Tag Archives: University of Toledo

Wine, Women, and Basketball – But What About Beer?

The University of Toledo (UT), where I work, has a men’s and a women’s basketball team. I am not a basketball fan, so I really do not follow the fortunes of either one. On average, I probably attend a college basketball game once every five years or so. Back in January one of our doctoral students forwarded me an e-mail she had received promoting upcoming games for both the men’s and women’s teams. I am sure I had received the same e-mail, but upon seeing from the subject line that its content was about basketball, had probably deleted it. In sending me the e-mail, the student drew my attention to two upcoming UT basketball games – one involving the men’s team and one involving the women’s team. The men’s game was promoted as “Men’s Basketball Craft Beer Night”, while the women’s game was promoted as “Women’s Basketball Wine Night”. Fans were invited to come early to the Men’s game and sample some craft beer beforehand; come to the Women’s game and sample some wine beforehand. The student who brought these promotional ads to my attention questioned whether those responsible for them had given much, if any, thought to gender stereotypes. For both ads were clear examples of gender stereotyping – beer for the guys and wine for the gals. When I first saw these ads, I have to admit, they made me cringe.

In defense of the ads, one might argue that the UT Athletics Department were simply recognizing the reality that more craft beer drinkers are male than female, and more wine drinkers are female than male. According to a 2018 Nielsen Harris on Demand survey, 68.5% of craft beer drinkers who drink craft beer “at least several times a year” are male; 31.5% are female. Interestingly, the survey identified two markets where female craft beer drinkers outnumber male craft beer drinkers – Portland, OR and Providence, RI. In contrast, a 2018 study by Sonoma State University found that 60% of wine drinkers are female, and 40% are male. Despite these demographic differences, I will still submit that the the ads were an unnecessary exercise in gender stereotyping. Why not simply advertise the first game as being one where craft beer would be available beforehand, and the second as one where wine would be available beforehand?

Of course, this type of stereotyping is nothing new. A 2012 study by researchers at The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University found that alcohol-related ads in women’s magazines were primarily focused on champagne and sparkling wine, while alcohol-related ads in men’s magazines focused on beer. Indeed, craft beer and gender stereotyping is a topic I have written about before.

Not only do many women enjoy craft beer, but they also are a number of women who own breweries and/or commercially brew beer. Last month, I attended the annual Nebraska Tourism and Adventure Travel Workshop in Nebraska City, NE. In addition to giving a presentation at the workshop, I was also a member of a panel on “Maximizing Your Exposure with Partnerships”. There were three of us on the panel. I was the only male. The other two panel members were Jessica Kraus, co-owner of Lost Way Brewery in Holdrege, NE and Jessi Hoeft of First Street Brewing Company in Hastings, Nebraska. The panel was moderated by Gabby Ayala, Executive Director of the Nebraska Craft Brewers Guild. Jessica is also Executive Director of the Holdrege Chamber of Commerce. These are smart, intelligent, successful women who know what they are talking about when it comes to beer and the craft brewing industry. For me, it was honor to share the stage with and learn from them.

Sharing the stage with (left to right) Gabby Ayala (Nebraska Brewers Guild), Jessi Hoeft (First Street Brewing), and Jessica Kraus (Lost Way Brewery) at the 2020 Nebraska Agritourism & Adventure Travel Workshop (Photo Credit: Nebraska Tourism Commission)

Unfortunately, and undeservedly, female brewers are often less highly regarded than their male counterparts. A recent study by researchers at Stanford University found that “craft beer described as produced by a woman is evaluated more negatively than the same product described as produced by a man.” According to Sarah A. Soule, one of the researchers on the project, “our research suggests that customers don’t value and are less inclined to buy traditionally male products if they think they’ve been manufactured by women . . . There’s an assumption that your woman-made craft beer . . . won’t be as good.”

It is easy to forget that before men arrived on the scene, brewing beer was primarily a task done by women. Indeed, in both Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt the beer that was brewed was done so almost exclusively by women. It was the same in pre-industrial Europe, where making beer was just one of a number of household tasks performed by women. Such was the case for Katharina von Bora, wife of the 16th century leader of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther. Von Bora brewed all the beer for the Luther household. And her husband loved it, often heaping praise on his wife’s brewing skills. In one of his many letters, Luther wrote, “I keep thinking what good wine and beer I have at home, as well as a beautiful wife.” In discussing the historical role of women as brewers, Allison Schell of the National Women’s History Museum refers to it as a “forgotten pairing“. What an apt description. It became forgotten because, in shifting from an economy based on agriculture to one based on manufacturing, the brewing of beer moved from small-scale home production to larger scale commercial production – and when that happened, men took over the brewing process.

Katharina von Bora brewed the beer for the Luther household
Source: Wikimedia Commons

So when it comes to beer and the brewing industry we (and by that I mean men) need to treat our female peers with respect. Whether they are brewers or consumers we have to understand that their gender does not define them. Rather, they are defined by their love, passion, and knowledge of beer. They are co-equals and partners in this wonderful journey that we, who love are craft beer, are taking.

Further Reading:

Tak, Elsie, Shelley J. Correll, and Sarah A. Soule. 2019. Gender inequality in product markets: When and how status beliefs transfer to products. Social Forces, Volume 98, Number 2, pp. 548-577.

The Geography of Beer and Brewing

During the semester that has just ended at The University of Toledo, I taught a course titled, The Geography of Beer and Brewing. This was a course for graduate students. Eight students enrolled in the class – six doctoral students and two Masters students. Being a graduate level class, it was reading and discussion intensive with one student responsible for leading the discussion each week. Students had to read four to five scholarly papers each week, and come to class prepared to discuss and debate them. The topics covered in the class were wide ranging and included the historical evolution of the brewing industry, craft breweries and neighborhood change, beer and the law, beer tourism etc. The scholarly literature on the brewing industry is multi-disciplinary. As a result, even though this was a course taught within the Geography and Planning Department, students were exposed to a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on the industry – geography, economics, anthropology, business history, law etc. The mix of students in the class was also very gratifying. There were two female students, one African American student (female), and at least two Muslim students (from Bangladesh). This mix made for fascinating discussions; discussions that were undoubtedly richer because of the diversity of voices around the table.

As part of their course assessment, students had to write a five thousand word term paper. I have just completed reading them and I have to say that I really enjoyed doing so. Here are the titles of the term papers that I read:

  • Market Overview of Non-alcoholic Beer: Prospects and Constraints
  • Thai Microbrewing Tied Down by Policy: Policy Analysis of Thailand’s 2008 Alcohol Beverage Control Act and its Effects on Small-Scale Thai Breweries
  • Discussing the Relationships between Crime and Craft Beer in Chicago, IL
  • Beer and Brewing Consumer Preferences : A Look at Preferences of American Drinkers
  • Geographic Analysis of Ohio Hop Farming and Breweries
  • Going Out for a Pint: Craft Breweries and Walkability
  • Izakayas as Third Places in Japan
  • Limits to Production: A Study on the Relationship Between Craft Brewery Production Volume and Socioeconomics of Urban Areas

Overall, I was impressed with the quality of the papers produced by the students. A few of them, with some work, may even have the potential to be published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. I will be talking with these students over the summer to see if the are interested in pursuing this possibility.

As with any course, the first time that you teach it, you identify changes that you can implement to improve the overall learning experience for students. I plan to teach a new and improved version of the same course in the spring 2020 semester. I am also giving some thought to developing an undergraduate version of the same course. This will, of course, be lecture-based, and so involves developing a semester’s worth of lecture material. I am gradually piecing those lectures together.

I’m not the only person to teach a course on the the geography of beer and brewing in the United States. There are a few others of which I am aware. Sean Crotty teaches a Geography of Beer course at Texas Christian University, while Julie Wartell teaches
Craft Breweries and the Urban Economy at the University of California, San Diego. While a course on the the geography of beer and brewing may be considered a niche or boutique course, there is no question that such a course can help students develop a more nuanced understanding of broader topics and issues such as industrial location theory, industrial organization, changing consumer preferences, neighborhood change, etc.

Eight Beer Bottles Sitting On A Sill

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My view of University Hall from my office

I have two windows in my office at The University of Toledo, one of which overlooks the university’s Centennial Mall. From that window I can watch students and faculty crisis-cross the mall as they move from one Continue reading Eight Beer Bottles Sitting On A Sill

The Beer Professor One Year On

In April of 2015 I announced that I was going to start a beer blog under the guise of The Beer Professor. For a couple of years I had been posting daily beer facts on my Facebook page and had also published a couple of articles on the American craft beer industry in Continue reading The Beer Professor One Year On