Ninkasi’s Nectar

Jane Peyton blows the lid off the widespread myth that only men sup beer and invites women of the world to reclaim their rightful drink.

Think beer? Think female power and creativity. Yup, beer is a girls' drink! Though this may come as no surprise to our Belgian or Dutch sisters, it’s a widely held belief throughout the English speaking world that beer is for boys: a drink as closely associated with our testosterone-fuelled brothers as are the hobbies of football and fast cars. But they’re wrong.

The three deities of beer are women – Ninkasi, Ishtar Siduri and Isis are the Sumerian, Babylonian and Egyptian goddesses respectively. There are no male icons of ale. None, whatsoever. From ancient times until the medieval era in Europe, it was women who produced the brew – they were known as brewsters. And in industrialised places, where the water source was polluted, beer was the safe alternative and everyone, including children, drank it. Queen Elizabeth I relished her beer and sipped “a brew so strong, no man durst touch it”; and Queen Victoria recognised its importance when she said “Give my people plenty of beer and you will have no revolution amongst them”. 

So why don’t more women nowadays drink beer?  Is it the fear of growing a beer belly?  Maybe it is the association with beardy wierdy anoraks who inhabit a universe of beer festivals and memberships to the Campaign for Real Ale. 

If you don’t already like beer, may I try and convert you?  First the issue of the belly – it is kebabs after the pub and an aversion to exercise that augments the gut, not the beer.  A 250ml glass of beer contains fewer calories and less alcohol than the equivalent amount of wine  - beer has 107 calories, wine has 192 calories. True, beer is perceived to be the domain of males – but all it needs is for a wave of women to start drinking it and then beer becomes a drink for all. Same with the stereotype of a typical beer drinker being a hirsute caveman and championship bore with his talk of Goldings and Fuggles (those are different varieties of hops, one of the ingredients of beer). The more we find fabulous dames supping a glass of real ale in a pub instead of the house Sauvignon Blanc, the less beer will be pigeon-holed as a blokes’ drink. Another possible barrier is that the beer glasses offered in most pubs and bars are inelegant, and that is why in Britain the Beautiful Beer Campaign is trying to persuade pubs to offer attractive beer glasses and measures of 1/3 pint. Lucky Belgians don’t have that problem – each type of beer has a special glass that enhances the head, the bubbles, aromas, or the flavour. Beer is revered in Belgium by men and women alike.

But there is something else about beer that turns many women off – the bitter taste. Bitterness in beer comes from hops. Hops are used in the brewing process for flavour and longevity; hops are natural preservatives (and in herbal medicine are used as anti-biotics). There are several types of hop, each with its own essence: some add hints of citrus to beer, others spiciness.  In lager and lighter ales for instance, hops with a mild flavour are used and these styles of beer are not too bitter.

Flavours to Savour
I host beer tasting evenings, mainly in London, and I choose a selection of beers that appeals to the person formerly known as the non-beer drinker. I have managed to convince quite a few women to give beer a try and they are always amazed that they end up liking it. This is a sample of what we taste:

• Banana Bread Ale by Charles Wells – a wonderful combination that is never cloying. It has a definite aroma and taste of banana bread balanced by the crispness of the beer.

• Double Chocolate Stout by Youngs – this contains real chocolate although it is not a sweet beer.

• Organic Honeydew by Fullers – a subtle hint of honey in a light and refreshing ale.

• Oak Aged Beer by Innis & Gunn –this has aromas of caramel, vanilla and marmalade and the slightest taste of whisky on the palate. It’s a unique beer because it is matured in whisky barrels.  A perfect match for smoked salmon.

• Wheat beer by Hoegaarden – spicy aromas and a slightly sweet palate with a hint of fruit.

• Lambic Kriek by Belle-Vue – one of Belgium’s famed fruit beers –this one contains fresh Morello cherries and elderberry juice.

Many people do not realise that beer can be tasted in the same way as wine and, just as in wine tasting, scent is one of the main aspects of enjoying beer. A glass that retains the aromas is essential – Champagne flutes are good. Pour enough beer for a couple of generous mouthfuls. Swill it around the glass to release the vapours. Stick your nose in the flute and breathe in the aroma. Beer is an honest drink and what you smell is also what you taste.  Then sip it and make sure the liquid moves over the entire tongue so all the taste receptors are employed.  Think about the flavours, then swallow.  Swallowing beer is essential because the aftertaste and “finish” is part of the tasting process. Now repeat and say phwoooooaaaar.

Beer is a truly global beverage and is brewed around the world - bier, cerveja, birra, bière, cerveza, biera. North Korea may not be able to feed its citizens but it brews its own lager. And beer has a significant place in human history. Historians are not certain whether beer was a by-product of bread making or vice verse, whichever it was, beer is known as liquid bread. Some believe it was the necessity to grow cereals for bread/beer that made humans settle in one place rather than living as nomads.

Beer was brewed as early as Neolithic times, but the first written references are from a Sumerian poet in 3000 BC  - “I feel wonderful drinking beer in a blissful mood with joy in my heart and a happy liver”. The knowledge of brewing spread from Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) thanks to its traders and invaders. Ancient Egyptians venerated beer, it was a valued currency and also an effective medicine for treating numerous ailments and dressing wounds because, unknown to medics at the time, grain used in the brewing process contained Streptomycedes bacteria that produce the anti-biotic Tetracycline. In Greece, Sophocles advised that a balanced diet should include “bread, meat, green vegetables and zythos (beer)”. In Northern Europe it was especially popular with Vikings and Saxons and the way they drank beer, in big raucous groups with singing and dancing until people fell over has been replicated countless times over the centuries by their descendents. The social commentators who rue the propensity of the British to binge drink should look back to our history and see that it is in our DNA. 

Beer culture is also embedded in the English language.  The word “bridal” is a corruption of “Bride-Ale” – a special beer brewed for weddings. Guests brought gifts to the party that they exchanged for beer – that was the origin of wedding presents. The term “honeymoon” derives from the practice of the bride’s father providing a month’s supply of mead (honey beer) to his new son-in-law. At that time months were lunar, hence the honey moon.  The original word for “Yuletide” (a.k.a. the Christmas period) was Ale-Tide, a religious festival for which a special beer was brewed. “Minding your Ps & Qs” derives from innkeepers asking unruly drinkers to mind the pints and quarts of beer on the tables. And “taken down a peg or two” comes from the days when beer was drunk from communal vessels and each person’s allocation was measured with a peg that was moved down the receptacle as it was emptied.

I won’t go on, though I could because there is more, much more to say about beer.  To think that four ingredients – water, yeast, malted cereal, and hops - produce a beverage of such astonishing diversity. Exploring beer is fascinating because there are so many styles - Porters, Ales, Bitters, Lagers, Milds, Stouts, Krieks, Dunkles, Bocks, Rauchbier (smoked beer) and more.  And I have not even begun to describe what a brilliant match for food it is. It’s great fun experimenting and as bottled beer is relatively inexpensive, if you make a mistake and don’t like your choice you can always use it to water the plants.  Or how about gathering a group of friends for a jollification and coming to one of my tasting evenings? It will change the way you think about drink.  Promise.

And finally my Dad Bill, who will never be poet laureate, taught me this ditty:

On the chest of a woman from Sale
Was tattooed the price of ale
And on her behind
For the sake of the blind
Was the same information in Braille

Beer drinkers – always considerate!