Stand Up: Fem-ALE St Andrews

As an avid (female) ale drinker, I couldn’t have been more excited when I stumbled across Fem-ALE on my newsfeed. Currently based in the St Andrews Brewing Co. Brew Pub and headed by their very own Lucy Keen, Fem-ALE is St Andrews’ women’s beer-tasting group, aiming “to promote and educate on craft beer.” I met Lucy at STABCO to find out more…

Fem-ALE’s Lucy

What is Fem-ALE all about?

Firstly, the members of Fem-ALE simply want to demonstrate that many women love to drink beer! For those who would like to get into ale, Fem-ALE aims to educate them on the different styles of beer so they can order with confidence. “It’s not exclusive,” she says, “anyone with an interest in learning about beer is welcome.” Fem-ALE wants to show that women enjoy and know just as much about beer as their male counterparts, and through a series of events including beer-tastings and talks they hope to provide a relaxed atmosphere for ladies to share their love of ales.

Why do women need this kind of group?

“There are so many negative connotations associated with female beer-drinkers”, says Lucy, “I want to break down this socially-constructed barrier, this idea that men should drink one thing and women another.” Lucy, whose drink of choice is ale or single malt, has been working behind the bar at STABCO since it opened last November, and had noticed a strange trend in some of its customers. Many male customers would come up to the bar, deliberating over which ale to choose. When she offered to recommend one, her suggestion was often declined, and the customer would then turn to her male colleague for his recommendation. There’s this assumption that women – even female bartenders – don’t know anything about “manly” drinks.

Then there were women, who would come to the bar with their boyfriends and say “I’ll just have what he’s having.” You wouldn’t feel the need to do that in a restaurant, you know what you like and you would have it. We’ve accepted that ordering a steak doesn’t make you any less feminine; and Fem-ALE feel it’s time we did the same for a pint of beer.

What are their plans?

Fem-ALE are hosting their first beer-tasting on Monday 28^th April at 8pm in St Andrews Brewing Co. Brew Pub. The evening, led by STABCO staff, will involve several tastings of different types of beer, with hops, chocolate and coffee amongst other things to compare smell and taste, as well as group exercises and stories from the ladies about how they came to love real ale. Fem-ALE’s plans for the future include further tastings and contacting female brewers and real-ale enthusiasts. For now though, they hope to help real ale shake off its “old man’s drink” image here in St Andrews by encouraging more women to appreciate its beauties. We do have more taste buds than men after all…

Tickets for Fem-Ale’s beer-tasting are available in advance from the Brew Pub or on the door for £5.