If I understand things correctly, HBT is about learning and sharing ideas as a community through friendly, open dialogue. Sorry, to drag this thread to the top of the heap, but this is an issue that is quite important to me, and I couldn't resist. The only way to make progress is to talk about it. Those are my two pennies.
I swore I would have nothing to do with this thread, or the OP ever again- but I felt that I had to respond to this.
That was my point. I am no expert, but I can probably brew a fair bit better beer than many that people who want to make "girlie beers" can. I've been at it a lot longer.
I have homebrewing experience, brewery training, BJCP experience, knowledge of ingredients, experience in a brewery, experience with culturing yeast, recipe formulating experience, a tiny group of friends in the brewing world (both homebrewing and commercial), own a system that's been featured in BYO, etc.
I have friends who are brewmasters in commercial brewpubs, friends who own breweries, friends who are homebrewing gurus, and one friend who owns the only self-distributed nano-brewery in Wisconsin.
My gender has NOTHING to do with my ability, my taste buds, my friendships, my contacts, and my ability to outbrew many other brewers (or inability, depending on how you like my beers!
) But I could be a man or a woman, and that's the great part of this forum.
The funny thing? I've been treated like a "little lady" in homebrew stores, but NEVER by brewmasters and owners of breweries. Jim Koch looked at me in the eye, and talked to me as an equal. Ok, sure, he had to bend down about 8 inches! But my feeling is this- why can Charlie Papazian, John Palmer, Jamil Zainasheff, Ray Daniels, Gordon Strong, Denny Conn, Jim Koch, Jim Maier, and so many others- Mufasa (BJ's), the owner of Black Husky Brewing, my friend Chumly (
http://www.thevierling.com/brewery.html), etc,- talk to me like I'm a brewer and treat me with respect, but some person who thinks females like "girly beer"- why does that irritate me?
I guess it's because it's the stereotype that perpetuates.
It was a huge insult to be have certain beers, whatever they are, called "girlie beers". As if women are only capable of liking fruity sweet things, with no palate to discern good beers.
To be insulted, to be denigrated, and then to be told "BFD" to my complaints about stating my feelings is more than a slap in the face. It's an insult to all females of this forum (and there are far more than you'd imagine).
If people, male or female, don't like beer- well, they don't. But there are MANY men who prefer what I would call "girlie beer" over other beer styles. I'm not slamming them, or other men. That's the thing.