– Women and Beer / By Alex Humphreys & Rosie Setterfield-Price
In the beer world it seems to be a mans domain. Many women who have an input are easily dismissed or their efforts go unrecognised, this is the result of our cultural and industrial development over time and seems ignorant to the industry’s foundation and past.
Traditionally, it was the woman’s role, as a brewster, to brew beer for the household and certain laws state that the tools to brew were solely the woman’s property. Through various historical and sociological developments this is no longer the case so much so that the opposite is almost true. In Medieval times monastries started to brew beer on a larger scale for passing travellers, when the industrial revolution came about it transferred brewing from the home to the marketplace, resulting in the decline of women brewing at home. Men claimed the local taverns and women drank less beer. There was an increase in male brewers and it has been so ever since. Obviously female brewers are active today yet they don’t get the recognition of their male counter parts, this industrialisation of the beer industry does not adequately explain why most women, when choosing a beverage feel a distance between themselves and beer.
Women’s roles in today’s beer industry tend to be stereotyped with the dispense of beer, from female bar staff serving beverages to the female figure being the main image on a beer’s pump clip in the hope that it will sell more. Beer marketing as such does tend to highlight men as the target audience, this alone does not seem an ample explanation for the high numbers of women who don’t appear comfortable both drinking and sampling a wider range of beers. It’s time that the culturally accepted and prescribed gender roles regarding women and beer were more actively challenged.
At Port Street Beer House we try to broaden everyones view on the beer industry, with varying degrees of success. Whilst it is a refreshing change to serve male customers a half of fruit beer, this is a more common occurrence than serving female customers a pint of porter or stout for no discernable reason other than a willingness to experiment with different beer styles and flavours. All our staff have a keen personal interest in beer and have all been trained to a equal level. We are ready to help you with your beery needs.
This week at PSBH we are hosting ‘ladies week’. With a selection of cask ales brewed by women. Come along and build a beer bridge.
– India Pale Ale / By John Clarke
India Pale Ale. Three short words and so much controversy. What’s all the fuss about? In a word, “authenticity”. From time to time the beer blogosphere, newsgroups and forums will be racked with argument about what makes an “authentic” IPA. So, what is an authentic IPA – and more to the point does it matter?
As a style, IPA has been around for over 200 years now. Books have been written about its origins but suffice it to say this was a beer originally designed to survive a six month sea voyage from the UK to the British colonies in India. It is one of this country’s greatest and enduring contributions to the world of beer and is now brewed across the globe in all manner of variations. Which brings us back to “authenticity”. (more…)
– Summer Wine Brewery visit / by Jonathan Heyes
Seeing as we’re having a little meet the brewer with our friends over at Summer Wine Brewery we thought we’d pop over and meet them on their own turf. Their own turf being the hills and valley of deepest, darkest Yorkshire, Holmfirth to be exact, ok so it wasn’t that dark but I’m a Lancashire lad so can’t pass up the opportunity to have a dig. So after a quick jaunt over snake pass and getting only slightly lost, we arrived as you so often do when visiting breweries at a slightly ramshackle industrial estate. (more…)
– PSBH & Common Day Out (part two) / by William France
At this point I feel the need to provide a little more background information about the brewery. A lot of you reading may already know all there is to know about Thornbridge but there are likely to be just as many who come to Port Street and Common who know little about them, so here goes. (more…)