Female Beer Drinkers

This is also definitely true in Wisconsin, though I think homebrewers here still tend to be more male than female.

 

I think there has always been a great deal of female participation in craft beer. It's just that their participation may not be reflected in BA forum participation.

 

Women are smarter and aren't burdened by balls.

 

Oh, whatever. I didn't know we had to be so PC on BA. The stereotypical beer drinker is almost always thought of as a male, and we're not discussing whether that's right or wrong.

That being said, I turned my ex into a huge dark beer person with the help of FBS, CW BBS, and Edmund Fitz.

 

Wife hates IPAs but other than that she drinks a fair amount of craft beer with me.

 

They are not rare at all, they just aren't beer geeks who are on BA all the time.

Source: working at http://beercornerusa.com/

 

Female craft beer lover here to represent! I am a wine convert. I think beer offers so much more variety and nuance than wine. I have so much more fun hosting beer shares and attending beer events. I love surprising guys when I want a strong, hoppy beer or a unique sour. It's a fun hobby and my three besties all play along with me. There is even a chapter if Barley's Angels here, an all female beer group!

 

I believe you completely misunderstood his point if you thought he was making a PC complaint/argument.

 

For a really interesting blog post (and a really interesting beer blog in general, that's different from the more run-of-the-mill beer blogs) check out this post: http://tempestinatankard.com/2013/11/14/celebration-time-women-and-the-craft-beer-world/

 

I was hanging around the cask republic in new haven on a sunday afternoon. I started talking to three people in their twenties with one of them a woman. she not only dwarfed the other two in knowledge but was an avid home brewer. once we got into beer geek mode the two guys she was with said they were lost and to let them know when they can join the conversation. lol.

I do have to say that most of the beer geeks and the like I run into are males.

 

Female beer drinker here to say--I don't think there needs to be a divide in the craft beer community among men vs. women, old vs. young, beard vs. no beard, etc., but often there is one, at least between men vs. women. I find it to be the most noticeable when men--and women too--recommend beer to a woman. I drank fruit or wheat beer for a long time because that's what my brother/boyfriend/bartender would recommend. It wasn't until I randomly picked up a growler from a local brewery that I realized I liked hops.

So please, if you are trying to get your girlfriend/wife/sister/whomever into beer, don't always stick to a pre-conceived notion of what women beer drinkers like. Yes, there can be a standard path for new craft drinkers (e.g. Blue Moon/Shock Top --> Allagash White --> Berliner Weisse and so on) but you can never predict someone's tastes, especially based on his/her gender.

A good Draft Magazine quote on this:

"So, the best way to lower the divide in craft beer? Stop treating female drinkers like female drinkers. We don’t want to be marketed to as women; sell us on flavor, tell us how your canned IPA is a perfect cycling beer, show us how your chocolate stout makes a perfect mole sauce—just as you would a man. Bartenders, guide women to the best beers the industry has to offer in the same way you would a male drinker. And women, get to know what you like, and tell your bartender what that is."

http://draftmag.com/beereditor/on-women-and-beer/

 

And also--I think the male/female ratio on sites like BA/RateBeer and at beer geek gatherings (certain festivals, releases, bottle shares) might be skewed, but it shouldn't be interpreted as a lack of female beer geeks or drinkers. I have loads of female friends who spend a lot of time and money geeking out on beer, but don't rate beers online, trade, go to to bottle releases, etc. Doesn't mean they aren't out there.

 

my wife drinks prosecco...if i can get her to smell my beer i consider that a win

 

some women like to adopt their partners hobbies, and I think that's as far as it will go with the rare exception here and there

 

100x this. For sure. Hands down.

 

I don't know if I'd say that men and women approach beer drinking in a different way...or at least the people who are interested in drinking craft beer. I got into craft beer when I was an undergraduate at OSU. Introduced by my [male] neighbors. Now, though I'd say that as far as the make-up of the group of friends I enjoy craft beer with....it's almost 50/50. I have good male friends who are into craft beer but my two best girl friends are probably my top 'beer' friends. And most of my craft beer experiences (festivals, tastings, or trips around the US) have been done with mostly females. I'm running with a crowd all in their mid-20s though and I think it's more common than not to be into craft beer right now. If you take into account the full age range of drinking age people, then obviously the 'craft beer crowd' is skewed towards males.

 

In my small circle of beer afficianados about half are women. My general observation is that women are the same as men in all things beer, but mostly better at everything else. No joke.

 

I like this topic a lot. I could talk on it for days, I think.

I don’t think adventurous is a male or female trait. I thought I hated IPAs until I had the right one. This tells you that I kept trying them. I didn’t just discount the whole lot because one was gross. Maybe this is because I believe that saying you don’t like something means you don’t like what you’ve had of that thing.

For instance… I didn’t like pork. Well, funny thing, I was served an amazing pork dish. Now I won’t tell you I don’t like pork, I’ll tell you I don’t like overcooked pork. Once I had it properly done, I loved it.

Treating the female beer loving community needs to be similar. Want to encourage me to try more styles? Just describe your beer well on the label. Want to turn me off from trying your beer? Call it something girly or use cutesy descriptions. It makes me feel like the producer thinks I’m too dumb to know an actually good beer when I see one.