And they look better doing it, too!
So it turns out that practice does not make perfect. While men consume over 70% of the beer in the US, the experts at MillerCoors told the Wall Street Journal that tasting the nuances of beer is something women do better than men. In particular, they say women are more adept at picking out very low levels of chemicals like 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, which produces a skunky flavor in beers. Apparently this means that Heineken is 98% 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, at least as far as my inferior male palate is concerned.
Today, around 30% of SABMiller’s quality assurance tasters are now female, which is four times what it was just ten years ago. Of these ladies, taster Joanna Wasilewska takes the cake. The former secretary at the SABMIller brewery in Bialystok, Poland has once again been named the company’s Taster of the Year. She beat out 2000 other tasters (1400 of them men) in an international blind tasting competition where contestants had to identify beer types, the intensity of chemical elements, and various aromas. It’s her second title in two years.
I can imagine having a beer with Joanna and feeling like I have a brick for a tongue. “Do you taste the very faint hint of freshly squeezed lemon hiding behind shaved pine finish of the Cascade hops?” she’d say. I’d stammer, and then blurt out, “It tastes very beery!” It would be a disaster.
So this once again shows that girls are better at just about everything than boys except peeing standing up and lifting heavy objects. I also think we have them beat at keg stands, funneling and crushing cans against our foreheads. And maybe Beer Pong (the real kind, with the beer in the cups).
You know, the important stuff.
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
The other day at the Diamond Knot Brewery, my fiance went in for dinner, and the waitress says to my fiance “the only ‘lighter’ beer we have on right now is our golden ale.” My fiance replies: “In that case, I’ll have the Industrial Double IPA.” Waitress looked confused.
I find it remarkable I misspelled “waitress” more than once. Yay typos
Yay comment editor. Fixed.
There’s nothing cooler than girls who drink big beers. I don’t know if I’d be as into craft brews as I am if my wife wasn’t there with me. She was my first beer nerd buddy.
That’s my favorite from Diamond Knot. Plus, it is a favorite of a friend who previously only drank cocktails or foo foo drinks.
Love it! I always knew I was a beer snob for a reason:)
Yes Lennie, it was determined at birth!
All I will say is that women may be better able to taste a beer, but men generally have better taste in beer. DOH! 😉
You are on a slippery slope my friend…and I’m afraid you are on it all by yourself 😐
Oof. I’m not touching that one, Bill.
*Brother’s High Five*
*Then stand back to back with arms crossed in a hip hop pose*
I’d have to disagree with you, I have better taste in beer than the majority of men I know, as do my female drinking counter-parts! Beer is not “just for men” anymore, neither is brewing.
Bill knows that, Paulette. He’s working on starting a brewery with his wife and another couple. Both wives have excellent taste in beer, and both can brew circles around most men. Bill’s wife reads the site as well, and I think he was just trying to stir things up at home. 🙂
My favorite female-run brewery is Du Deiu Ciel in Montreal. They make amazing, artisinal beers that are very unique and masterfully brewed.
http://www.dieuduciel.com/en/beers.php
*rolling eyes but laughing inside*
*suddenly feeling self conscious*
Good thing we have SAB giving us the real skinny and advice on beer. Personally, and I’m sure you agree, one threshold based on the MBT (ie skunked/lightstruck) qualities of beer is hardly determinate for anything other than that one quality. I’m not trying to take anything away from the ladies. My wife loves beer and tastes it very well…however, she sadly doesn’t taste for MBT in Miller’s products.
If you read the WSJ article, there are other trace flavors the ladies nail as well.
And I usually don’t look to the macro brewers for insights on brewing great beers, but they certainly have the numbers to back up their claims that women have highly tuned palates and are starting to take over that part of their business. It’s a large sample.
My wife has an awful palate, so it goes to show there’s an exception to every rule. Now my daughter has a brilliant palate, but a four years old she’s a little young to start her career as a taster.
Maybe they have the data, but my wife still says it all tastes like beer.
Ha ha. I have buddies who say the same thing. Might not be gender dependent. There are (bizarrely) people who have no interest in good beer. Crazy, right?
Insanity.
My wife was the one who gave me the ‘beery’ descriptor. Every one she tries tastes beery to her. It really is an acquired taste I think and some people just don’t have the interest in learning about it. Oh well. *High fives self*