In the days of old, like you would see on reruns of Little House on the Prairie, brewing was considered women’s work.
Yes, gentle reader, the lady of the house was normally tasked with brewing beer for the family, which was considered safer to drink than water in those plague-ridden unsanitary days of old.
A mildly alcoholic beer of less than 2% ABV would be served at every meal, including breakfast. All members of the family, even children would have a cold one with each meal.
All that changed with the advent of the industrial revolution, with brewing largely becoming a commercial practice handled in large factory environments.
While the menfolk have been handling the lions share of the brewing profession for some time now, the savvy marketers have figured out that the lady of the house still controls most of the purchasing decisions.
As a confirmed bachelor, your humble narrator has no firsthand knowledge of sharing the booze shopping duties with the fairer sex, but I have it on good authority that the ladies control the purse strings in many households.
In Canada, the ladies consume 55% of the wine sold, but purchase an impressive 80%. These numbers seem restricted to the retail market for home consumption, as your intrepid liquor reporter has certainly not had that many ladies pick up the wine tab on his last 80 eHarmony dates.
Some wine labels are very in-your-face with the fact that they market primarily to women, with label names like Girls Night Out or Little Black Dress, or even the cheekily named Mad Housewife.
Others, like the popular Wolf Blass winery from Australia are much more subtle, preferring to attract the damsels by sponsoring lady-friendly events like art and fashion shows. Labeling has also become more feminine, with a new cute and fuzzy animal gracing a different wine label each day.
Even female-friendly websites like Pinterest are not immune, with a seemingly infinite number of ways to improve your home decor while drinking wine.
Apparently the beer marketeers have not gotten a similar message, as the dude-heavy monster truck shows and football games are still awash in beer advertising featuring lots of short skirts and décolletage.
Still, there are a few cracks forming in the mostly male-targeted beer advertising world, with a few new lady-friendly beers like Uptown Girl, made by Calgary’s own Minhas Brewery.
Some of the early attempts at marketing beer to women seemed a bit condescending, with smaller bottles for their dainty little hands, minimal bitterness for their tender little taste buds, and additions of sweet fruit juices to make the beer less like beer.
Sure, there were some ladies that needed a more accessible beer to nudge them over from the wine aisle to the beer aisle of their local booze merchant, but most of the beer drinking women out there are already pretty happy with the traditional flavours. No word yet on whether or not the brewers are considering putting hunky firemen on the labels to increase sales with the ladies.
Moving on from wine and beer, the spirits industry also markets heavily to women, especially in the cocktail and martini segments of the market.
Perhaps it’s all those Cosmopolitans sipped by the Sex and the City gals, but the once-masculine image of James Bond drinking a manly martini while seducing a beautiful woman has been largely replaced by Carrie and Samantha knocking back Cosmos while seducing hunky men.
Interestingly, there still seems to be a noticeable gender divide between the dark and light spirits. Dark spirits like rum and whisky tend to be mostly consumed by men, while more ladies are imbibing the white spirits like vodka and gin.
Along those same lines, you may find it unsurprising that a dozen new fruit-infused vodka brands come onto the market every year, most of which are targeted at the female demographic. There are even some bottles shaped like perfume atomizers for that extra-feminine touch!
So, gentle reader, regardless of who controls the purse strings for your household budget, always remember that boozing is best enjoyed with your special lady or gentleman. In other words, it’s not so important who buys the wine, so long as you enjoy it together. Your special lady might even find your corny jokes amusing after a few glasses!
