Posted on 08/06/2002 3:44:52 PM PDT by Willie Green
For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.
LONDON (Reuters) - British beer lovers have enlisted the support of a Sumerian goddess in their efforts to shake off the masculine image of their favorite tipple.
Fed up with the drink's beer bellied image, the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said on Tuesday it had adopted the goddess Ninkasi -- said to have created a recipe for beer 4,000 years ago -- as patron in a bid to attract more women to the pumps.
"We think real British beer is something to be proud of and it should be marketed to women as well as men," said Camra's Mike Benner.
"Almost all the advertising we see on our TV screens...is a real turn off for women. Ninkasi, the new Goddess of British beer, is here to change all that."
Ninkasi, worshipped by one of the world's earliest civilizations in what is now Iraq in around 3500 BC, is thought to be one of the early brewers of beer.
She was worshipped by both men and women at a time when ale was made and served exclusively by women.
Camra decided to adopt the cult after its research revealed that less than a quarter of British women had tried real cask ale in a pub, Benner said.
Almost a fifth of women polled by Camra said they thought it was an old-fashioned drink, while a third believed it was "unfeminine."
"Brewers need to present beer in a more original and modern way if they are going to build a following with women," Benner said in a statement. "It needs to be a little less Inspector Morse."
To tempt female taste buds, the society is launching a range of 10 "female friendly" ales at its Great British Beer Festival in London this week.
While none is brewed to the recipe used by Ninkasi, Benner said the 10 beers on offer demonstrated the wide variety available.
He added that women would also not be expected to drink the beer in the same way as ancient Sumerian women -- from bulky clay jugs through lengthy drinking straws.
The annual Great British Beer Festival is on at London's Olympia from Tuesday to Saturday. Some 45,000 beer lovers are expected to attend.
Camra surveyed 1,000 people across Britain in June this year.
"You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind
of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer." -Frank Zappa
Ahhh the way beer is supposed to be served.
[ulp!]
Well, I've drunk beer and danced nekkid but I never thought I was a priest...
launching a range of 10" female friendly....
What a differnce a space makes.
I'm having a little trouble.
Anybody brave enough to try this, be my guest.
Well, the caption says it's for "Sumerian beer", but the little that I'm able to decipher looks similar to pickled eggs.
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