I love to eat out for a fine meal and so does my wife; especially as a way to take a break from the kids and just spend some ‘us’ time. We try to go out at least once a month.
This time around, I wanted to try something a little different. Instead of just going out to the restaurant and having a drink at the bar while waiting for a table, I decided to make the waiting at the bar the focal point and suggested going over to Brown’s Brewery & Pub for drinks and then head somewhere else for a fancier dinner.
“Go out for drinks?” she asked. She told me she has never gone out ‘just for drinks’. I was shocked… and we’ve been together for 19 years!
It seemed a little out of the norm for her but she went along with it anyway; and, she was very glad she did. It didn’t take long for her to relax and not 
think about what we were going to do next. Instead, we were able to just think about us and have great conversation; the kind you will never get to have with kids at the table.
The only problem is I think I’ve created a monster. Now, that’s all she wants to do; but I’m good with it because I’d rather put my time and money into good beer and a relationship, rather than a $30 steak. We almost didn’t go to dinner, but we did. However, we did decide that next time we are just going out for drinks and perhaps splitting an appetizer, focusing on us, and not the dinner.
My wife was never much of a beer fan. If she had beer at all it would be of the light, megabrewed variety. She was more of the White Zinfandel type. Once she was with me she’d try one every once in a while, but always seemed “eh” about the ones she would drink. She liked Bass Ale for a bit. Still does. And Dos Equis. But never that much.
But she got a sample of some of the craft pilsners I was drinking last summer when we had that series of posts on pilsners and she just ate them up. Current favorites are Brewer’s Alley Pilsner (which is now bottling their pils for local distribution) and Heavy Seas Small Craft Warning Uber Pils from Clipper City in Baltimore.
I’m convinced now that anyone who doesn’t like beer just hasn’t found a style they like.