Do you catch your good-lady gazing at your pint whilst she sips at her fruit based cocktail? Does she want to partake in your ale, but feels too shy to ask? Does she long for her own pint, but doesn’t want to be seen drinking one?
It’s a question that has been asked before but, could women be a part of the renaissance that the pub and real ale trades are looking for?
With micro breweries recently experiencing a lot of interest and growth, the real ale industry has enjoyed some gathering acclaim for brewsters within the business. Waen Brewery founder Sue Hayward has seen demand for award winning Waen beers rise year upon year. Sara Barton, founder of Brewsters Brewing Company reminds us of the long history between women and brewing, up until the 1600’s brewing was primarily a woman’s business. Alex Heeton and Zara Hale, of BrewDog Camden regularly produce interesting home-brews with a creative understanding of the brewing process. Although there are just a few female ambassadors being pushed into the lime-light, there is still plenty of room for more women within the industry. Women have been historically good at brewing, it’s time they were invited back on a grander scale.
The pub industry however is constantly under threat, CAMRA are reporting that pubs are now closing at the rate of 18 per week, with the trend of closures set to continue if not increase. On a brighter note though, since the smoking ban there has been a steady increase in the number of women pub-goers.
UK accredited beer sommelier Sophie Atherton in Cask Matters (Nov 2012) reminded licensees that around half of their potential customers are women. She also outlined some suggestions and techniques pubs can use themselves to help expose real ale to women in a more positive light.
Atherton suggested that the process starts with the equipment. Keeping your pipes clean and maintained isn’t often easy, but it is absolutely essential to maintain a level of consistency and pride over your beer selection.
She also asks licensees to consider the psychology behind attracting women to real ale.
Pubs should avoid advertising sexist pump-clip imagery and perhaps broaden their range of beers from just masculine names such as Spitfire, Mutt’s Nuts or Seriously Bad Elf, to embrace a softer selection that potential female customers can feel a connection to, such as Strawberry Blonde, Chocolate Orange Delight or Banana Bread Beer. It may seem patronising, matching flowery and flavoured names to female drinkers, but by introducing flavoured beers into the selection, licensees continue to dispel the myth to both sexes that all ale tastes the same, one enduring stigma that the drink has acquired. Who knows, if it’s on offer, perhaps even the bearded, port-belly, sandal wearing stereotypes may try a Cherry Fruit Beer after a long days rambling over the hills?
Then there’s the sales pitch, it’s proven more likely that women will sample real ale if it is suggested to them by a female member of staff. Women like to know the honest opinions of other women. Offering alternatives to their regular tipple could be the way. Red wine or coffee drinking women might like to try a porter, stout or dark beer. White wine drinkers may prefer a citrus or fruit beer, and sparkling wine drinkers may prefer a blonde more carbonated, citrus beer.
Lets continue to support the British pubs by by making 2013 the year we make an effort to share the ale with the women in our lives, and with Valentines day just around the corner, treat your missus to a pint down the pub, it’ll be an experience she’ll cherish and never forget. Cheers!
Does your missus partake in the ale? What is her favourite pint? If you’ve a comment feel free to leave it in our comments section below, or join in the conversation on our Facebook page.
had to smile as I have two gentlemen customers just like you describe who DO drunk cherry beer after their walk to the pub and two petite ladies who will only drink points of the darkest dark beer available
Personally I’m partial to a nice dark mild, and my mum would say it’s hard to beat a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord – but my husband doesn’t like beer at all. Tired of the sexism of the brewing industry? When they try to tell me what I like isn’t beer, then yes.
I go into a pub and order a pint of interesting-looking real ale and an alcopop. Naturally, they put the pint down in front of my partner, and the alcopop in fornt of me … then look thoroughly confused when we swap… *eye-roll*
I was first introduced to proper beer when I was 16 in a lovely little bar in Birmingham and have been drinking the wonderful stuff ever since, recently my drinking of it has improved greatly as just across the road is a lovely little brewery namely The Waen run by the lovely Sue and my favourite tipple when on tap there is Chilli Plum Porter (but I will drink the whole repotoir!)
Being a mere little ladywoman, I wasn’t sure how to use the internet in order to post comments, but my fictional husband is too busy growing his beard and winning the bread to respond to the last paragraph and tell you about my drinking habits on my behalf, so I’ve had to learn – and I have about as much experience in using computers as I do drinking real ale! *titter* It is so congenial of you to make these helpful suggestions that women be ‘invited’ to participate in brewing, since I’m sure many of them were waiting for your go-ahead. Also so thoughtful to suggest naming beers after flowers or fruit or hairstyles, so as to coax delicate blossoms of womanhood like myself to try them despite our natural inclination towards white wine spritzers. I will recommend to my local landlord that he keeps his lines clean and his beer properly chilled, because he would have never have thought of doing that anyway. Perhaps, once these great strides have been achieved and women are at last welcomed in pubs much as though they were ordinary drinkers, you might consider writing an article on your website which considers the possibility that those same women might be reading it?
This is a joke right? You start off as Al Murray’s the pub landlord, move on to basically badly reproduce an article from a national newspaper before being utterly patronising about ‘softer names’ and ‘flavoured beers’, which tells me you clearly know absolute nothing about how to engage with female beer drinkers and would sincerely appreciate it if you NEVER write about the subject again and, if possible, take this utter crap down.
What arrant, patronising toss. Have you not noticed that every attempt to produce “beer for the ladies” over the past 20 years has failed disastrously and expensively? Yes, more education needs to be done to introduce people to the wide range of flavours that can be found in different beers, but women won’t respond to being told “you’ll like this one, dear, it’s girlie.” That sort of approach will put then off even faster than sexist pumpclips.
What Melissa Cole said…
If a bloke has a ‘port-belly’ does he wear sandals because they’re easier on his gout?
Just wondering…
“treat your missus to a pint down the pub, it’ll be an experience she’ll cherish and never forget.”
*facepalm*
(I thought Beer In The Evening was dead. Who owns it this week?).
Yes! I whole heartedly approve of this article! I deplore it when the women in my life like to drink their “fizzy girly horse-pop!” I prefer to feed them a spoon of malted barley! I clothe myself in the iron plates of ManKind before I make this attempt! I am bulging male! My organ is the stuff of legend! I am actually a rhinoceros! Let us make the Lady-Ale! Let us aromatise its froth with lavender! For only this way will Women be allowed into the Hallowed Church of Ale! We are the chosen people, but as we sip the Glory-Nectar, we need the supple Curve of Women at our side! For who else do we collapse on and Put at Risk of Asphyxiation once our Ale is Consumed! Yes to Delayed Thrust! Yes to Well Thumbed Notebook! Yes to Ale in a Dainty Glass! Bring Out The Camra Woman! Let her Bask in the Confetti of Hops! Let her sample the Tasting Goblet of Stout! Let my Phallus Not Be Disarrayed by the Pandering to A Female Demographic! Let the Bar be Made out of Rubber! I, Glorious Ale Pursuer, Stroke Fondly at the Dainty Arm of our Female Counterparts! Bring the Lady her (rose-scented) Flagon of Beer! We are the Next Generation! We will do things Our Way! Glory to the ale! Glory to the woman! Glory to the fusion of Ale and Woman! Glory to the Positioning of Ale and Woman in my Bed! Glory to the Bed! Glory to the Woman Drinking Ale in my Bed above my Unconscious Form! Glory to Beer! Glory! Glory! Glory!