It’s time to do my bit for trying to encourage girls/women/ladies (which ever you prefer) to drink more Ale. There has been a lot said over the last week or so from both sides of big blue sea and from commercial and non commercial views, you can read some of it here, here and here, which ever side of the fence you sit on the common cause is a good one, so over to Kristy for her bit about the first year of BitterSweet Partnership.
A Year of Women and Beer
Despite my love of fizzy lager (Beerreviewsandy’s words, not mine) I’m lucky enough to get another chance to post here. As I mentioned before in my last guest post for Beer Reviews, I work for BitterSweet Partnership, which is about encouraging women to see beer as a great drinks choice. We work to get women to love beer and challenge the stereotypes and myths that prevent some women from trying it.
The t-shirt say's it all
We’ve recently celebrated our first birthday : and it’s definitely been a year to remember! Some of my highlights have included:
- Blogging to spread the word : as well as being able to share my thoughts in a guest post here on Beer Reviews I’ve also blogged for The Good Pub Guide, the BitterSweet Partnership blog as well as my own blog, Lighter Side of Beer. I’ve always been passionate about beer and about encouraging more women to love it : now I’m able to talk about it with a wide range of people, and it’s been really interesting to hear people’s feedback : good or bad!
- Converting women to become beer fans through our beer and food matching sessions, and surprising many with how good beer and chocolate are together as well as working with Allegra McEvedy to create a great Christmas Menu (although in my book a Roast free-range turkey with Innis & Gunn, sage & pork stuffing is for life not just for Christmas!!)
- Learning what women want from glassware, and joining up with Amy Molyneaux of PPQ in order to develop a designer half-pint glass
- Getting to the bottom of what men really think about women who drink beer : and finding that almost half (44%) would be pleasantly surprised to see their date order a beer
- Launching our new Facebook page, Beer Angels – why not become a fan for regular updates?
- Talking to women, lots of women, to really understand just how they feel about beer. Since BitterSweet launched a year ago, we have spoken to over 30,000 British women and it’s thrown up a lot of personal surprises. As a woman who’s always loved beer it surprised me just how negative some women’s views of beer are : makes it more of an exciting challenge though trying to change that.
- And of course the Twissup : beer is the most sociable drinks around and being accepted by the beer blogging community is proof of that : even if we don’t always see eye to eye ;o)
It’s been a great year but there’s more to come : since we celebrated our first birthday, we’ve seen from our research that women could be the saviours of pubs, with nearly a third visiting the pub once a fortnight or more, and nearly three quarters preferring to visit their local. UK media from The Publican to The Sun have reported the news, and I’ve been on the radio too!! And that’s not all we’ve got up our sleeve : we aim to increase the percentage of women choosing beer in 2010, and have many exciting plans in store. Watch this space!
Thank you for linking my website.
I suppose that I fall on the very “liberal” end of the beer drinking spectrum.
I do not believe that men and women need to have “his” and “hers” beers. But then, I am hugely engrossed in the craft beer industry and have a well-developed beer palate. Perhaps I have been out of the “real” world too long, but I highly doubt that women need to be belittled by beverages that lack in color (yes I went there), flavor and heck, quality.
The reason women don’t drink beer is because of the negative perception of beer that the big corporate companies created years ago. According to most TV ads, beer is totally a dudes beverage, meant for consumption during manly sports events or while out on spring break while preying on scantily clad girls. It is MARKETING that killed the image of beer. NOT the fact that women are afraid of so called calories or that they can’t “handle” the man’s beverage.
Throw us a freaking bone. We are more sophisticated than you marketers give us credit for.
I for one, do not need a fucking training wheel to get me to drink beer.
I prefer to buy beer like I buy all my products, conscientiously. I only drink quality products, made from a respectable producer, and produced with the best ingredients — no adjuncts, no extracts, no fillers. No bullshit.
Sigh. Just don’t underestimate women. Bottom line.
Thanks for the comments Beer Wench, some interesting and very valid points there.
I for one give the big corporates as much stick as anyone, the problem with craft/real ale in the UK is that it still has that stigma of being for fat beardy old men, this needs to change!
I have a feeling that this along with the “standard boring British Bitter” has a lot ot answer for when it comes to encouraging non beer drinkers (and women) to pick up a pint, making it more attractive and making the way it is served and presented more appealing to the younger generation is possibly one way to go.
Clear beer could be the wrong way of going about it but it may just persuade enough people to pick up a glass of it and give it a go, i guess we will have to wait and see.
Unfortunately we Brits aren’t very good at shouting out about things in the right way, some of the recent advertising campains from the bigger breweres have possibly been wide of the mark (blog post to come soon) but at the same time the press would have you believe that everyone is out drinking 20 pints of real ale every night of the week and that strong beers are encouraging this.
I think we are some way off the awarness that seems to be present in other countries, we have loads of great craft beer in the UK but only a few people shout about it. This needs to change.