The weather is warming up, and it’s time for barbecues and picnics, and nothing refreshes the average beer drinker more than a nice cold lager. Not everyone enjoys beer, but you’ve taken it upon yourself to convert your beer-hating friends into beer lovers. Where do you start on your beer adventures?
If you’re looking for a beer style for people who don’t like cheap beer, you have to understand what it is about beer that they don’t like, so you can find a beer that counters that challenge and overcomes their beer avoidance.
Why Don’t Some People Like Beer?
Beer, despite its immense popularity, is not for everyone. The bitterness, heavy flavors, or acquired taste can turn some individuals away. However, the world of beer is incredibly diverse, offering a multitude of styles and flavors beyond the conventional
Studies by beer experts show that people typically don’t like beer because of its bitter taste. Our taste buds flag anything that tastes bitter as potentially dangerous, and because not all taste buds are created equal, the trigger can be more potent in some than in others.
Another reason why some people don’t like beer is because of carbonation. If you’re not sure what carbonation is, it’s that cool sensation you get when you eat a mint and the warm feeling you get when you eat something with cinnamon.
While the sensitivity levels to carbonation vary, it may be another reason why those who don’t like getting that cold feeling don’t like beer.
Craft Beer Culture for People Who Don’t Like Beer
To be honest, I don’t blame some people for not liking the taste of beer when you consider some of the awful brews on the market. I don’t understand why so many people don’t like the light beers either; there’s not too much to dislike about them as they’re about as close to water as you can get.
However, in recent years, the craft beer revolution has gained tremendous momentum, resulting in an influx of unique and innovative brews. Exploring the offerings of local craft breweries can be an exciting way to engage with beer culture.
Many breweries offer tastings, tours, and events that allow you to learn about the brewing process and interact with passionate brewers and other beer enthusiasts.
Different styles of craft beers that non-beer drinkers may find more engaging include:
Wheat Beers
Wheat beers, also known as witbiers or hefeweizens, are excellent choices for those seeking a lighter, more approachable beer experience.
These beers are typically brewed with a significant proportion of wheat malts, which provide a soft and smooth mouthfeel. With subtle fruity and spicy notes, they are refreshing and delicate on the palate.
Brands like Hoegaarden, Blue Moon, and Erdinger Weissbier offer widely available examples of this style.
Radler or Shandy
Radlers and shandies are hybrid beverages that combine beer with fruit juice or soda. These concoctions result in light, effervescent, and incredibly refreshing drinks.
The addition of citrus or fruit flavors masks the bitter aftertaste of the beer, creating a more accessible taste profile for non-beer lovers.
Brands like Stiegl Radler, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, and Schofferhofer Grapefruit Radler are popular examples that provide a fruity twist to the beer experience.
Fruit Beers
Fruit-flavored beers offer a vibrant and flavorful alternative to traditional beer styles. Crafted by incorporating real fruit or fruit extracts during the brewing process, these beers often exhibit a pleasant balance between sweet fruits and tartness.
Specialty fruit beers include Lindemans Framboise (raspberry lambic), Samuel Smith’s Organic Strawberry Ale, and New Glarus Brewing Company’s fruit beers.
Sour Beers
Sour beers, with their distinctive tartness, have gained popularity in recent years. While they may not be for everyone, they offer a unique taste experience that defies traditional beer expectations.
Sour beers can range from mildly tart to intensely acidic ion a lambic-style beer, often displaying complex fruit, funk, or barrel-aged flavors.
Try exploring brands like Rodenbach Grand Cru, Jester King Brewery, or Cascade Brewing for an introduction to this intriguing style.
Cream Ales
Cream ales are an excellent choice for those seeking a smoother and less bitter beer experience. They are light-bodied and often have a subtle sweetness, reminiscent of cream soda.
Cream ales typically have a mellow flavor profile with notes of biscuit, corn, and hints of fruit. Popular examples include Genesee Cream Ale, Anderson Valley Summer Solstice, and New Glarus Spotted Cow.
Blonde Ales
Blonde ales are another style that appeals to non-beer enthusiasts due to their lighter and more approachable characteristics. These balanced beers are known for their clean, crisp flavors, mild hop presence, smooth malt profiles, and golden color.
Blonde ales strike a balance between being refreshing and flavorful without overwhelming the palate. Look for options like Sierra Nevada Summerfest, Kona.
The Top 10 Beers for People Who Don’t Like Beer
So, never fear, beer lovers! Below, we’ve put together a list of brews that can win over the people in your life that don’t like beer.
Blue Moon Belgian White
Blue Moon, which was first brewed in 1995, was the first beer that brought Belgian beers to the attention of mainstream America. Don’t go confusing this beer with craft beer, though, as it is produced by one of the nation’s largest beer companies, Molson Coors.
Blue Moon Belgian White is a Belgian-style wheat beer brewed with a Valencia orange peel that provides a subtle sweetness, a bright citrus aroma, and a smooth finish. You’ll often see this beer garnished with a slice of orange to boost the citrus taste and smell.
Depending on the time of year, there are seasonal versions of this beer. Keep an eye out for raspberry cream ale, summer honey wheat, and mango wheat flavors.
If you fall in love with this beer, you don’t have to worry about doing without it when you travel – Blue Moon Belgian White is available in 25 countries!
Shock Top
In direct reply to Molson Coors Blue Moon, Anheuser Busch released Shock Top, another Belgian-style wheat beer in the early 2000s. Like Blue Moon, Shock Top uses real oranges but also adds lemon and lime peels for a more citrussy finish and a hint of sweetness.
With an alcohol content of just 5.1 % ABV and a low bitterness rating of 10 IBUs, the original Shock Top Belgian White is the perfect summertime beer for BBQs and pool parties!
That same refreshing orange and zesty taste is also available in a lighter version at just 90 calories for those people who don’t like beer too much because of the higher calorie content.
Dominga Mimosa Sour
Sticking with the Belgian theme, this sour beer comes from the New Belgium Brewing Company, a microbrewery inspired by the owner’s passion for all things Belgian.
The beers of Belgium often appeal to beer novices as they feature such varied and wide flavor profiles compared to domestic American brews. They are more like a fine wine sometimes than a cheaper beer.
The Dominga Mimosa Sour is a barrel-aged combination of wheat beer and a golden-colored sour, which is blended with the detoxifying juice of Calamansi oranges.
It’s about as far removed from any beer your non-beer-loving friend may have ever tasted before. If this doesn’t convince them to like beer I think you may be fighting an uphill battle.
New Belgium also makes a Paloma Sour which is brewed with grapefruit, key lime, and a dash of salt for those looking to mix it up a bit.
They also produced a Blood Orange Ale, Voodoo Ranger Atomic Citrus, and a whole bunch of fruit-forward IPAs for trying to tempt your non-beer-loving buddies to step into the beer kingdom.
Abita Purple Haze
Real raspberries are added to Purple Haze lager after it has been filtered to give it a fruity aroma, tartly sweet taste, and a subtle purple color or haze Jimi Hendrix would be proud of.
Brewed with a mixture of pilsner and wheat malts with Vanguard hops added the base beer is a lighter German-style lager with a lower ABV of just 4.2% and an equally low bitterness of just 13 IBU.
With its extra fruit flavor, you may often see fruit pulp of fresh raspberries in the beer. This lager is one that many new beer fans will swap out for their dessert at the end of a meal!
Bud Light Lime
If everybody else at your party is drinking light beers, such as Miller Lite, Bud Light, or even Natty Light, then why not try tempting those non-beer-loving buddies to join the beer universe with a bottle or two of the all-natural lime flavor that is Bud Light Lime?!
Taking a leaf out of Corona’s book and adding a kick of lime to one of the beer giants of America (Bud Light is currently the number-one selling beer in the US), they give the already light, refreshing lager an extra little zing and zest with a citrusy sweetness.
Bud Light Lime is the ultimate affordable option to refresh your taste buds at those Summer BBQs when the temperatures go through the roof, even for a non-beer lover.
If a cool Bloody Mary is more your thing, there’s always Bud Light Chelada, a variation on the Mexican Michelada that combines Clamato juice and spices with a light beer for a tasty beer cocktail.
Landshark Island Style Lager
Brewed by Margaritaville Brewing Co from St Louis, Landshark Lager is brewed with a blend of hops and complex two-row caramel malts for a simple and slightly sweet taste to this refreshing lager.
The extra sweetness from those caramel malts makes it an excellent option for people who wouldn’t normally turn to a plain non-flavored beer.
When talking about beers for summer, Landshark Lager is the brew that will make you yearn for the beach, surf, and island life with its light taste.
Miller High Life
If you are looking for one of the most iconic and oldest beers in America to convert anybody who says they don’t like beer, Miller High Life is often called the champagne of beers. Beer nerds will tell you this the beer Budweiser always should have been.
Brewed with yeast that Frederick Miller originally brought over from Germany, this highly carbonated smooth yet crisp beer has been the beer of choice of middle America for over 120 years.
It’s one of the mainstream beers that doesn’t taste like any other American lagers and one that even the most die-hard beer hater will struggle to dislike.
And, best of all, the economic pricing of this award-winning beer makes it one of the most affordable options – a champagne beer at a cheap beer price – even non-beer drinkers love a bargain!
Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat
Samuel Adams has been one of the biggest names in the American Craft beer market for many years. Although they are better known for their Boston Lager, they do produce a range of beers with fruit or summer flavors for the more casual beer drinker.
The latest in the range of San Adams Brewmaster collection is Cherry Wheat, an American wheat beer that is brewed with Michigan cherries. The drink is light on the palate yet full of a surprising depth of flavor and a tart fruit character. A touch of honey adds a slight sweetness to what is otherwise a crisp and fruity beer.
Cherry Wheat is one of those wheat beers that somebody who doesn’t like the taste of beer may be tempted to try. The inclusion of cherries and the sweetness of the honey will probably make them go for one or two more!
Abita Strawberry Lager
If you love strawberries, you’ll love this lager. Louisiana’s best strawberries go into this beverage. These strawberries get picked in peak season for the ripest, juiciest berries.
The berries are juiced, and that juice is added to the lager after filtration, maintaining the Louisianan strawberry smell and aroma and that natural sweetness.
Abita Strawberry Lager is a perfect beer for people who don’t like the taste of traditional beer because the sweet flavor from ripe strawberries will counter the bitterness in beer.
If you’re wondering what you could pair with the refreshing taste of this beer, you might want to try a strawberry shortcake and take your strawberry flavors to the next level.
Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy
If you like the idea of an alcoholic lemonade but Mike’s Hard was a bit too sweet for you, this may be what you’ve been looking for. Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy is a light, white beer with a natural lemonade twist, making it a perfect summer beer.
This shandy comes from a brewery with a long history. The Leinenkugel family founded their brewery in 1867 in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. The family had a long history of brewing beer before this, going back to their German roots.
This shandy has a gold color and aromas of wheat, cereal, biscuit, apple, and a natural lemonade flavor. If you’re wondering what you could pair it with, this light beer is the ideal combination for freshly caught grilled fish, watermelon, fruit salads, and barbecued chicken.
Don’t get the name shandy mixed up with the traditionally lower strength 50% lemonade 50% beer mixes, as the alcohol content for this favorite summer drink is 4.2%
Conclusion
There are many beer options out there for people who don’t typically like beer. Since bitterness is one of the key contributors to people’s dislike of beer, brewers have tried different things to win over those who don’t usually choose beer as their beverage of choice.
As you can see by the beers listed above, fruit or some other type of sweetener is frequently added to the beer to lessen the drink’s bitterness. Corona Extra with a slice of lime is a perfect example of a way of encouraging non-beer drinkers to try something new, with even your hipster craft beer drinkers not being adverse to the odd bottle of Corona.
If you want to drink some beer with friends and family, you can invite everyone to bring their favorite beer for people who don’t like beer and have a beer tasting and evaluation. Who knows – with a bit of coaxing, that non-beer lover in your life might be accompanying you to your next tap room day out more frequently!