7. Like Other Girls

Good girls sit like this. Bad girls sit like this. All the pretty girls walk like this.

Toward the end of May 2021, I was driving home from a Pink Boots Society social event. I, like many people in the beer industry, had spent the previous weeks being retraumatized by stories of sexism, racism, sexual abuse, and harassment. I had also resigned from my job over the systemic (and still ongoing) racism and sexism from leadership that I had observed since my interview days. In a feeling that has become more recognizable to me, I felt a wave of emotions rising within me. I had spent the evening surrounded by women who wanted to hug and to grieve and to mobilize and to just make pleasant conversation about anything except what was happening around us. I drove past my turn and continued driving, feeling like if I drove fast enough I could outrun the wave before it crashed down on and around me. Trite and trope-y, I know,  but it’s my newsletter.

I made it about 15 miles or so down the road I was driving on, not really knowing where I was. I finally found the spot I had been looking for - a tile store in Marietta, GA, sandwiched between other businesses closed for the day, far enough away from any intersections that there wasn’t any foot traffic and the car traffic driving by wouldn’t notice my car parked toward the back of the parking lot. Taking a page from countless television shows and movies, I turned on loud music and spent the next few minutes screaming. Imagine Claire Danes as Rachel Fleishman in “Fleishman is in Trouble” and you’re on the right track.

I know I was at a tile store in Marietta because as I was pulling out of the parking lot, I happened to glance up and see their serendipitous sign:

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But Not Like That

Last month, the concept of respectability politics made its first appearance in this newsletter. This month it is making its second appearance, specifically in-group policing. Respectability politics, first coined by Professor Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham in Righteous Discontent: The Women’s Movement in the Black Baptist Church, 1880-1920, refers to the worthiness of a marginalized group being evaluated solely by standards set by the dominant group.

In-group ostracization is a type of respectability politics that sees segments of marginalized groups that have more privileges distance themselves from people they perceive as less respectable within their own group. The purpose of this is to showcase similarities with the dominant group to deflect negative stereotypes.

Within in-group policing, the outsiders are not afforded the nuance of individual personality but are rather relegated to outgroup homogeneity, i.e. othering. Those designated as the out-group must earn the right to be treated fairly under respectability politics. As I’m sure you can guess, they’re likely never quite able to earn that right because the dominant group will always move the line a little farther out of reach with the help of the in-group ostracizers.

We’re all guilty of in-group policing. Have you commented on this eCornell Craft Beer Certificate ad? Or at least seen other people commenting on her makeup, her hair, her outfit, how “no one” wears that much makeup as a brewer?

I can attest that for several years, I was frustrated that so many of the Pink Boots brew day collabs featured botanicals and fruits. “Don’t you see what you’re doing?” I would think to myself. “Why are you playing into stereotypes?”

Then I learned to chill TF out about it and let people brew and drink what they like, especially once I learned that my behavior stemmed from respectability politics. With my internal in-group ostracization, I was playing into elevating perceived masculine qualities and tastes (why not just brew a simple lager?) over perceived feminine ones (fruit is good in beer). 

If you’re a woman in the beer industry, you have almost certainly played the role of “not like other girls.” You’re expected to and women who decline to play the role of the “cool girl” who’s not like other girls are penalized for it if not outright shunned and/or never given the opportunity to enter the industry in the first place. Women who bring too feminine a perspective to pursuits like beer or gaming are emphatically discouraged.

Cool girls are easygoing and never get angry because showing that your feelings are hurt or that you feel uncomfortable wouldn’t be cool. As the girl who is not like other girls, you are made to feel lucky that your presence is tolerated and sometimes demanded because your company wants a woman present. You have to be cool enough to hang. You can’t go home early but you can’t be the drunkest girl at the event. Do you know how many people out there are lined up to take your place because this industry is so fun and it’s just beer, after all? Why are you so upset? I thought you weren’t like other girls.

As children, we’re encouraged to be “good girls.” Good girls are always agreeable, polite, and nice. Personal boundaries are to be violated for the sake of others’ comfort and pleasure. Our most important role is to be liked. What is a cool girl after all than an elder good girl? Society has leveraged good girls into cool girls, girls who can hang, girls who are not like other girls.

One thing the cool girl persona demands is that she be seen as an exception. But here’s the thing. We can’t all be not like other girls. If we’re all not like other girls, then we at least have that in common, right? 

Continuing the not like other girls narrative is a powerful tool for the patriarchy because it isolates us from one another. 

If we’re not like other girls, then what is happening to us is only happening to us and no one else. Other girls won’t get it. 

That’s a lie. 

One way I learned that is by talking with the handful of women in different departments at my former brewery and hearing that they were being treated in similar ways as I was, drawing a bigger picture of systemic sexism rather than one or two lone wolves acting outside of the company’s philosophy. But we were all not like other girls and we were intentionally isolated by leadership, so the salesperson wasn’t talking to the brewer who wasn’t talking to the bartender who wasn’t talking to the line cook who wasn’t talking to the marketing coordinator.

There were so many stories shared on Brienne’s Instagram stories that resonated with me. So many experiences where I was like hold up, that’s happened to me, too. Sharing stories is impactful. It’s community building and community building is anathema to patriarchy and white supremacy. 

We’re like other girls. We’re not alone. It’s not just us. Continue sharing your stories.¹ Yes, we know what to do.

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Bottom-Up Style Discrimination

Greetings to those of you who saw my post about this on Instagram and just scrolled through the above feminist screed to find out how I created this sensory panel exercise. Go back and read the above because you need to hear it, too.

When I first started studying for upper levels of both BJCP certification and Cicerone certification, I created a style comparison chart to use in several ways, from writing style comparisons to creating tasting panels of similar beer styles. I’ve gotten good feedback from people with whom I’ve shared it in terms of its helpfulness, so I recently added the chart to my website.² I realized after I created it that it doesn't really work on mobile, so if someone wants to trade coding for beer tutelage, HMU.

For the past couple of years, I’ve used an adapted version of the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) method to evaluate blind samples of beer. I’ve presented on top-down versus bottom-up palate training previously,³ so I'll summarize it here. The PDSA method is an advanced tasting method that is helpful when you are applying theoretical knowledge to your perceptions as well as identifying opportunities for improving style discrimination skills.

I typically practice with one unknown sample at a time. Just me, a blank sheet of paper, an unmarked sample, and a pen.⁴ I often find myself naming blind samples as a single beer style over and over, such as Irish Stout (my former go-to for all stouts) or International Pale Lager (my current go-to for all pale-colored beers). Of late, I have labeled a Cream Ale, a Kolsch, an American Lager, a German Pils, and a very old American Blonde Ale as International Pale Lagers.

Huzzah, it’s an opportunity for improving my theoretical and actual style discrimination skills!

My first step in setting up this exercise is to identify 3-4 beer styles to compare. The styles can be a lineup of similar styles I’ve consistently been messing up or they can be picked from the style comparison chart. This time, I decided on Kolsch, American Lager, and International Pale Lager as my comparisons. I used Gaffel Kolsch, Budweiser, Heineken, and Stella Artois as my four brands.

With my beer styles selected, I reviewed the style guidelines for each and walked myself mentally through how I would distinguish each style from the other styles.

Next, I prepared the cups for the panel by using a random number generator⁵ to create 10 random 3-digit numbers. You can use any number of samples, but I would caution against going higher than 10, with 8 being the industry standard for beer sensory. There are a few reasons why using three-digit random numbers is a good practice but for our purposes specifically, it's to be able to shuffle the samples around without disturbing any kind of order and to avoid biasing.⁶ I usually create labels with the selected random 3-digit numbers using a non-odorous pen and place them on recyclable plastic cups. Then I create a list of the random numbers and hand the task off to my husband.

The next step is to have someone else⁷ prepare the samples. For my panels, I ask my husband to pour at least one of each brand into sample cups so I know that each brand and style will be represented at least once in the lineup. Once there is at least one sample of each brand, he is free to divide up the remaining 6 samples however he would like. One sample each of Gaffel, Budweiser, and Stella followed by 7 samples of Heineken? Cool. Three samples of Gaffel, two of Budweiser, two of Heineken, and three of Stella? Also cool.

The next step is to start tasting the samples. For me, this is a quick evaluation of each sample. I don’t take notes like I normally do with one sample, just a quick sniff and taste of each sample. I didn’t design this exercise to be a ponderous one but take the time you need to evaluate each sample.

Next, I group the samples together by which ones I think are the same. This can be surprisingly tricky at first, but trust the process, and soon enough you will find yourself being able to do this step a little easier.

Last, I determine which group is what beer style. Once I had an opportunity to taste International Pale Lagers next to American Lager next to Kolsch, I was able to identify that yes, International Pale Lager is more bitter than American Lager.⁸ I correctly identified three samples as Heineken and three samples as Budweiser. While I correctly grouped Stella and Gaffel samples together (two of each), I incorrectly switched their identities.

What I can still glean from that is that Gaffel is much more crackery and grainy than other Kolsch brands, such as Reissdorf, which is very white wine-like with a noticeable minerality. Also, Stella has a prominent floral aroma that I wasn't anticipating in a lager.

I repeated this same exercise with a lineup of Irish Stout, Irish Extra Stout, Foreign Extra Stout, and Tropical Stout and was able to correctly group and then identify each style. Blind tasting all four together was super helpful in reminding me that Guinness Draught is extremely light-bodied and almost watery, and that wow, Tropical Stout is sweet with lots of dark fruit esters.

If you decide to try this method, please let me know how it turns out for you! I plan to revisit the pale beer panel as well as do a panel of Saison, Belgian Tripel, and Belgian Golden Strong Ale.

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And finally

Before we leave each other, here are a few more things I am up to these days:

1. Preparing for CBC next week. In case you are wondering, no, the Brewers Association still has not said anything about the discrimination happening in Tennesee. If you’re going to CBC, make sure to ask every person in BA leadership you see why they chose to remain silent.

   I thought about doing a whole round-up of panels, seminars, and events I’m excited about but decided against it. The two events I absolutely will be at (stalkers and/or murderers, please skip this next part) are the Pride Night hosted by Beer is for Everyone & TN Pride Chamber and the Brewsters Arm Wrestling Showdown. Both are fundraisers - benefiting the TN Pride Chamber and Abortion Care Tennesee, respectively - and are going to be a great way to meet more of and help build our community. Tickets are required for the Brewsters Arm Wrestling Showdown, so make sure to purchase those in advance.

2. Working on my upcoming presentation for the Crafted for Action Partnership in Action conference next month and I’d love your help! I’ll be including your judging and stewarding experiences (positive or negative) in my presentation as training examples. All stories used in my presentation will have all identifying information removed. Please consider sharing your story via this brief form.

3. Listening to How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain by Lisa Feldman Barrett. I started reading the hard copy of this and got distracted by other books (raise your hand if you are also in the middle of several books) so I decided to cash in one of my Audible credits that were building up and listen to it instead.

4. Reading Subliminal: How Your Unconscious Mind Rules Your Behavior by Leonard Mlodinow. Yes, I’ve been absorbing a lot of material on how our brains work. As I’ve mentioned before in the context of sensory specifically, everything is made up and our brains guess at filling in a lot of literally everything we experience. You’re in your villain era? I’m in my solipsism era, so do you even exist?

1. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in person, please also consider sharing anonymously to @emboldenactadvance or Right to Be’s story-sharing platform.

2. If you would like a PDF copy of the chart, shoot me an email or reply to this newsletter.

3. If you would like a copy of my presentation, shoot me an email or reply to this newsletter.

4. I have a couple of other methods I’m piloting to see how they may improve my concentration, but I’m not ready to hold them out as tried-and-true tasting methods yet. It’s entirely possible I’m engaging in quackery.

5. Never in my life would I have guessed that I would have a preferred random three-digit number generator that is different from my preferred random one-digit number generator, but here we are.

6. For example, using letters can lead to a bias for sample A over other samples, consciously or unconsciously. In my very ordered mind, I would not be able to handle organizing samples out of letter order. DBACFE? No, thank you.

7. If you’re preparing these for yourself by yourself, then I recommend making the following changes. First, pour your samples into the labeled cups, making note of which brand goes into which cup. Second, nest your sample cups into unmarked opaque cups, such as styrofoam or red plastic cups. Last, spend a good amount of time shuffling the cups to mix them up. It’s highly unlikely you will be able to remember which sample went into each unmarked cup. Your styles are likely going to be similar in color, so this is one of the only times I’m okay telling you to evaluate the sample without being able to see the color very well.

8. I was briefly tripped up by misconstruing Budweiser’s carbonic bite as bitterness. Huzzah! Another palate training opportunity identified - stay tuned for my individual attribute training on bitterness vs. nocioception.