petermorwood:

froborr:

idunnoistherefood:

angryhausfrau:

dduane:

saint-olga:

dancinbutterfly:

ravefromthegrave:

sharkfinshuffle:

pro-butch:

@sharkfinshuffle say stuff

FINE I’ll just do your homework for you. Trust me, it’s not just “what we think”, we have ample evidence and it’s pretty much unanimously agreed upon among brewers that women were traditionally the ones brewing and often drinking the beer. So long long story short: yes, brewing was very much a women’s craft in the majority of cultures worldwide pre-industrialisation. A couple of popular brewing textbooks state:

“Initially, brewing was carried out as home brewing by women for domestic use only. It was part of the daily housework next to cooking and baking bread.” (Handbook of Brewing, Priest and Stewart, 2006)

“Traditionally, [African] beers are made by women brewsters, as was the case medieval Europe, and they may be consumed with some ceremony.” (Brewing, Briggs, Brookes, and Stevens, 2003)

And here are some articles:

A (Very) Brief History of Women in Beer

http://growlermag.com/women-in-beer/

Honestly though, just google “women brewing history”.

lol wow thank you!!! i will spread this information in the world

also will use it to shut down Manly Beer Drinker of all sorts

THIS IS USEFUL! I SHALL BE TAKING THIS INTO MY LOCAL MICROBREWERY AND BEING OBNOXIOUSLY FEMINIST. I LOVE YOU FOR THIS SO MUCH!

Fun fact: men (specifically, monks) started adding hops to beer. Hops makes beer taste bitter - the tast men today insist is the “true” tast of beer which makes it a masculine drink. The fun part of it is that hops is a phytoestrogen which is (according to some sources - there are disproving articles so I won’t say it’s absolutely true) responsible for low sex drive, lower energy, man boobs, and abdominal fat. Actually, monks started using hops in beer in order to lower libido of men in the monastery. 

This came up just now in the Irish Times in regards to a brewery in Mechelen in Belgium. (Yet another reason to get back there.)

ravefromthegrave:

yeah, at least it’s what we think, since women were the ones who started brewing shit. the goddess of brewery and beer is, well, a goddess and not a god, which is probably because women were the ones starting it historically.

“Women’s role in the history of beer is often forgotten,” says Sofie Vanrafelghem, author and master beer sommelier. “One of the very first written documents to refer to beer,” she says, “was an ode written 3,800 years ago to the Sumerian goddess Ninkasi, whose priestesses brewed beer in her honour.”

This data’s been on my radar for a while now. I remember being in one of our favorite places in Dublin, Porterhouse Central, and spotting a sign hanging up above one of the aisles that said BEERS BREWED BY MEN, NOT MACHINES. A nice enough sentiment, but unfortunately / unnecessarily gendered.

I was in a bit of a mischievous mood and said to the barman, “No women?” “Nope,” he said.

I said, “You should really get at least one woman brewer in here. For historical reasons if nothing else. Didn’t you know that until a couple of centuries ago it was illegal for men to brew in Dublin?”

He was kind of stunned. True, though. It was traditional in the city from Viking times that only women should brew. In fact there was a sense that it was unlucky for men to brew, that the beer would fail, that it didn’t like them.

My bartender was a little bemused by this. “But why would that be?”

I just kind of laughed. “Women,” I said. “Yeast. We have a relationship.”

I wish I could describe the series of expressions that went across his face. :)

Also really cool info: In medieval Europe, women would sell their excess home-brewed beer. They would identify themselves by wearing pointed hats at market and by placing broomsticks outside of their doors. Surprising absolutely no one, the Church was not really into female entrepreneurs and/or women having power and respect in the community. Church officials spread word that these women were evil servants of the devil and should be avoided because they would bewitch you with their potions. This is where we get much of the iconic Western European witch imagery ie. broomsticks, pointed hats, cauldrons. Basically the Church got pissy because women had power in their communities and basically started the a ridiculously long-lasting smear campaign against female beer-brewers.
link to a full article: http://www.stylist.co.uk/life/recipes/women-and-beer-a-snap-shot-history

@tootiepants getta load of this :D

One theory on the origins of alchemy in ancient Egypt was that it started as a handful of Alexandrian brewers (all women) and perfume makers (mostly men) trading techniques and discoveries and just sort of exploded from there. (Pun mostly not intended.)

(So yes, alchemy itself originates as a union of masculine and feminine principles. Apropos, is it not?)

“Alewife” is a dictionary-recognised term; “Alehusband” isn’t.

Also, re. @dduane in “The Porter House” - “I wish I could describe the series of expressions that went across his face…”

It was Shock and Awe. Well, more accurately, as the penny dropped it was Shock and Ew… :-> Wimp.