What would you brew for 'regular folk'?

[Snoot]

Looks like I'll be doing a brew for a village event.

I tend to make more specialist beers, what would you make for a group of people who have no idea what a Belgian blonde is?

I'm thinking something neutral like a London Pride style. Guess I'm looking for a decent bitter that's not to dull, and not to out there. Even IPAs might be seen as too hoppy.

 

[clibit]

A blonde/golden ale like Summer Lightning, Cocker Hoop, Crouch Vale Brewers Gold, that kind of thing, probably. Especially if it's a summer event. Most beer drinkers would drink it. I think a darker beer like London Pride narrows the market.

 

[Snoot]

Most likely around February/March time

 

[clibit]

Colour is important. People look at the colour of beers coming from the bar and decide if they want one, I reckon, and light beers have the widest appeal. But maybe something between blonde and Pride, in colour, at that time of year?

 

[mike77]

I think a lager of some sort is probably going to be the best bet. Perhaps a nice pilsner or you could be sneaky and do a lager hybrid with some late hop additions. I find hybrid lagers are an easy way to get non ale drinkers to give it a go.

 

[TartanSpecial]

you could do two beers... a london pride or ESB clone, and do a pale beer as other have said... something light and accessible and not to hoppy. Pride/ESB will be reddy/brown and the other golden...would be nice contrast.

 

[Halfacrem]

I wish anyone brave enough to brew for large numbers of people the best of luck :thumb: What sort of volume are you talking about?

 

[dufresne]

How about a smoked vanilla imperial porter? :lol:

Having just got married and spending a lot of time deliberating what beers to provide, we settled on a cask of each a red and a blonde from a local brewery/distillery (eden mill). Not what I'd normally drink, but they were fairly non-offensive and went down well with most folk. Many still bought generic branded lagers from the bar though. As above, something fizzy and pale will probably appeal to most. Those who drink and enjoy their ales can still drink it, and those lager drinkers may actually enjoy it.

 

[Snoot]

We'll see, only a small do, might get away with just one 19 litre keg, two at most.

 

[ManseMasher]

Give 'em a few pints of TC, after about twenty minutes they won't care what they are drinking......

 

[Snoot]

TC? Looks like it'll be a

 

[Snoot]

Golden and a red one then, cheers!

 

[LarryF]

If it's for the undiscerning General public do couple of kits, they'd be a lot less work for you to get on. The John Bull Best Bitter is £8.50 and the IPA is £9 in Tesco at the moment. The Youngs Beer Enhancer for £3.75 is out of stock though.

 

[Snoot]

In the end I did a pale ale, maris otter with a little bit of crystal, plus challenger, fuggles and styrian Goldings.

However, three weeks after brewing it tastes a little... burnt? Is that a characteristic of maris otter? It's only about 2% crystal, so not sure where the flavour came from. I used a mangrove jack ale yeast I hadn't used before too.

I've got a Woodford Wherry kit on the go as a back up, but bit frustrating that something that was intended to be as normal as possible ended up a little odd.

Hopefully it'll calm down over the next month.