|
Hail NINKASI – Goddess of Beer
CAMRA launched the latest phase of its cask beer campaign at The Great British Beer Festival, with the help of the new Goddess of British Beer – Ninkasi – and as can be seen from the encouraging looks of those raising their glasses alongside, she was certainly a hit with Britain's traditional family brewers.
The main feature of this, the third phase of the “Ask if it's Cask” campaign, is to encourage women to try real cask ale in one of Britain's pubs. The campaign is in response to research which shows that to date there has been a failure to attract women to beer. It features a modern version of Ninkasi, the 4000-year-old Sumerian Goddess of Beer and looks to create a powerful icon for real British beer.
Both men and women worshipped Ninkasi at a time when women both brewed the beer and ran the taverns. Ninkasi's dream lives on today and the new Ninkasi is urging drinkers to get real and discover the cool natural taste of real cask ale.
Beer advertising needs to be less macho and become more female-friendly through promoting the taste and diversity of real beer and explaining how beer can be enjoyed with food as an alternative to wine. We need restaurants to offer a more interesting range of British beers that have been matched to dishes on their menus.
Last year's campaign looked to shake off real ale's flat cap image and proved very popular, particularly with younger men. Ninkasi is now creating a new icon for female drinkers – we need to see real ale brewers following CAMRA's lead with innovative campaigns to put British beer back at the top of the shopping list for the increasing numbers of female pub-goers.
And apparently one of the things that might help is the glass – CAMRA's research showed that nearly a fifth of women would be more likely to drink real cask ale if is was served in more stylish and fashionable glasses. As anyone who has visited Belgium will know, that country has a different glass for each type of beer, something that really helps distinguish the beer style. There is a need to look at how we can present beer in a more original and modern way to help build its following amongst people who haven't tried it.
So look out for the promotional campaign, which is being supported by posters, beer mats and leaflets. If you run an outlet selling cask beer and want some material – then call Mike Benner at CAMRA on 01727 867201.
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 17.
|
