The Beer Goddess

I got the idea of writing this blog from reading Travels with Barley, written by the American journalist Ken Wells, within which he discussed the idea of the "Beer Goddess"; a book, incidentally, sent to me by a good friend of my yoof, Anne (I was her witness at her wedding), who now lives in Florida. I immediately thought of the Sumerian Goddess of Beer, Ninkasi, as you do...

But, no, Mr Wells was really looking at the influence of women on men drinking beer in the USA, we could be talking about poor lagers, of course, but we are also talking about the craft beer revolution that has been going on over there for quite a few years now! Craft brewers in the USA have, in recent years, been instrumental in, not just the development of new strains of hops, but also the use of hops++ in the brewing process, most of their beers aren't 'real' beers as us Brits expect, but they can certainly pack a punch with flavour, and strength!  

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Women have had an enormous influence on brewing over the years, indeed, many many years! As far as the history books show, women dominated brewing from the first beers brewed in Sumeria 4,000 years ago, and for most of the centuries since, and there are quite a good number of women brewing  for micro brewers now, thank the goddess of brewing! 

But, Mr W also was referring to what we in the UK call "barmaids", which apparently, is too sexist a term for the Americans and their pressure groups, so, to him, a barmaid is a "beer goddess" apparently. However, although the Bavarian barmaid can carry many glasses of foaming beer without spills, as this photograph attests to, and which may show a propensity towards being superhuman, they are well oversized glasses, so nowhere near full. Us ale swilling Brits, not always the most beautiful aesthetically, do enjoy the company of barmaids, let alone goddesses. However, I have only ever had one relationship with a barmaid in my life, when I was in my early 20s; maybe many are goddesses, whatever, they've certainly avoided me! 

More seriously, though, in recent years the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has used the female image to help its cause too, eg with this more up to date image of the goddess, Ninkasi, which I imagine was partly a way to encourage more women to drink real ale, as well as to encourage more men to drink even more real ale! Now this is an image of Ninkasi I am happy to remember...

Since then, Jennifer Ellison has been used very recently as part of CAMRA's successful campaign to stop the Government's beer tax escalator; she may well be a caricature of how barmaids are supposed to look, maybe a 'beer goddess' even. However, barmaids and barmen are usually much like the rest of us, ordinary people, not gods or goddesses, carrying out a wonderful role serving up quality ales to us, and may they continue to do so, many thanks.

Mr Wells also mentions a beer writer in the USA who calls herself "The Beer Goddess", Lisa Morrison, whom I have started to follow on Twitter and Facebook, and I look forward to reading her articles, whatever...

Hale Ninkasi, cheers!