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A New Pink Beer Aimed at Women

By Jim Cohen | November 7, 2011 | 4 Comments |

Women are an important part to any industry; however, occupation segregation still exists. Occupation segregation has to do with the notion that certain jobs are more suited for men versus women (i.e. men are doctors; women are nurses). While gender equality has made some serious progress, beer is one of the few industries still heavily dominated by a male-influence.

However, times are changing.

Three food technologists have come up with an innovative way to get women to drink more beer: pink beer. What are they calling it? Pink Fantasy (of course).  Simone Beeharie, 20, Mishal Pillay, 20 and Sarisha Devnath, 19, are three students from The Durban University of Technology (DUT). The group started home-brewing and testing unique formulas in September and unveiled their new beer at DUT's Biotechnology and Food Technology 2011 Food Product Launch.

This isn’t a new trend.

In October 2011, we discussed a new beer out of Maryland called “Chick Beer.” The brewery believed that there should be a specific beer made just for women, which by their estimates make up 25% of the beer consumption in the US.

Women are even becoming more important in the craft beer industry. In 2008, there were on 24 members who belonged to the Pink Boots Society, a national group for women who work in the beer industry. Today, there are over 600 members.

There is a belief amongst brewers that women represent a large untapped growth market for the beer industry. In May 2010, we noted that women are becoming more of a focus for the beer industry. Other brewers in Europe were searching for low caloric beers to help capture the market, calling them “gender neutral” beers.

Back to Pink Fantasy – why did the founders create the beer? "Beer is mainly drunk by men, so we decided to make something for women that has a less bitter flavour. Our beer has a strawberry aroma and is pink. It is more feminine," Devnath said to Times Live.

Devanth went on to say that "We just wanted to create gender equity in alcohol.”

This isn’t necessarily a new concept as other brewers have released similar concepts. For example, Molson Coors announced Animée Beer in June 2011 to try and capture this segment. The flavors included clear filtered, crisp rose, and zesty lemon and all of the beers were pink.

What do you think? Will pink beer stick? Or is this just a marketing ploy to try and attract women to the beer market? I suppose in five years, we’ll see which tactics are more successful, but at least people are starting to pay attention to the market segment.

Your Choice. Your Beer. Drink Up.
- Beer Universe