One of the blokes: Brewsters, branding and gender (in)visibility in New Zealand’s craft beer industry

Abstract

Beer drinking has long been valorised as a masculine performance and a social ritual. But as more women enter the craft beer industry, new opportunities emerge to reframe the cultural discourses around beer. With an interest in the stories women brewers ('brewsters') tell, we conducted interviews (n ¼ 6), and a textual analysis of brand strategies (n ¼ 10) used by women-owned beer brands in New Zealand. With an attention towards how gender identity factors into these narratives, we found that women largely reproduce the narrative trope of 'authenticity' utilised by craft brewers broadly. Gender identity is largely rendered invisible at the expense of promoting authenticity as a seemingly gender-neutral value. In New Zealand, however, these strategies must be contextualised in a cultural history in which beer drinking and national identity are fundamentally intertwined, and in ways that have has always been coded masculine. Our findings suggest that while branding can potentially enhance the visibility of women as legitimate producers of beer, New Zealand brewsters maintain craft beer as a P akeh a (White European) middle-class masculine cultural form.

Kindred spirits: Doing family through craft entrepreneurship

“…Thus, the article explores the performance of 'familiness' in such entrepreneurial contexts (Smith Maguire, Strickland, & Frost, 2013;Barros et al, 2017). This article therefore contributes to recent work which has foregrounded the negotiation of at times problematic interpersonal relationships both within the burgeoning craft drinks sector (Kuehn & Parker, 2018;Land, Sutherland & Taylor, 2018) and in work more generally (Ekman, 2013;Greggs, 2013;. In doing so, it adds to the increasing body of literature that explores craft labour and creative economies (Atkinson, 2013a;Luckman, 2015), whilst also adding to debates about the nature of contemporary family and kinship (Finch, 2007;Smart, 2007).…”

Tapping into Community: Localism, Place-Making, and Diverse Economies in Craft Brewing

“…Narratives of 'community' also reign supreme in craft brewing, in which beer brings people together through the enjoyment of the product as well as through the cooperative spirit of brewing craft beer (Kuehn & Parker, 2018;Mathias et al, 2018). Craft brewers will often share knowledge, equipment and ingredients amongst themselves, and many view craft brewers stand united against the macrobrewers (Hindy, 2014;Mathias et al, 2018).…”

“…Craft beer, similar to local and organic food, is considered a niche product and priced higher than industrially produced beer and marketed towards consumers with the financial means to purchase it and the knowledge necessary to distinguish craft beers from macrobrewed beers (McLaughlin et al, 2014). While craft beer consumers include female and racially diverse individuals, there is nonetheless a dominant white male identity that characterizes the craft brewing industry (Beckham, 2014;Carr, 2015;Kuehn & Parker, 2018). The craft brewing industry and community promote themselves as inviting and welcoming to all, although more efforts need to be made to attract and embrace a diverse consumer demographic (Beckham, 2014;Johnson, 2016).…”

“…While craft brewers attempt to distance themselves from the male-centered narratives fostered by brewing conglomerates, they are not immune to reproducing hegemonic masculinities (Carr, 2015;Kuehn & Parker, 2018;Rydzik & Ellis-Vowles, 2018). Although many craft breweries make efforts to distinguish themselves from the often-misogynistic marketing strategies of brewing conglomerates, many still make use of gendered, and sometimes offensive, marketing practices that intend to sexualize and demean women, with beers named 'Tramp Stamp, Thong Remover, and Pearl Necklace' (Carr, 2015;Kuehn & Parker, 2018) (Figure 1.3).…”

“…A sample of sexist beer labels produce by craft breweries (Gordon, 2015) Craft breweries also typify women's taste and preferences for beer in similar ways to the broader beer industry, in which beer is characterized as a man's drink (Darwin, 2018;Kuehn & Parker, 2018). Kuehn and Parker (2018) reveal that breweries gender beer flavour profiles:…”