The sensation of cold beer on your warm lips can be titillating. So, don’t shy away from a love affair with beer because this adult beverage is simply awesome. It can satisfy any palate with diverse flavor profiles of pales, reds, stouts, IPAs and beyond. Brew up some fun with these buzz-worthy ideas for a beer date night.
Full-Bodied Fun
Beer Yoga
Not a gym rat? Hit the brewery instead and swap out your water bottle for a beer bottle. Cheers to beer yogi’s for encouraging yoga pants as date night attire! Huffington Post recently reported beer yoga as a fitness craze consuming the nation and beyond. Breweries offer one-hour yoga classes followed by a pint. And if you are interested in teaching beer yoga, check out the how-to guide by brewasanas.com. Call your local breweries to inquire.
“Watering” Hole
Paddleboard, kayak and canoe tour guides are combining a love for recreational sports and recreational drinking. Just raise a paddle and then a glass! These adventures are making a splash nationwide — from Oregon where Wunderlust Tours pairs mountain paddles with peak-flavored beers, to Florida where A Day Away Kayak Tours illuminates the sunshine state’s beers with Playalinda Brewing Company.
Beer Runs
Beer has been praised as a decent post-exercise recovery drink! Maybe that’s why race coordinators, like Craft Brew Races are pouring out beer-fueled runs. Even Forbes is drunk in love with this concept and recently published a list of beer runs to train for this summer.
Keg-Inspired Knowledge
Craft Beer Tours
Craft breweries are popping up all over… and we’ll drink to that. Most cities now host tours to visit multiple breweries in one day via walking, biking or bus. This allows consumers to drink up many local varieties and, thanks to designated drivers, partake responsibly. Take a bus ride with Craft Connections Tours in Cincinnati, bike with Beer and Bike Tours in Colorado or walk with SF on Tap in San Francisco. And sample tour options in your hometown too!
Take a Brewery Tour
Breweries typically offer regularly scheduled tours. Get a glimpse into the beer-making process followed by a flight tasting. Some breweries even provide a souvenir pint glass. Because more and more craft breweries continue to open, be sure to occasionally Google for new companies in your region. And, of course, visit larger breweries while vacationing in major cities, such as Brooklyn Brewery in NYC, Sam Adams in Boston, Founders in Grand Rapids and so on.
Beer Festivals
Think of beer festivals as huge brew tastings in a celebratory atmosphere. Events like the Great American Beer Festival bring together beer makers for both your enjoyment and brewmaster competitions. Websites like beerfests.com and beerfestivals.org include calendars of beer festivals.
Pub Trivia
Good news… you can win a prize for drinking beer! Well, for using your trivia savvy skills while drinking beer. Quite simply, pub trivia is fun. You get to work as a team with your date, nosh on pub grub and guzzle delicious drafts.
Homestyle Hops
Make Your Own Beer
Ready to take your love of beer to the next level? Learn to make it! Homebrewing.org has detailed info on how to brew at home and many retails, like uncommongoods.com, sell brewing kits. And you can also toast to your new endeavor with a date night workshop like the one hosted by Sanford Homebrew Shop in Orlando. Participants learn the process and then create new six-packs.
Blind Beer Tasting
The One Day in a City blog recently published a great at-home date night idea: a blind beer tasting. Blogger Gina choose two IPAs from three cities ─ San Diego, Portland and Seattle ─ and poured them into numbered sample cups. Then, she and her husband sipped away to decide which city makes the best IPA. Get the full details on how to set up this at-home date night at onedayinacity.com.
Beer Cheese Fondue
The Inspired Home blog says its cool to act cheesy on date night. Eat up this yummy how-to guide to make beer cheese fondue. And click here for another one of our cheesy date night ideas.
Beer Pong
Couples that play together stay together, so bring on the drinking games. Beer pong can be played in any date night environment: in the pool with a floating table, tailgating or, thanks to a portable mini set, on vacation.
Nancy DeVault is the managing editor of Date Night Guide and a contributor to publications such as Babble, AmeriDisability Services Magazine and Orlando Magazine. She enjoys outdoor adventures with her husband and toddler.