I’m loving the press releases that I’ve been getting on behalf of the Bittersweet Partnership, a Molson Coors organisation dedicated to ‘unleashing women’s love for beer’. According to Al Murray’s Pub Landlord, it’s a pint of bitter or lager for the gentlemen and a white wine or fruit-based drink for the ladies. In his gaffe, them’s the rules but the people at the Bittersweet Partnership ain’t taking none of the landlord’s sexist cheek.
Instead, they are promoting beer cocktails, citrus-flavoured brews to go with light fish dishes and ways to cook with beer. It’s interesting to see how the site pitches beer at women and how different it is from the way that beer has traditionally been marketed at men. Belching frog choruses, Tennents lovelies on the backs of cans and rugged Aussies who don’t give a XXXX are notable by their absence.
One section of the site is all about the historical connotations of beer and how brewing was seen as a mystical skill which only women possessed. For years, blokes have been telling women that ironing is also a mystical skill that only women truly understand the secret of but that seems rather less likely to wash.
The most recent PR extols the benefits of washing your hair in beer as well as bathing in it. Apparently, the latter exfoliates and strengthens the skin without being abrasive. Quite what Al Murray’s character would make of that, I would love to hear.
Anyway, leaving aside the sexist stereotypes, there is some good stuff on there. Check the chocolate and stout ice cream recipe and the ‘Five beers for women who don’t like beer’ entry on the site’s blog.