Brewers’ approach to women ‘improved’ says poll

Women believe brewers’ approach to their gender has improved over the past 10 years, but say there is still more work to be done, according to new research.

The figures come from a poll of 600 men and women by the beer and women forum Dea Latis, which said 73% of respondents felt good headway had been made.

Similarly, 74% of those asked felt women were now more likely to include beer within their drinks repertoire and 17% believed women were choosing it as their main drink.

However, responses from men to both questions were more optimistic than from women.

Men more optimistic

In a bid to discover how to get more women to drink beer, respondents said beer lists with taste descriptions was an effective method (33%), followed by free samples (27%). A wider selection of beer in the off-trade was also helpful (31%).

Recommendations from staff was also believed to be a strong method of recommendation, but more women thought that was more effective than men.

A wider selection of beer glassware was seen as a moderate motivator and displaying calorie content or health benefits was met with little positive reaction.

Ros Shiel of Dea Latis, said: “We’re delighted that 600 people took the time to complete our survey, a response that we think makes our findings relatively robust.

“We weren’t surprised that tasting notes and sampling scored highly, but would have expected a higher ranking for beer and food matching. 

‘Glassware not unimportant’

“Factors such as glassware shouldn’t be considered as unimportant though – just that these respondents rated them as less effective than others in persuading women to try beer.”

More than half (58%) of respondents to the survey were women, with the majority (33%) of them aged between 35–44.

Meanwhile, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser will host its first Future Trends: Beer and Cider event on 22 June where beer and cider trends will be the hot topic.

For the full agenda and details on how to book visit www.FutureTrendsBeerandCider.co.uk.