Beer and women forum Dea Latis has unveiled the findings of a survey into the relationship between women and our national drink. The results were delivered to an audience at the new Brewing Equipment & Technology exhibition at the NEC.
The online survey, which received 600 responses, asked for respondents’ perceptions about women’s consumption of beer and what would make them more likely to buy beer in the on- and off-trade. Both men and women completed the survey.
The majority (73%) of respondents feel that brewers’ approach to women had improved over the last ten years, but that there was “still a way to go”. A similar number (74%) think that more women are now likely to include beer within their drinks repertoire, while 17% believe more women are choosing it as their main drink. On both questions, responses from men were slightly more optimistic than from women.
Asked to rank a number of techniques to encourage more women to drink beer, respondents gave their highest score to beer lists and taste descriptions, in both the on- and off-trade (33%). Offering free samples of beer was also viewed as effective across pubs and supermarkets (27%), while there was also support for a wider selection of beers in the off-trade (31%).
Staff recommendation was a strong middle choice for many respondents (21% voted it 2nd and 3rd most important), indicating a need to equip bar and store staff with beer knowledge. Beer and food matching received a similar rating (25% of respondents put it in third place), though women felt it would be more effective than men.
A wider selection of beer glassware was seen as only moderately motivating, while providing more information on beers calorie content or health benefits received low scores from both sexes, across the on- and off-trade.
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.
“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.”
