Why Are Women Sweet On Sour Beers?
Last week, my friend, fellow beer writer and Beervanian brother, Jeff Alworth, posted on his blog, Beervana, an interesting post — with additionally interesting subsequent replies — about whether women seem to enjoy sour beers more than other flavors, and, if so, why.
It certainly seems like sour beers have struck a congenial chord with women, especially women who normally don’t like most beers – and those who are prone to contorting into “bitter beer face” at the thought of beer.
I have a bit of a theory on why women might enjoy sour beers more than other beers. And it goes back to the caveman (and cavewoman) days.
There is a school of thought that women’s palates are more fine-tuned to bitter (not sour) flavors because, as the primary child caregivers, at least historically, women would often taste food first before giving it to their child. In fact, these earlier females probably even chewed the food a bit before giving it to the younger ones – especially in the days before cutlery and CuisineArts.
My crazy, eat-everything-in-sight dog aside, bitter flavors are usually a signal to most animals that what they have just stuck in their mouths is not safe. So, perhaps, a lot of women even today — especially those of us in childbearing years — are internally wired to initially reject bitter stuff.
But sour, now that is the flavor of unripe berries and other fruit still on the vine or tree. Cavewoman might not have had the luxury of letting those fruits ripen a bit more before eating them or feeding them to the kiddos. Women’s brains developed to not give us the “danger” signal with sour flavors like it did with bitter.
Of course, that’s not to say that with some practice, we can’t overcome this natural distaste. And there are some women, Yours Truly included, who love bitter flavors. I have to admit that it did take me some time to work my way up the IBU scale (it’s always work, work, work!). But now hoppy beers are among my favorite styles.
What do you think? Why are some women who just can’t get their lips around a hoppy IPA falling in love with some really sour beers? Are sour beers a trend with staying power or just a passing fad? What sour beers would you suggest to someone who is new to them?
9 Comments to “Why Are Women Sweet On Sour Beers?”
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I definitely agree with you on the evolutionary aversion to bitter flavors. As for the current gender divide, I’m not sure whether I think that’s driven by a stronger manifestation of that evolutionary force, or just because current gender norms are that men are supposed to drink beer, while it’s acceptable for a woman not to. A man has to learn to tolerate beer, while women can just stick with their natural response. (Painting with broad brush strokes here. Of course there are exceptions, but I would say these are the dominant gender norms.)
I had to work my way up to sour beers the same way I did for bitter ones. Now I love them both. The first time I tasted gueze, more than 10 years ago, I couldn’t take more than one drink. I started with sweet lambics, then moved slowly to less and less sweet lambics. The first time I really appreciated gueze was last year.
Then again, I have no children, nor do I want them, so perhaps that whole genetic programming for Mom is off in me anyway!
My wife is the same way. She attributes it to being a wine drinker. Considering the more wine-like flavors of some sours (like Bacchus) it is not surprising that she prefers them to more “beery” beer.
As a female person, I have to say that I HATE sour beers – but I haven’t really tried to like them.
It took me a while to acclimate my palate to the hoppier beers, but I love IPAs (and imperial reds – yum) now.
Perhaps if I take Tracy’s approach (since I am also childless by choice), I can learn to appreciate the sours. Although I’m not really sure I want to.
As a female who LOVES Lambics, Sours, Gueze, AND hoppy IPA, and Bitters…
Cheers to whatever your favorite beverage is! I think it is great that everyone has individual tastes! Life would be boring if we all were the same.
I just don’t see this as a gender thing.
I even have children.
I suspect this affinity for sours is more of a palate sensory issue.
My husband started off hating Lambics and shriveling his mouth with even a small sip…now after sampling it over a period of time and exposing his palate more…I have to fight him for the last pour of Cantillon.
After his first disliking experience he kept an open mind and slowly began to like it more and more.
So my thought is this, if you don’t like something the first time, try it again ..you might discover it grows on you.
As for me I liked them from the first sip,and the quantity amount I enjoyed seemed to grow for me.
Maybe it may have to do with cultural foods exposure too. I love lemons with chile powder and salt that my hispanic friends introduced me to at a young age..maybe that prepared my palate?
And another thought..why are there so many female hopheads that do not like sours?
I just don’t see as being a gender as a plausible factor in the like of sours or not.
If you’re going to make conjectures about science, please post references and sources about why you believe what you believe.
Amy, Tracy and others: I, too, had to work my way into both bitter and, later, sour beers. I remember the first sour beer I tried, I thought there was something wrong with it and nearly did a spit take!
Moniesocal: I think you are right about how our sensory history plays a part in what flavors we appreciate in beers. And I am just glad more women are appreciating good beer!
Elmo: It’s a blog, not a scientific document. It’s beer, not rocket surgery. I suggest we just enjoy a beer and leave the research to the researchers.
Cheers!
That’s a very interesting theory! Sounds like it could be developed into a thesis. Any takers?
That does seem to line up with this, however:
Evolution of taste receptor may have shaped human sensitivity to toxic compounds
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/28063.php
Nice article.
Hi there, I work in a pub where we serve 300+ beers, ranging from extremely sweet to extremely sour and/or bitter.
Unfortunately I can’t say that (most) women like sour. It is quite obvious that in our place, most women prefer the sweeter beers. There are of course quite some exceptions, but as a general rule: women prefer sweet beers (especially the fruity ones).
So, allthough your theory sounds acceptable, my experience in the field shows me otherwise
Greetingz,
Koen<