Remember how that frat guy gave you some beer out of a keg once, and you promptly declared it "icky" and went back to Smirnoff Ice? Well, apparently some people actually like the taste of beer, and even brew it themselves! We wouldn't know because we're ladies and our dainty tastebuds couldn't possibly handle such a manly beverage, but there's at least one woman who seems to enjoy it. In fact, she tried to enter a home-brew beer contest, but she wasn't allowed in the competition because dudes aren't interested in lady drinks.
Last weekend, the appropriately-named Rachel Beer tried to enter the Lake Hayes A&P Show in Queenstown, New Zealand, but she was told the contest was for "blokes only." Beer tells the New Zealand Herald that she's made about six different ales, lagers and pilseners in the past few years, and as she knows, it's pretty good. "I give quite a lot to friends. They might be lying when they say it's great, but they always ask for more," she said. Beer was offered the chance to enter her beer in the competition, but since she wouldn't be judged, she felt there was "no point." Beer lamented, "Who cares if I have or haven't got balls? At the end of the day a home brew is a home brew."
Beer said she doesn't intend to file a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, and therefore there's nothing officials can do about the discriminatory rule. However, it's stirred up controversy with brewers of both genders, who find the rule ludicrous. Kerryn Sheen, the female team leader of brewing at Speights brewery in Dunedin, said she was shocked by the contest banning women:
Is it the 1800s or something? What do you mean women can't make beer? I beg to differ ... Are men allowed to enter the baking competition? Same difference. If they're going by what they consider to be traditional male and female roles then women, not men, should be in the kitchen baking.
Ironically, a few hundred years ago no one would bat an eyelash at the thought of a woman brewing beer. Traditionally producing beer was lumped together with other kitchen tasks and labled "women's work." While men now outnumber women in the beer industry, there are still a significant number of female brewers, and many even own their own breweries. Don't forget to raise a glass to those ladies the next time you're knocking back a craft brew.
100% Pure Sexism For Brewster [New Zealand Herald]