WHAT WOMEN WANT
Alice Galletly debunks the idea of beer as a man’s drink
While working as a bartender, there was a question I’d often get asked that made me uncomfortable. Surprisingly it wasn’t, “What’s a famous blogger like you doing clearing glasses?”, although of course I asked myself that daily. No, the question was: “Can you recommend a girls’ beer?”
Every time it caused me to flinch a little. Nothing perceptible to the customer of course, just a slight clenching of the buttocks and a flicker of exasperation that got smothered with a toothy smile.
Here’s the truth: I couldn’t recommend girls’ beers any more than I could recommend flattering cargo shorts or fun ways to exercise, because these things don’t really exist. I mean, I can see why it’s useful to assign a sex to some products — underwear, for example, although by all means shop in whichever section you prefer. But beer? It’s a beverage. You wouldn’t ask a waiter to recommend a wine to match your genitalia, so why, when it comes to beer, should it be any different?
One assumption I often hear about gender and beer is that women don’t like the bitter taste of hops, and therefore prefer sweeter or more mellow-tasting beer styles. If that’s the case then I’m the exception, and so are my mother and sister, along with most of my girlfriends and all the women I know in the beer community.
Anecdotal evidence aside, though, what does science have to say? Well, studies suggest there are some links between our nether regions and taste preferences, but nothing as clear-cut or broad as “women can’t handle hops”. Research by Rutgers University in 2002 found that women of reproductive age (that’s me for a diminishing number of years, as Mum likes to remind me) are better at picking up on certain odours than men and women of other age groups. Another study, at Yale University in 2003, found women are more likely than men (35 per cent vs 15 per cent) to be “supertasters”, people born with relatively more taste buds than the average person. If you’re one of those people who gets teased for ordering mild butter chicken and thinking hoppy beer tastes like bile, the good news is you probably just have a superior tongue.