Posted By: HLaney
Background of Featured Image courtesy of CraftBeer.com
It’s true. Unfortunately, women make up a small percentage of craft beer drinkers. While I swell with pride at the fact that our numbers continue to grow everyday, I see a disturbing trend lurking–a culture clash emerging that threatens not to encourage the rise of women in craft beer, but to destroy it. The battle lines have been drawn between die-hard female connoisseurs and those women just entering the world of craft beer. Sadly, I have even found myself engaging in this sort of beer-centric snobbery. The arguments are vitriolic, staid and twinged with the sort of moral finger-wagging normally reserved for side-of-the-road political protests.
Could a trip to the Tap Room with the girls mean a huge debate?
This argument is not new among women. An equally detrimental argument exists between stay-at-home moms and those mothers who work outside the home. Journalist Ellyn Spragins wrote of this dichotomy in The New York Times, elaborating, ”Stay-at-home moms are sure they are better mothers than working moms. And working moms think the stay-at-home contingent doesn’t have a clue as to how much they love their children or how hard their lives are.”[1]
Similarly, those die-hard beer drinkers swill their stouts pretentiously and the light lager crowd seethes with anger towards them. No one wins. To what end do these arguments strive? They serve no grander purpose than to divide women against each other and decay the increasingly important woman’s voice in craft beer and, indeed, the world.
Tap Handles at Great Divide... what to pick?
Working for breweries, I have seen certain beers gain a reputation as “chick beer,” “cougar beer,” and the decidedly nefarious, “bitch beer.” These beers are often lighter, fruitier or lower ABV. I understand the female beer connoisseur’s conundrum; no matter how tasty, light beers are often seen as the bygone vestiges of the unfortunate relegation of women to a lower class of beer. Drinking the heartiest, darkest beers is a political message. However, we simply perpetuate that stereotype by tying a female beer drinker’s worth to the color of the craft beer in her glass. Many breweries today are churning out delicious, artisan, lower ABV, lighter beers that we should embrace as worthwhile additions to the craft beer world.
I may enjoy an uber-bitter IPA as my beer of choice. You may prefer stouts, porters, Scotch Ales or winter brews. Some others may prefer light lagers and fruit beers. By encouraging a diverse palate, we can better ourselves as beer drinkers and unite to encourage other women to enjoy craft beer. Cheers to all types of beers!
[1] Ellyn Spragins, “Is My Mom Better Than Yours?”, The New York Times, July 2001.
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Hanna Laney is the resident word nerd at Great Divide Brewing Company. When she’s not tweeting, posting or checking in online, she enjoys drinking hop-forward IPAs in the Colorado sunshine and the occasional crossword.
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Fantastic article. So true a message as well, in any small community artificial divides can destroy it from within.
So true. It reminds me of the culture at the gym. Newbies that feel intimidated just starting out, and experienced meatheads that belittle the newbies because they can’t bench 500 pounds yet.
We need to look at each other as beer drinkers, and know that this will continue to bind us.
Great article!
Indeed there is a rift in the community. As a craft beer lover/supporter, I am more deeply concerned with women, and men, not even getting in the door of the brewpub.
THANK YOU for the great article! It’s been said that women are intimidated by the men in the brewpubs, but my experience has been more of women being intimidated of other women more than anything. Getting girlfriends together to try new beers, and not ripping on what anyone may or may not like or be familiar with is the first and most important job of craft beer loving ladies. In my opinion, anyway.
For a community that is generally very thoughtful and inclusive, the random instances of ‘snobbery’ (for lack of a better term) always suprises me.
Excellent, thoughtful post. It has not been my experience per se, but to be honest, I’d be the one poking the fun (been a craft beer drinker for many many years) and that’s just not my style. Snobbery and beer go together like ice cream and motor oil, if’n you ask me. (Good, honest, authentic) beer culture celebrates difference, revels in experimentation and supports community. Gender differences shouldn’t come into play (of course they do, but what a waste of time and energy), nor should ones level of beer knowledge. Openness is the name of the game. Pretension will kill my palate faster than 1000 IBUs, and the worst is when it comes from the brewery itself. I shant name names, but there are a couple breweries in the greater Denver metro area that don’t seem to want to educate the common consumer when it comes to their beers. And that’s a shame. Great Divide Brewing is DEFINTELY not on that list. Good people, great attitudes, excellent beer. In that order.
I completely understand this!! I just started a blog for my female friends showcasing how I feel about different beers. A friend of mine shared it on his website and the first response I got was from another woman saying ‘it’s a shame that it takes the word stilettos to make women like craft beer.’ Who cares!! What matters is that women should, and do, love craft beer, and we’re all in this together. The community needs us to stand strong and be encouraging, not belittling. Just because a woman is currently drinking a Miller Lite doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t drink a Southern Tier IPA with a little positive encouragement, and even if she doesn’t, at least she gave it a go. Being a ‘brat’ won’t get us anywhere. Love this post!
I work in a popular beer bar (owned by a woman), if women didn’t come in frequently(say 60%) and ask for the lightest beers or the fruity stuff consistently then there wouldn’t be this gender stereotype. Women are a huge part of the problem, and many are not willing to step out of their comfort zone to try something different. It’s not beer snobbery to want people to drink something other than a light lager or some silly blueberry beer. It is about drinking something made with quality and care as opposed to adjuncts and extracts.
As a woman, aren’t you offended by the droves of women drinking trash? Why not try and convince your friends to try a Delirium Tremens instead of Mich Ultra? Buy it for them if you must, that’s how guys get each other to stop drinking terrible beer.
@Meghan:
Meghan, I have had a similar experience with breweries around Denver. I’d love to hear more about what you have to say about the beer scene in town. I believe clicking my name will get you in touch with me if you’re interested!
@Mike:
I’m not offended that other women choose to drink ‘trash’ beer… it would be like condemning people for eating microwave pizzas. That’s what they want, or maybe that’s all they know.
I make no secret to my friends and acquaintances that I love beer and I’m willing to share and help people try new beers if they want to. If someone doesn’t seem interested in trying something new, I don’t pressure them or tease them. I offer to give them suggestions based on what they’re drinking or tell them what I like about other beers, but you can’t force someone to try good beer any more than you can force someone to learn to enjoy fine cuisine.
… and then there will always be people, men and women who don’t care about what they’re drinking. They’re just trying to get drunk. I see them walk into my local tap house, ask the bartender if they have long island iced teas, and when they hear that’s not served, they leave. That just means more beer for me!
I never really thought about the subject matter in terms of female vs. female. I guess it’s out there just as much as male snob vs. male light lager drinker.
While I like all kinds of beers, I think that actually brewing different kinds of beer (as a homebrewer) has led me down a path now where I am not interested in making as many of the bigger beers I used to. In fact, last year I made a Blueberry Koelsch for my wife, and while she enjoyed it, which made me happy, what I really enjoyed were her friends who would come over and ask if we had “any of that blueberry beer” left.
I remember serving a second one of these after a few weeks to a friend and as she set the glass down, she stated, “I like how you carbonated it like a pop!”
It doesn’t matter what kind of beer either men or women like, I do enjoy the fact that when they like a certain attribute, such as carbonation, they can talk about it as a means of enjoyment versus just a means of getting hammered.
Cheers to women who drink craft beer! This is the next revolution in beer. You’ll see…
@mike: I have to say that your statements are quite bias, though it may be due to the content of the article. But what about the hundred of thousands of guys that order Bud or Coors nearly exclusively. Don’t hate on the women who order light beers, it’s a symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.
On topic: I believe that this article could be written just as easily about men. I can’t tell you how many times a guy has told me he won’t drink such-and-such beer because it’s too light for them. I think it’s aproblem of the beer snobs and elitists. I personally am not a huge fan of lighter beers, but I won’t dismiss an entire style outright…that’s just dumb.