Female Beer Drinkers

My wife has gotten into this along with me. She is a coffee-lover, which has led to her really liking porters and some stouts, and we share enthusiasm for lots of Belgians, especially quads. The only place we sometimes part ways is that she does not like anything bitter or hoppy. But she'll try anything once, and we've had a great time at tastings, even one last week where we tried a bunch of lambics and laughed all evening about how horrible they were.

 

My god aren't threads like this getting old?! It makes me not want to even try to and participate in BA because every week or so one of these douche "how many dudes think chicks drink good beer now?" thread comes up.

I could reiterate what many women on these do and say that I am in fact a women who loves craft beer. so much so that I opened my own craft beer bar 4 years ago. I could go on to say that I got my boyfriend into craft beer and dragged him to Belgium with me this past month. I could even reply to the guy above me and go over the guys I've dated in my life who have liked craft beer (answer is ZERO not including the present one whom I got into craft). Hell I could rant on and on about the sexism I encounter in the industry on a daily basis.

What I think is more important than all that is that there are more and more women getting into craft beer. At my bar I don't see the huge divide. We gets tons and tons of women every year who are self proclaimed beer geeks. We also get a ton of GUYS that walk out because we don't serve bud lite. Over the years I have noticed that women are much more willing to try new beers than men are. Getting middle aged man to switch his Miller Lite is way more difficult than talking a women into trying something new.

How about these threads stop. Start treating women as equal instead of a weird subset of the craft beer culture so that the culture as a whole can gain more momentum.

 

I sure would have thought so.. And I am from Omaha, of all places, not exactly known as a bastion of progressive thought... Then again Will Forte did just call us the Portland of the Midwest, so maybe we are atypical and I just don't realize it. Anyways, I was at a brewpub tonight at it was easily 50/50 male/female (if not even 60% female). Unlike some people in this thread I am not so arrogant as to decide the female don't "really" want to be there.

 

Some of my best friends are men. Most of my best friends are women. It's about 30%/70%. It's always been that way and I understand why women stand back and watch how guys act, wondering what's going on in their heads. Beer fits all equally.

 

That's sort of what I was thinking. I know there are plenty of women that are into Craft Beer, I just wonder what the proportions are here on BA. I know that in general, men are far more likely to join and participate in online forums, I wonder what the numbers are here. I would wager that at least 80% of the members of BA that comment here on the forums are male.

 

Wishing you continued success in your craft beer bar. Awesome that you dragged your boyfriend to Belgium! Clearly you are goddess-like...and I hope he endeavors to be worthy. I'm working on planning that same trip with my beautiful wife. : )

 

What makes me less inclined to participate on BA is reading the misogynistic posts in threads about how to deal with a gf/wife who has broken beer bottles or glassware. Those get real old, real fast.

I like the OP's original question asking for "thoughts on how (if at all) female craft drinkers approach the sport differently..." I'd like to hear more from other lady BAs about their experience on BA and drinking with their male beer buddies.

I only speak for myself here (not for female BAs in general), but I know that I approach drinking, especially at tastings, differently because I physically can't drink as much. It's just my fact. And, when I first joined BA, I didn't specify my gender because I didn't want to post on threads or start conversations and be "that girl who drinks beer," either for the "benefits" of that stigma ("Hey, cool, a girl who drinks beer!") or the "negatives" ("I don't want to drink with her!").

At the end of the day, I like beer, I like trading, and I like being on BA in general. I like interacting with people who like these things, too. Cheers, all!

 

I've learned that the female perspective elevates the conversation most of the time and I learn things.

However, it also opens the door to madness and a few monkeys stumble out. Perhaps this dynamic is what keeps our planet spinning on its axis.

 

My wife loves craft beer. Her favorite styles are hefenweizens, brown ales, and reds. Her favorite is tocobaga red from CCB. Her favorite breweries are cigar city and shorts both of which we have been fortunate enough to visit

 

I wish I could get my fiancee into craft, but she hates 99% of it. What she does like is the occasional Lambic and Redd's.

 

I hope even more females get into craft beer. Especially single females into beards and chubby guys.

 

I would be surprised if there was more than 10% women on this forum to be perfectly honest. IMHO, I would be willing to bet that the BA breakdown looks something like ( 80% US male, 10% female, 10% "foreigner" ).

I've often wondered what the % of people living outside the US are on this site because I can't tell you how often I see "favorite/best beer from YOUR state" threads and the generalization that everyone on here is living in the states.

There's more to the BA world than just the states, granted it is a US owned and operated website, still, the beer community is worldwide and I think a lot of times Americans forget this...

 

Thank you. I think you nailed what I wanted to say before. It's not just the threads about females into craft beer it's the comments that come along with it. I want to participate in as many beer-oriented things as possible, which includes BA, but I it's hard when you see how many posts people make about their g/f, wife, whatevers. I think meaningful conversations about getting women into craft beer is great. Conversations about getting all different groups into craft beer is great. But the divide needs to be left out.

 

"Foreigner" is now a gender! Didn't you know?? ;-)

 

My GF loves craft beer.

When I first introduced her into beer other than what's available on tap @ your regular Buffalo Wild Wings or Applebees, it didn't catch. I spent time with her explaining the styles and sampling A LOT of beer. I find that girls don't really venture as much as guys, unless (I say this only from my experience) you're willing to "help." The only time I've gotten her friends and other girls to sample is when I take the time to kind of explain the beer, let them know what flavors their going to drink and what they can expect for a mouthfeel. It's taken her a while to know what is a "good" representation of the style but she's got it down now and it's pretty awesome.

 

Which is what is so absurd

 

My wife and I will get in fights because sometimes I will open a beer and not offer her one, or let her try some of mine. Does that count?

 

I agree!

And (I know I don't need to say this), I'm old fashioned and I humbly apologize that the BA women have to endure "The Man Show" from time to time.