"Girl" Beer

A friend who is a home brewer and exceedingly knowledgeable about beer was talking to me once about the variety of beers he'd picked out for a session of van gogh beer still life"beer with Billy." This is an annual rite at a writer's workshop in Martha's Vineyard, where the students and faculty have beer and pizza and do a complete read through of one of Shakespeare's plays. He always chooses a variety of beers, and types of beer, and tries to include local microbrews; one of the beers he picked up was Westminster Massachusetts's Wachusett Brewing Company's Blueberry Ale. He referred to the Blueberry Ale in passing as a "girl" beer, and noted that it was an unfair appellation that a lot of "fruity" beers received. I tried the Blueberry Ale; it wasn't horrible and was in fact quite pleasant, but based on the bottle label the blueberry concentrate was added after fermenting; that seems a bit of a cheat to me, though I know some of the fruit lambics are made that way too.

I've had the idea of a "girl" beer in the back of my mind as a somewhat odd distinction, but then in reviewing, and reading reviews of Pyramid Brewery's Audacious Apricot, I noticed that it too was often described as a "girl beer." There doesn't really seem to be a hard-and-fast definition of what "girl beer" means, or indeed, even what beers qualify; it's also pretty clearly not exactly an insult but not exactly a compliment to the beer or the drinker. Based on comments from sites like this one, "girl beer" seems to refer to fruit-flavored, low alcohol, and sometimes, "light" or lower calorie beers. It is, in other words, beer that a girl would drink.

In talking to fellow beer-lovers, and bar-keeps, over and over again, they're surprised that I like beer, especially that I like a lot of different kinds of beers, ranging from stouts and porters to, well, things like Apricot ale. "But you're a girl!" they say. I refrain from pointing out that I'm a woman, usually, because the observation is almost always followed by "Gee, I wish my wife/girlfriend/female polar bear liked beer." Well, you know, it's quite possible that she does like beer; just not the ones she's had. There are, in fact, a lot of women who like beer; probably more than you think because it often doesn't occur to guys that yes, women do like beer too. In fact, here's a super article from another female beer-writer about finding a beer your female friends might like—and no, it's not a sex-linked characteristic; it's a matter of personal taste; but there's probably a beer (or a cider) that she'll like—and it can be loads of fun trying to discover it. I'd suggest in addition to the fruit-infused brews, you might try a chocolate stout, or a blonde ale like Pyramid's summmer seasonal Curve Ball.

Not only do a lot of women like beer, a lot of beer brewers are women. A lot of us write about beer, like Christina Perozzi, who used to manage one of my very favorite bars in Santa Monica, the original Father's Office, and who first introduced me to Chimay, and answered all sorts of questions, patiently. Christina Perozzi isn't alone, either; there's a fair number of women writing and drinking beer, like Taking the Beard out of Beer, A Beer Sort of Blog, about home brewing, The Beer Wench, is doing a really neat thing, pairing wines with beers, in terms of similarity in taste and style.

Having begun with noting that a lot of women like beers besides "girl beers, I want to end by noting that a lot of guys tend to favor the "fruity" sorts of beers, ranging from fruit-infused ales, to Hefeweizen with lemon, or the traditional fruit-infused lambics.