Interesting article that says that beer is now more popular than wine with 18-34 year old women. I certainly see this with a majority of my females friends but thought it might have something to do with the fact that Portland has 50+ breweries, but apparently it’s a national trend. Sources:
Sorry if someone posted this already, I don’t check this section that often.
Rachel,
Some thoughts I have on this, based on my experiences here in Ontario, Canada which appear to be the complete opposite of yours:
I wonder if this has more to do with socio-economics than anything else. I notice the stat goes down to 18 year olds. Well, most 18 year old women and men for that matter are in college and/or in relatively low-paying jobs and are more likely to be able to afford beer more than wine. They are also surrounded by likewise in their social circles.
In my acting classes, the young 18-22 year female students often smile and light up as they tell me about their beer-fueled fun weekends. At my wine get-togthers and wine events I attend, older women in their 20s to 50s I talk to who are more affluent due to full-time jobs with salaries talk and drink wine almost exclusively.
I read the articles and I can also attest to the fact in my experience that most men actually know jack@*?!# about beer other than presumably knowing what they like to drink. The only men I ever talked to who knew something about the topic crafted their own beers at home as well as being knowledgeable about craft beers. I have yet to personally meet a woman, however, who is knowledgeable about it, either.
My personal observation at the LCBO is that I see far more men buying beer and hard liquor than wine at stores. I observe women still buying mostly wine.
Given the still rather sexist marketing of beer in general as a “guy’s drink” with advertising that still tells women their only involvement with beer should be to wear less clothing and to party it up with men, I am amazed women even drink the stuff at all let alone find it more popular than wine.
Tran, I think it’s due to a lot of things. Socio-economics and the price of beer vs wine is certainly amongst them. I’m 27 and most of my female friends are maybe 24-31. Most of them are beer drinkers, and not necessarily cheap beer either. While most don’t go in for the the latest double imperial, barrel aged over the top flavor-of-the-day, most of them are pretty solid craft beer drinkers. Regionally, we make fairly bitter beers, so most of them are IPA and CDA drinkers, but they also drink a fair amount of porter, stout, sour beers and Belgian beers.
The trend is interesting to me. This is the first time beer has become more popular with women in that age range. It makes me wonder if most of them will switch to wine in their mid-30’s or 40’s, which is when I think a lot of men switch to wine. With more good beer available and with it being viewed more as a quality beverage, I’m not convinced as many younger women will move to wine as they get older. I think a lot of them still will, but I think maybe not as many as 20 years ago. Beer’s image is better than it was 20 years ago. It’s now viewed much more as a artisanal product and I think that people feel they can still drink beer and be viewed as sophisticated.
Craft beers have less blatant sexist advertising, and there are a growing number of beer groups that focus on women (here in Portland we have LOLA - Ladies of Lager and Ale - that focuses on helping women get more familiar with quality beer). I think this trend will continue.
It was also interesting to me that this trend isn’t just in places like Portland which has a pretty serious beer culture. It seems to be growing nationally.
I’m being converted more everyday. Though I’m not a woman…
Chicago woman runs a beer event.
My niece in her early 20’s and recent college graduate is a homebrewer and taught me what Rye PA are.