This week I’m not going to talk about specific beers, because there’s something about beer culture that has been bugging me. I’ve noticed people using a phrase a lot recently: “girly beer”. It’s got me thinking. What makes a beer ‘girly’?
Beer is generally considered to be a man’s drink. Think about the last ten beer adverts you’ve seen. They’re all squarely directed at men, showing fantasies of beautiful women falling over some handsome man holding a particular brand of piss lager. And it seems people are buying into this sexist image—glancing around the bar as I write this, I see two out of ten patrons are female.
Maybe it’s biological. I’ve heard that male and female tastebuds are different, with females tasting bitterness far more than males. However, a quick Google search proves this to be untrue. The tastebuds just transmit information to your brain, then it’s up to the brain to decide how you taste it. Beer doesn’t care whether you call it ‘girly’ or ‘manly’, it tastes the same regardless. It’s up to each individual to decide whether they enjoy it or not.
So perhaps the male-centric culture surrounding beer is giving people negative preconceptions about it, making ladies think they don’t like beer? I think we’re just unaware of what beer is out there.
On my first taste of bland lager, I hated it. But, because I knew I was supposed to like it, I grinned and beared it. It wasn’t until I tried a well-crafted ale years later that I genuinely enjoyed a beer for its flavour. If I didn’t have that expectation then I probably wouldn’t have given any more beers a fair go. I’d probably be a wine writer.
So it’s in the beer industry’s best interest to stop marketing beer just to men. Beer marketed to females these days are generic low-carb, light or fruity beers—how patronising. After all, what is stopping a woman from appreciating the deep, complex flavours of a barley wine, or the robust taste of a stout? Nothing. And why can’t a guy enjoy a refreshing framboise or kreik after a hard day’s work and not be mocked for having ‘girly beer’?
The perception of beer might be one of the last remnants of the sexist society of days gone. We need to appreciate beer for what it is and ignore any stigma surrounding it. A woman can be prime minister. A man can be a stay-at-home dad. We can all enjoy good beer.
If you have any questions about this week’s beers or any comments, please contact me at davethebeerguy@gmail.com.