give me her opinion but she never drinks any more than that. She has been a good sport though. Back in 92, I think, we took a two week vacation to the west coast and I managed to squeeze in 24 breweries / brew pubs. She knows that a condition of our travel, and we travel frequently, is that we will hit any brewery or brewpub anywhere remotely near where we are going. In fact a good deal of our travel is centered around beer. As I have stated, she is a really good sport. She has, however, declined to accompany me to London next month for the GBBF.