The Dublin Ladies Craft Beer Society was founded late last year, and their mission is simple: to get more women excited about beer — craft beer, specifically. We tagged along for their monthly pints in the Brew Dock on Amiens Street, and for a chat with their President and founder, Christina Wade.
Tell us a little about the society.
Well, basically we’re here to foster a love of craft beer amongst women, whether they’re experts in the area or total novices. We do everything from casual pints to brewery tours to beer dinners to home brewing, and currently have over 130 members. We work really hard to create a very friendly, accessible environment here—one where people can ask everything and anything, and not feel judged. We have our experts, but we’ve also got plenty of people who come along and say, “I don’t really like beer, but show me why everyone’s so interested in it.” And we make it our business to ensure that they never feel silly.
Sounds like you attract a pretty wide variety of members, then.
Yeah, we’re bringing a lot of people together from all walks of life. I mean, it all stemmed from this core idea of wanting to meet the sort of women who are into craft beer. Without wanting to generalise—though that’s exactly what I’m about to do—women who like craft beer are adventurous, they like to try new things, they like to try new foods, and new beers, and have new experiences. They tend to be amazing women with great stories, and our members really reflect that. We have so many women from so many different countries, with so many amazing stories. We’re very lucky.
So you think that an interest in craft beer tends to reflect a wider set of personality traits?
That’s a loaded question! But I think it can do. I think that people who are interested in craft beer are discerning. You know, if you’re picky about what you drink, then you’re maybe picky about what you eat, and about other aspects of your life as well. Like, I like to drink craft beer. I like to drink Irish craft beer because I know who made it, I know what they put in it, and I can trust it. And it’s nice to have the story behind the beers, so to speak; you know the passion that’s gone into it. And I think that’s so much more important than something like the big macro-brews. And I think women who share an interest in what other people might perceive as such a small aspect of life often share a tendency to be selective about other things as well.
Is there a core group that makes up the society?
We have probably ten to 15 women who come to the majority of the events. They’re a close-knit group, but really welcoming to new members as well. I have two other members—Dorothy and Hilary—who are Vice President and Treasurer, and we sort of make up the executive branch. The rest of the core group don’t have official roles, but they contribute a lot in terms of networking on our behalf and helping with the recruitment of new members.
How does that recruitment process work?
It’s mostly based on creeping on people in bars! I hand out my card to anyone and everyone I see drinking beer. At first it was a pretty daunting and terrifying task, but now I’ve adjusted to the idea of walking up to strangers. Obviously I try not to disturb them mid-conversation, but I’ve no fears about approaching someone who’s sitting there nursing a pint.
That’s certainly how I found out about the group, and it was a pretty nice change from what I usually get at the bar. I’ve had so many experiences of guys telling me really patronisingly about whatever I’ve ordered, or lecturing me on what they think I should be drinking instead. I assume that’s not unique?
I know exactly what you’re talking about. It’s something that a lot of members have complained about at various times—being someplace and being talked down to. Or going to beer tastings, say, with my boyfriend, and having the person automatically talk to him instead of me. He doesn’t know the first thing about craft beer! I mean, whenever it happens, he’ll say, “Actually, she’s the one you should be speaking with, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” And then they’re very apologetic, but it is sort of the natural assumption. And the group is here to challenge that. I mean, in Ireland itself there’s a great tradition of women and beer. St. Brigid, for example, is famous for her ale, and her idea of heaven was a giant lake of beer for everyone to drink. And in the 16th and 17th centuries, it was so common for women to be the ones owning the taverns and brewing the beer. It wasn’t until it was commercialised that beer became a male-dominated field. So women in brewing is a centuries-old tradition, and it’s kind of ridiculous that beer has become this masculine thing, because that’s such a recent change.
It’s a heavily publicised association, though—beer and masculinity.
I think that’s exactly why women like craft beer more. Because it’s marketed to people, and not to a gender. I mean, you get the occasional craft beer that’s going to call their red ale “Slutty Redhead” or whatever, but by and large they market to everybody. I don’t think this is so much of an issue for those of us who are in the craft beer world; it’s more of a problem for the general public. The barrier isn’t the beer nerds, so to speak, because the beer nerds are very accessible people in Ireland. It’s the general public perception, supported by the big beer companies that have women in bikinis running around. They’re the ones certainly marketing towards men, and producing this idea that drinking beer is a way of proving your masculinity. It’s silly.
It sounds like you have some allies among the craft brewers.
When I started the group, I got such amazing support from the industry itself. We’ve had people do so many favours for us. The guys at Beoir—an organisation that promotes Irish craft breweries—are so integral to our continued success. It’s a really supportive environment for us, and a different one to what you’d encounter in other countries, because the brewers and bloggers and the whole industry here are a very close-knit community. It’s amazing. We’re very lucky. It’s all, “Oh, you’re doing this? I know someone working on the same thing, let me introduce you.” It’s not the competitive, nasty environment that you might find elsewhere. Now, of course they’re competitive; they have to be. But they’re also very collaborative, which makes groups like ourselves possible. We couldn’t exist without that environment.
Have you had any negative reactions to the group?
Oh, certainly. When we were first founded, people were really… well, most people were really supportive, but you get your odd ones. “Oh, you don’t need a women’s group. You know, I drink with my female friends all the time and they drink beer. We just need a beer group.” But so many of those groups that do exist are dominated by men’s voices, and it’s hard to escape that. I didn’t found the society to exclude men; I started it to include women in a conversation and highlight their voices. Women drink craft beer. It’s not just two or three of us, and we do actually know what we’re talking about. We’re not here to draw lines or boundaries or exclude anyone, we just want the chance to be heard.
And how do you plan on doing that in the future?
Oh, I want to see big things happen! I’d love to see the Dublin Ladies sponsoring events, hosting conferences for women in craft beer, and making and collaborating on beers with some of the Irish breweries. Hopefully, fingers crossed, that’s going to happen—we’ve already worked with Brendan Murphy, who won Brewer of the Year at the National Homebrew Club Awards, on a Scottish 80 Shilling which took home gold in our division. We’ve also just started working on the Ladies Craft Beer Society of Ireland, so we’d love to get in touch with anyone who’s interested in setting up groups in other cities around the country. Most of all, though, I just want to encourage anyone who’s at all interested to show up to our events and help us keep the momentum going.
The Dublin Ladies’ Craft Beer Society will be checking out the extensive range of craft beers at the Legal Eagle on Saturday September 30th. Find out more at meetup.com/Dublin-Ladies-Craft-Beer-Society.
Words: Emily Bourke
