Help me pick a white wine, rose and beer!

I'm hosting a party and I'm not a beer or wine drinker so I need some help!  I don't want to spend a fortune but I also want to make sure my guests are happy.  Suggestions would be much appreciated.  Thank you!

If it isn't a splurgy party, Wine Library has Butternut Rose for under $15 and  Southern Tier (western New York) 15-packs of interesting beers in a range of styles and strengths. I like the not-too-heavy Citra Hopped Live Ale (5.5 ABV) and the Tangier IPA (4.6 and brewed with tangerine peels). As for white wine, everybody seems to love pinot grigio. I bow to the expert.

Thank you!  @hankzona?

If you want a good kind of all-purpose beer you can get Shiner Bock at most places around here. Stella Artois is a fairly popular one. 

I'm also a fan of Kona brewery lately ... the ENORMOUS liquor store in Essex Green sells a 12-pack with four different varieties from a fairly innocuous lager to a more robust IPA.

mrincredible said:
If you want a good kind of all-purpose beer you can get Shiner Bock at most places around here. Stella Artois is a fairly popular one. 
I'm also a fan of Kona brewery lately ... the ENORMOUS liquor store in Essex Green sells a 12-pack with four different varieties from a fairly innocuous lager to a more robust IPA.

 Fire Rock is my favorite, but seems to unavailable as a stand alone purchase any longer.

I don't think HZ is on this forum anymore. I have found the guy (young-ish, owner/manager?) at Wine Barrel to be helpful...esp if you are not looking to go super high end...they have a good broad selection.

White wine-wise, I'd go with middle-of-the-road, something in between chardonnay (rich, buttery) and pinot grigio / sauv blanc (dry) (I personally do not like pinot grigio) - so something in the vein of a Viognier or Pinot Blanc.  Rose - Jolie Folle - comes in litre bottles, relatively cheap, everyone in my experience likes it.  Beer, get a basic lager like Stella or Heineken and an IPA like Sierra Nevada.

@berkeley may be referring to Matt at Wine Barrel - yes, he's super helpful.

if you want to spend under $10 per bottle, I suggest anything by Bogle Vineyard winery from California. As far as a Rose, it really depends on the selection where you go.  Ask for a recommendation of a drier style.  

Serving suggestion: freeze berries and use them for wine/beverage ice cubes -or-

I’m not sure how many people you will be having, but  I marinate fresh berries in sugar and orange juice overnight, then freeze them, don’t forget to add the liquid,  in ice cube trays to use for wine, vodka and/or club sodas.

I can't speak to wine, but I can speak to beer. (Caveat: I'm a beer snob with a heavy geographical bias!). With beer you can have a pretty wide range of what people might like and you can't really narrow that down to a single beer.

You'll want to get an ale and a pilsner. The crowd that doesn't like pilsners is going to be likely to like a hoppy beer, like a pale ale or IPA. For the most part if you walk into a beer store and say 'give me a good pilsner' or 'give me a good IPA'. While people might drink or not drink a certain style, for the most part if they drink IPAs they'll be fine with any.

So for pilsners, I'd recommend either the Victory Prima Pils (from Pennsylvania) or Sixpoint The Crisp (from New York).

For a pale ale or IPA I'd probably go with either the Bronx Brewery American Pale Ale (from New York) or the Dogfish Head 90 Minute (from Delaware).

Don't be put off that some of these come in cans. Cans are generally better for beer and the stigma is generally going away.

qrysdonnell said:

So for pilsners, I'd recommend either the Victory Prima Pils (from Pennsylvania) or Sixpoint The Crisp (from New York).

Yes, really like Sixpoint's Crisp and most of what they produce ... have noticed that a lot of places sell a boxed sampler of four of their beers (including The Crisp) and it's harder to find them packaged individually

And agree with going with a pilsner and an IPA

I have a method for buying wine which works well for me. I buy a wine from Portugal or Spain. I spend up to $12 per bottle. It's fantastic. I've never had a bad wine from either of those countries. Also excellent are Argentina and Chile.

qrysdonnell said:
I can't speak to wine, but I can speak to beer. (Caveat: I'm a beer snob with a heavy geographical bias!). With beer you can have a pretty wide range of what people might like and you can't really narrow that down to a single beer.
You'll want to get an ale and a pilsner. The crowd that doesn't like pilsners is going to be likely to like a hoppy beer, like a pale ale or IPA. For the most part if you walk into a beer store and say 'give me a good pilsner' or 'give me a good IPA'. While people might drink or not drink a certain style, for the most part if they drink IPAs they'll be fine with any.
So for pilsners, I'd recommend either the Victory Prima Pils (from Pennsylvania) or Sixpoint The Crisp (from New York).
For a pale ale or IPA I'd probably go with either the Bronx Brewery American Pale Ale (from New York) or the Dogfish Head 90 Minute (from Delaware).
Don't be put off that some of these come in cans. Cans are generally better for beer and the stigma is generally going away.

 If you go with the Dogfish, I'd recommend the 60 Minute.  It's got a 6.0 ABV while the 90 Minute is a 9.0 ABV.  The 90 Minute packs a pretty powerful punch of alcohol and hops.

I second the endorsement for Victory Prima Pils.  It's a great summer beer, very refreshing. And if you have guests who are used to brands like Bud, Miller or Coors, it will be something that isn't too far from their comfort zone.

In terms of ale, I highly recommend the Founders All-Day IPA.  For my taste, it's got enough flavor to satisfy the typical IPA drinker, but it's got a lower alcohol content of 4.7%.  If you're hosting and people are going to drink more than one or two, that's going to make a difference compared to a typical IPA at 6% or 7%.

Steve said:

qrysdonnell said:
I can't speak to wine, but I can speak to beer. (Caveat: I'm a beer snob with a heavy geographical bias!). With beer you can have a pretty wide range of what people might like and you can't really narrow that down to a single beer.
You'll want to get an ale and a pilsner. The crowd that doesn't like pilsners is going to be likely to like a hoppy beer, like a pale ale or IPA. For the most part if you walk into a beer store and say 'give me a good pilsner' or 'give me a good IPA'. While people might drink or not drink a certain style, for the most part if they drink IPAs they'll be fine with any.
So for pilsners, I'd recommend either the Victory Prima Pils (from Pennsylvania) or Sixpoint The Crisp (from New York).
For a pale ale or IPA I'd probably go with either the Bronx Brewery American Pale Ale (from New York) or the Dogfish Head 90 Minute (from Delaware).
Don't be put off that some of these come in cans. Cans are generally better for beer and the stigma is generally going away.

 If you go with the Dogfish, I'd recommend the 60 Minute.  It's got a 6.0 ABV while the 90 Minute is a 9.0 ABV.  The 90 Minute packs a pretty powerful punch of alcohol and hops.

 Yeah, I was actually picturing the 60 minute label, but typed 90. The Flesh & Blood citrus IPA is good too if you like citrus IPAs.

The Founders Factor: How All Day IPA Became a National Hit

I agree on going with a lower ABV to avoid giving unwary guests an unpleasant surprise. And Sixpoint is a great suggestion and not difficult to find (Kings, Wine Barrel, Village Liquor, etc.), and comes in elegant skinny cans. (I'm on the lookout for Jammer, the salty-sour one, but I might not serve it at a party.)

I'd think of a session IPA as more of a outdoor block party/tailgate sort of beer where people are going to be drinking for a long time. It's also good to have if you're having a selection of beers, but if the other choice is a pilsner I'd stick to a 'proper' IPA. While the Founder's All-Day is a great session IPA,

Of course, all we know about the gathering is that it's a party with wine and beer, so that's not a ton to zone in on as to what would be the right feel for the people there, etc.

Thank you!  This is very helpful!

qrysdonnell said:
I can't speak to wine, but I can speak to beer. (Caveat: I'm a beer snob with a heavy geographical bias!). With beer you can have a pretty wide range of what people might like and you can't really narrow that down to a single beer.
You'll want to get an ale and a pilsner. The crowd that doesn't like pilsners is going to be likely to like a hoppy beer, like a pale ale or IPA. For the most part if you walk into a beer store and say 'give me a good pilsner' or 'give me a good IPA'. While people might drink or not drink a certain style, for the most part if they drink IPAs they'll be fine with any.
So for pilsners, I'd recommend either the Victory Prima Pils (from Pennsylvania) or Sixpoint The Crisp (from New York).
For a pale ale or IPA I'd probably go with either the Bronx Brewery American Pale Ale (from New York) or the Dogfish Head 90 Minute (from Delaware).
Don't be put off that some of these come in cans. Cans are generally better for beer and the stigma is generally going away.

Tom_Reingold said:
I have a method for buying wine which works well for me. I buy a wine from Portugal or Spain. I spend up to
$12 per bottle. It's fantastic. I've never had a bad wine from either of those countries. Also excellent are Argentina and Chile.

 On the rare occasion I drink red wine, this has been my strategy.  

A French Languedoc (region) is an affordable red wine option.  An Argentinian Torrontes (grape variety) is an affordable white wine option.     At least until Trump's trade wars kick in.