We’ve written quite a bit about women & beer, and just beer in general, and now The Metro are the latest publication to hop on their soap box, explaining the “phenomenon” of women, like, drinking beer and stuff.
They start their article out with a bang, describing your typical Thursday night out on the streets covered with “ladettes” drinking “generic lager” while the “posh” women drink vodka.
Ah yes, only ladish girls like beer! It’s a fact! But apparently that's changing. (Hasn't it already?)
M&S are apparently targeting women with their beer and ciders, and The Metro has even spoken to BitchBuzz’s favorite beer writer and expert, Melissa Cole, about whether or not women really do have different palates than men. Cole explains that:
“The problem is that women mainly try commodity lagers but are sensitive to stale flavors so they might experience canned sweetcorn and rotting vegetables or damp dog, which is off-putting.”
While Cole, as usual, gives us useful and interesting insight into the world of women and beer (did you know that 16% of women tried cask ales last year, and has risen by 30% this year?) the rest of The Metro’s article is bloody pointless.
They got together a group of three non-beer drinkers and one woman who "will drink anything" and had them try different ciders and ales, and tried to see if they could convert them to drinking beer. Oh, how zaney you are, Metro.
One girl liked the raspberry Weston cider as it “looks like rosé” and is “something my Mum would like” and the rest of their reactions to the beers were so unexciting I won’t even mention them.
Here’s the thing, I think more women would like beers if they knew more about them, had the opportunity to try different kinds and types of beers, and if they went to pubs that stocked things other than Carling, Grolsch and Amstel Light.
You don’t need to do lackluster experiments with four female drinkers or write “shocking” drivel about boyish women drinking whole pints of ale – it’s going to things like the Real Food Market’s “Speakers Corner” with Meantime Brewery, joining the LoveBeer@Borough group or following the Bittersweet Partnership that make the difference.