So, where are all the women?

[Schmaffy]

I'm new here (big surprise) and was wondering about the apparent lack of women on this site. I can't possibly be the only one. Are they here and just quiet? Is it because stereotypically, women don't like good beer? I have to say - once I started drinking "real" beer, I can't touch anything Miller/Bud/Coors, etc. It's like drinking water and has no style. And the majority of my close female friends feel the same. Brewing my own beer was a natural next step - I'm only on my first batch and already hooked.

Maybe I'm making too big of an assumption - but most if not all of the threads here have a decidedly...ummm..."masculine" flair (Brewsmith's "OK, admit you do it" thread is a great example, haha), so I'm assuming not a lot of females frequent this site.

So - any women in the house? And if not, why not?

 

[ChuBru]

Queen yooper is a woman

 

[unionrdr]

Oh yeah,there's quite a few womens on this site. Including Frau Administrator,yooper. Speaking of her,here's a lil Slim Harpo...

 

[Toga]

I cannot speak for the world but where I live those who partake in homebrewing as a hobby are mostly men. While I have encountered plenty of women who brew and are all about brewing as a hobby women make up a small percentage of the brewing population. I would have to imagine this is true in many if not most other places.

Just as an example one of the clubs I belong to has approximately 50 members and only 2 of them are women.

 

[fartinmartin]

I have deduced that a lot of the guys have a very large feminine side.

 

[agrazela]

All the wimmens is over on "Make Me A Sammich" .com

 

[unionrdr]

Just reminded me of Blazin' Saddles,"Where the white girls at"?

 

[Schmaffy]

Just reminded me of Blazin' Saddles,"Where the white girls at"?

HA! You got it! And here I was trying not to cross that line. :-D

 

[amie]

Men definitely outnumber women in this hobby, but I feel like that's beginning to change. I think I counted 3 women (including myself) at my last homebrewers meeting...

 

[unionrdr]

HA! You got it! And here I was trying not to cross that line. :-D

Somebody had to get it outta the way?! There's gotta be at least a dozen womens on here.

 

[drainbamage]

There are several women on here (but still a pretty small minority to the guys). It just isn't always made clear who is what in regular conversation.

 

[unionrdr]

True. Not much way of knowin' who's what.

 

[CRoth36]

Women and brewing is awesome. I personally don't know any but know that they are out there. I've noticed that there are quite a bit of women that drink good beer out there. From what I notice more than men percentage wise. I know a lot of women that don't drink beer period but the ones I know that drink like actual beer.

 

[Newsman]

I have a client (model) who's interested in home brewing, but when I invited her to watch (and help) me home brew this last time, she was busy. Also, my server at the restaurant the other night was fascinated when I told her I was a home brewer. I keep telling people, "if you can follow a recipe to bake a cake from scratch, you can brew beer!"

 

[novahokie09]

I've got binders full of women.

 

[zardozap]

I've got binders full of women.

Go home Mitt, you're drunk.

 

[Schmaffy]

 

[Schmaffy]

There are several women on here (but still a pretty small minority to the guys). It just isn't always made clear who is what in regular conversation.

Here's a hint: if they use "SWMBO" in a post - not a woman.

 

[MarsingRedneck]

Men definitely outnumber women in this hobby, but I feel like that's beginning to change. I think I counted 3 women (including myself) at my last homebrewers meeting...

Well, it is cooking like my wife said and some women are still interested in cooking. I just started buying my beer making supplies locally here in Nampa, ID from a woman who has owned her business for the last 18 years. I'm not buying because she is a woman but because she seems to be very knowledgeable about beer making. So yea, they are out there.

 

[eagagnon]

I'm new here (big surprise) and was wondering about the apparent lack of women on this site. I can't possibly be the only one. Are they here and just quiet? Is it because stereotypically, women don't like good beer? I have to say - once I started drinking "real" beer, I can't touch anything Miller/Bud/Coors, etc. It's like drinking water and has no style. And the majority of my close female friends feel the same. Brewing my own beer was a natural next step - I'm only on my first batch and already hooked. Maybe I'm making too big of an assumption - but most if not all of the threads here have a decidedly...ummm..."masculine" flair (Brewsmith's "OK, admit you do it" thread is a great example, haha), so I'm assuming not a lot of females frequent this site. So - any women in the house? And if not, why not?

We are here. And it is interesting that more women are not visible on the site. One of the nice things in my area, Seacoast NH, is a LHBS run by a husband and wife team. And we also have a nano brewery that is female owned and operated. Like others have said, hard to tell gender in the forums.

 

[Jayhem]

It's more than the fact that more men enjoy craft beer than women. I think it come down to a couple other factors:

1. Patience. It takes a lot of patience in the homebrewing process. A lot of women are more of a "spontaneous shopper" mindset and if I can't have it now I'm not buying it! This is why I will spend a week researching tools before making a purchase while my wife will go buy the first whatever she's looking for that she sees. This is the same way for a lot of women. Now, the kind of woman who will can vegetables knowing they won't be used for months or years, that's the kinda woman who has the patience for homebrewing!

2. Homebrewing is nasty, messy and uncomfortable: Lets face it, the mash isn't that appetizing looking, even if it smells great. Yeast smell weird and fermenting beer looks like the toilet bowl after a round of alcohol induced vomiting! A lot of women can't get over that aspect of homebrewing. There are exceptions but in general most women are turned off by "nasty" looking/smelling parts of a process. This is why my wife doesn't clean the squirrels and deer I harvest, I do. Homebrewing is labor intensive: milling grain, boiling water, moving equipment around, transferring hot water and wort, standing over a hot kettle in the summer or freezing outside in the cold in the winter, not most female's idea of a good time.



To the women who have what it takes to enjoy homebrewing, we salute you!

 

[Seven]

Here's a hint: if they use "SWMBO" in a post - not a woman.

Some would say if they use SWMBO in a post they are not a man either. ZING!!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

[Melana]

Yes, there are quite a few women on this site.

 

[amie]

 

[Melana]

It's more than the fact that more men enjoy craft beer than women. I think it come down to a couple other factors:

1. Patience. It takes a lot of patience in the homebrewing process. A lot of women are more of a "spontaneous shopper" mindset and if I can't have it now I'm not buying it! This is why I will spend a week researching tools before making a purchase while my wife will go buy the first whatever she's looking for that she sees. This is the same way for a lot of women. Now, the kind of woman who will can vegetables knowing they won't be used for months or years, that's the kinda woman who has the patience for homebrewing!

2. Homebrewing is nasty, messy and uncomfortable: Lets face it, the mash isn't that appetizing looking, even if it smells great. Yeast smell weird and fermenting beer looks like the toilet bowl after a round of alcohol induced vomiting! A lot of women can't get over that aspect of homebrewing. There are exceptions but in general most women are turned off by "nasty" looking/smelling parts of a process. This is why my wife doesn't clean the squirrels and deer I harvest, I do.

Those are some generalizations...

 

[Hello]

I don't know who is female or male unless I check their profile. It is assumed I'm speaking to a man, but that is only because this hobby is really something men happen to do more than women, at the moment. For the amount of members on this site, there are few women. If you want to know what gender someone is, ask or check their profile.

As for the "masculine" flair in threads, I can honestly say I never tried to fluff up my posts to make it obvious that I'm a woman. I'm not that way and I don't care. I have a hobby that I share with others and I sit around on this site discussing it. Oh and I have a vagina, which I don't really share with multiple people. /shrug

 

[Schmaffy]

As for the "masculine" flair in threads, I can honestly say I never tried to fluff up my posts to make it obvious that I'm a woman. I'm not that way and I don't care. I have a hobby that I share with others and I sit around on this site discussing it. Oh and I have a vagina, which I don't really share with multiple people. /shrug

Haha. For the "masculine feel" I was referring more to the "how many times have you peed behind a tree while you were brewing?" threads, or the "my wife thinks my beer sucks!" comments - but I suppose the second one is a bit of an assumption these days as well. :-D

 

[Cposten]

Honestly, what does it matter? We have all become a part of this god foresaken bunch for 1 reason, the beer.

Now contrary to what you may have heard, beer dont care. Beer dont care if you got lady parts. Beer dont care if you rock a mullet. Beer just wanna be beer. Let beer be beer and let the people who make it share, learn, and love it. Its the same rules as when your drinking: no gender opinions, no religion, and no politics.

Sent from my SM-T210R using Home Brew mobile app

 

[amie]

Those are some generalizations...

LOL! Heart's in the right place, even if the logic is flawed. (eg. So men lack patience because hobbies like knitting and quilting are female dominated?)

Historically, brewing was a domestic job and was generally taken care of by the woman of the household. But modern homebrewing has only really seen a resurgence since the 1970s or so when legal restrictions on brewing at home were finally eased. By this time, most of the generational knowledge of small-batch brewing that would have been passed from mother to daughter had long since disappeared. Most of the new homebrewing hobbyists came from a science background, a field that was heavily male-dominated in that era.

 

[Cposten]

Jayhem, my girlfriend loves to help or do all things brewing

Sent from my SM-T210R using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Cposten]

Though she hates beer.

Sorry for the consecutive posts but I just got this new fangled hand held inter net machine and keep hittin wrong buttons

Sent from my SM-T210R using Home Brew mobile app

 

[Yooper]

Yes, there are quite a few women on this site.

I don't know who is female or male unless I check their profile. It is assumed I'm speaking to a man, but that is only because this hobby is really something men happen to do more than women, at the moment. For the amount of members on this site, there are few women. If you want to know what gender someone is, ask or check their profile.

As for the "masculine" flair in threads, I can honestly say I never tried to fluff up my posts to make it obvious that I'm a woman. I'm not that way and I don't care. I have a hobby that I share with others and I sit around on this site discussing it. Oh and I have a vagina, which I don't really share with multiple people. /shrug

One of the great things about this site is that it isn't readily apparent if you are speaking to a man or a woman. And it doesn't matter- we're all brewers.

I'm actually offended by the term "female brewer". I mean, we don't have "male teachers" or "male brewers". We're all brewers.

There may be a thread on peeing standing up, but overall it's a pretty friendly site to both genders.

 

[jeffjm]

For some reason, homebrewing seems to attract an outsized share of technical/scientific types. As I think through all the homebrewers I know personally, a disproportionate number are in science/technology/engineering/mathematics. There's even a 131-page thread here about whether or not you're an engineer.

Women have long been under-represented in STEM fields, just as in homebrewing. Maybe there's some sort of connection.

 

[beernutz]

Here's a hint: if they use "SWMBO" in a post - not a woman.

That's sexist talk right there. Plenty of women have a SWMBO. I was watching some of them on cable just last night.

 

[broadbill]

It's more than the fact that more men enjoy craft beer than women. I think it come down to a couple other factors:

1. Patience. It takes a lot of patience in the homebrewing process. A lot of women are more of a "spontaneous shopper" mindset and if I can't have it now I'm not buying it! This is why I will spend a week researching tools before making a purchase while my wife will go buy the first whatever she's looking for that she sees. This is the same way for a lot of women. Now, the kind of woman who will can vegetables knowing they won't be used for months or years, that's the kinda woman who has the patience for homebrewing!

2. Homebrewing is nasty, messy and uncomfortable: Lets face it, the mash isn't that appetizing looking, even if it smells great. Yeast smell weird and fermenting beer looks like the toilet bowl after a round of alcohol induced vomiting! A lot of women can't get over that aspect of homebrewing. There are exceptions but in general most women are turned off by "nasty" looking/smelling parts of a process. This is why my wife doesn't clean the squirrels and deer I harvest, I do. Homebrewing is labor intensive: milling grain, boiling water, moving equipment around, transferring hot water and wort, standing over a hot kettle in the summer or freezing outside in the cold in the winter, not most female's idea of a good time.



To the women who have what it takes to enjoy homebrewing, we salute you!

Allow me to condense:

Woman don't like to homebrewing because:

1. They lack patience and focus. They prefer to shop for an buy sparkly/glittery things and cute shoes.

2. It is messy and smelly. As we all know woman are allergic to messy and smelly things, which is why men exist to take care of them. That, and they would have to step off the pedestal they have been put on, possibly chipping a nail in the process.


...yeah.....I wish I had to exaggerate for effect on this one...

 

[Melana]

You forgot we keep men around to lift heavy objects.

 

[Melana]

Oh, and don't mess up the hair!

 

[CadiBrewer]

There may be a thread on peeing standing up, but overall it's a pretty friendly site to both genders.

To be fair, Yoop, the thread was about peeing outdoors which isn't gender specific, not peeing standing up. I've had a few lady friends who would pee outdoors more than I do. Perhaps I need to find different lady friends?

 

[unionrdr]

It is odd how men wil say,"Hey,come here & smell this"! Where a woman will look for things that smell nice. We,on the other hand,will look for new more disgusting things to singe our buddies nose hairs... Maybe that's why the look & smell of fermenting wort doesn't bother us as much?

 

[Fenduh]

Boobs and beer are awesome together.



Wait.... that wasn't my inside voice.