It ’s no big secret that the beer universe is dominated by clotheshorse . take the air into any American cunning beer event , from agiant festivalto a local rap putsch , and you ’re directly confronted with a sea of men , all sip and sniffing and mount poetic about hops and grain . That this distinctly bro - y environment – not to refer decades ofsexist branding(anybody remember Deep Ellum ’s " Dallas Blonde : Goes down easy " campaign ? Yikes . ) – might deter some women from getting into the view is moderately obvious . TLDR ; sexism sucks , especially when it observe hoi polloi from discovering the wonder that is craft beer . So how do we fix it ?
maestro beer maker and longtime industry adviser Kristi McGuire suppose she has a solution : High Heel Brewing , a Modern Missouri - based brewing company marketed explicitly – and alone – to female drinkers .
The brand ’s name state it all , a program line made only more readable by the hop - topped stiletto logo ( which to me looks more like an artichoke deoxyephedrine cream cone , but whatever ) . According toa recentUSA Todayarticle , High Heel will start hitting the shelf in Florida , where it ’s brewed by contract brewing startup Brew Hub , as soon as June , 2016 .
Mtsaride/Shutterstock (edited)
The ship’s company ’s two debut offering , the yield - establish , cyder - like Slingback Perry Ale and a hopped - up , 8.4 % ABV IPA called Too Hop’d to Handle , feature brilliantly non-white publicity meant to appeal specifically to lady toper . The whole thing is already causing quite a flurry among the good folks of craft beer .
" I do n’t believe that there is anything inherently wrong with drawing attention to a charwoman - run company in a male - master industry or even kitschy femmey branding – that ’s their choice , irk as it may be , " aver Brooklyn - basedLineup Brewing ’s Katarina Martinez . " It is , however , problematic to assume that your distaff consultation wants a different production than your manful interview . That ’s just as noisome as men assuming that women experience nothing about beer and mansplaining DIPAs . "
Julia Davis , a beer maker at a major Chicago slyness brewery we ’ve agreed to leave out of this , put things in simpler term : " There ’s already a beer for women . It ’s scream , ' whatever fucking beer we want to drink . ' "
PRNewsFoto/High Heel Brewing
Look , make the beer world a more inviting shoes for everyone is an indisputably positive move – the issue here lies in how a company decides to go about it . National groups like the Pink Boots Society , Barley ’s Angels , and Girls Pint Out have been working towards gender inclusivity for years while more and more craft breweries are come out as actively defend to misogynistic merchandising and discrimination in the workplace .
And , contrary to McGuire ’s averment inUSA Todaythat " [ t]here ’s mountain of women out there who would say ( a women - owned brewery ) is an overdue idea , " womanhood are come into the plot like never before , with OG female person - trial breweries like New Belgium , Stoudt ’s , Full Sail , Lost Coast , and Lazy Magnolia welcoming a multiplication of newbie that counts Golden Road , Throwback Brewery , Blue Canoe Brewing Co. , and the GABF honor - win Grimm Artisanal Ales – as well as infinite others – amongst its ranks . While High Heel is n’t the first brewery aimed at distaff consumer ( see : Chick Beer ) , McGuire ’s venture is coming across more as an annoyingly cutesy merchandising ploy than an honourable pursuit to terminate sexism .
" What really bothers me is their disregard for those of us women that have already been possess and running breweries , " says Laurisa Milici , who , along with pardner Rob Pihl , has head up NYC’sRadiant Pig Craft Beerssince its 2013 launch . " I should n’t have to make our logo pink to get respect as a woman in the industry , nor name a beer after an over - the - top female stereotype to get cleaning lady to salute our beer . Beer is beer , anyone should be able-bodied to drink it no matter who brews it or what you name it . "
Syda Productions/Shutterstock
Me , I ’m all for make craft beer more approachable to anyone that fall outside of the straight - snowy - swell scene , but why not make a brand that works against gendered stereotypes rather than reinforces them ? That approach only makes an already cliquish industry even more segregated . We do n’t need six - pack shaped like purse , we just need more badass , outspoken , non - consecutive - blanched - dudes making delicious beer , spreading the word that reproductive organ do n’t determine a person ’s drinkable preference and boost change from the inside .
At the ending of the day , I take comfort in remembering that from its very head start , marketing has never played a primary part in a craft brewery ’s achiever . And if the rise and crepuscle of unnumbered craft nouveau-riche over the preceding few years has teach us anything , it ’s that if the beer is dependable , multitude will drink it . If the beer is bad , the great unwashed wo n’t – no matter what character of horseshoe graces the packaging .
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