Anyways I know a couple black dudes that brew a bunch of Hispanic and Asian..
I just can't resist posting links to a few recent discussions of the "white folks claiming Native American ancestry" topic. Turns out (see the study referenced in the Slate article) that for many people who think that "way back somewhere I've got Native American blood," it may not the case.
I hate to be that guy, but hispanic is not an ethnicity.
Even more strangely, why are most brewers that I meet either in person or online under 50 years old? There are exceptions of course, but Id say that the mean age of brewers in the States at least is in HIS (we established most brewers are male) mid thirties to early forties...
I simply don't have a good hypothesis for this.
I just can't resist posting links to a few recent discussions of the "white folks claiming Native American ancestry" topic. Turns out (see the study referenced in the Slate article) that for many people who think that "way back somewhere I've got Native American blood," it may not the case.
Full disclosure: I'm a white American guy, but there's a strong family belief that somewhere back on my dad's side there is some Native American, Blackfoot to be exact. As you might suspect, I'm a little skeptical, in spite of my somewhat-darker-than-your-average-white-guy complexion and somewhat-higher-and-broader-than-average cheekbones.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_...ican_how_many_people_have_that_heritage_.html
http://www.npr.org/2012/06/07/154519834/proving-native-american-ancestry-can-be-tricky
I think there ARE older brewers, but not online. My dear friends from Texas brew, and I didn't met them until I kayaked by their house and saw a corney on their deck, so I made sure to go meet them! It turns out that they've been brewing a long time. He's 65, she's about 62. They are well educated (retired teachers), but not online. They are not here on HBT, and they have no idea that I'm a moderator of such a forum. So I think that there are still alot of "older" brewers, but not online. That might be one reason- younger people are more likely to be online on forums and finding their knowledge on the internet.
When my Texan friends came to visit in October, I walked them through an AG batch and gave them a couple of Igloo MLTs. SHE was actually the one who wanted to brew, and learn AG, and not him. I don't know why that surprised me, but it did! She sent me a photo about a week ago of her first AG batch! When we get to Texas in January, I can't wait to try her beer! (both white as snow, by the way!)
Anyway, I think more women brew than we think because they aren't as active on forums dominated by males.
When you think about it, this forum is very geek-heavy. I mean that in the most loving way! Many of our active members are engineers or IT folks. This forum appeals to the geek/nerd type I think. I do think the Coopers/John Bull/Mr. Beer type of brewing appeals more to the rest of homebrewers.
Because the IT/engineer/geek types tend to be better employed, it's not likely that I would bump into them at places like the NHC. The stuff I do (beer travels, NHC, buying bling) is probably prohibitive cost-wise for the average homebrewer. I think that maybe is why I don't know too many "blue collar" type of brewers. I think they are out there, but not so much on the forum and not going to the NHCs and such. I think they may be buying beer kits, and making them, though!
Is this not a racist thread? And so what if all you see are Caucasians at the LBHS.....
When you think about it, this forum is very geek-heavy. I mean that in the most loving way! Many of our active members are engineers or IT folks. This forum appeals to the geek/nerd type I think.
As a professional economist, I hope I qualify as geeky too! Any other social scientists on the forum? How about "real" scientists--physicists, biologists, etc?
I wonder if it's really true that engineers have more representation here, or just that their particular expertise is more usually germane to the topics of discussion. For example, there are lots of discussions about brew kettle/MLT/fermenter design, experimental procedures and results or other topics that engineers would be able to speak professionally to. There aren't too many threads on here about estimating supply/demand elasticities for craft brew, or the problems of market failure as applied to brewing supplies and equipment. If there were, I'd happily chime in!
Maybe- but here's the thing. My mother's family is originally from the south. We definitely had African and Native American (my grandma was part Shawnee). But since it was absolutely taboo for the races to mix, anybody who was dark was "French". One was "Hungarian" and she looks exactly like a Mayan from the Yucatan. Sure, there were whispers, but if you could "pass" you were fine. I remember a cousin being born, and my grandma (the white grandma), seeing the baby and saying "Oh, good. She can pass.". "Passing" meant being able to pass as a white person, of course.
I remember colored and white movie theatres, and colored and white water fountains. If you were "colored" at all, you were NOT white.
And so we were all white, but some of the darker members of my family were "French" or "Hungarian". To admit you were part Native American meant no job, except as a maid or hired hand.
English, Irish, Scottish and what Grandma called Pennsylvania Dutch (German). Apparently long line of alcohol swilling outlaws half ran to America other half sent to Australia. Great Uncle ran a still and liked to hide it on Sheriff's property.
Me, I'm one of those apparently elusive blue collar brewers.