I am going to blog two, perhaps controversial, pieces about women and beers/brewing/pubs, and I got the idea of writing this first blog a few years ago, from reading Travels with Barley, written by the American journalist Ken Wells, within which he discusses the idea of the "Beer Goddess"; a book, incidentally, sent to me by a friend of my youth, Anne, who now lives in Florida. And I immediately thought of the Sumerian Goddess of Beer, Ninkasi, as one does...
But, no, Mr Wells was really looking at the influence of women on men drinking beer in the contemporary U.S. of A., we could be talking about poor lagers, of course, but we are also talking about the craft beer 'revolution' that has been going on over there for quite a few years now. Craft brewers in the USA have, in recent years, been instrumental in, not just the development of new strains of hops, but also the use of hops aplenty in the brewing process, most of their beers aren't 'real' ales as us Brits expect, but they can certainly pack a punch with flavour, and strength! Notably, hops from over the Pond are regularly used in ales here now too, particularly the new-ish style (fad?) of American Pale Ales (eg Dark Star APA).
Women have had an enormous influence on brewing over the years, indeed, over many many years! As far as the history books show, women have dominated brewing from the first beers brewed in Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and for most of the centuries since, and there are quite a good number of women brewing (brewsters) for micro breweries now (eg Brewsters!), thank the goddess of brewing!
But, Mr Wells also was referring to female bar tenders or bar stewards, what some people in the UK call "barmaids", which apparently, is too sexist a term for the Americans and their pressure groups, so, to him, a barmaid is a "beer goddess." However, although the Bavarian barmaid can carry many glasses of foaming beer without spills, as this photograph attests to, and which may show a propensity towards superhuman strength, they are well oversized glasses, so nowhere near full. Us ale swilling British males, not always the most beautiful aesthetically, do enjoy the company of barmaids, though, let alone goddesses. However, I have to admit I've only ever had one relationship with a barmaid in my life, when I was in my early 20s, though my ex-wife runs a pub in Sheffield with her new husband (a lucky, and lovely, couple!); maybe many barmaids are goddesses, whatever, they've certainly avoided lowly me...
More
seriously though, in recent years in Britain the Campaign
for Real Ale
(CAMRA)
has used the female image to help its cause too, eg with this more up
to date image of the goddess, Ninkasi, which I imagine was partly a
way to encourage more women to drink real ale, although I'd imagine it has encouraged many men to drink even more real ale!
A
few years ago, Jennifer Ellison was used as part of CAMRA's
successful campaign to stop the Government's beer tax escalator; she
may well be a caricature of how barmaids are supposed to look, maybe
a 'beer goddess' even. However, barmaids and barmen (I can attest to
this having been a bar steward in many hostelries in the past) are
usually much like the rest of us, ordinary people, not gods or
goddesses, carrying out a wonderful role serving up quality ales to
us, and may they continue to do so, many thanks.
Mr
Wells also mentions a beer writer in the USA who calls herself "The
Beer Goddess", Lisa Morrison, whom I follow on
Twitter and Facebook, and I do like reading her articles, but,
whatever, more next time...
Hail Ninkasi, indeed, cheers!
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