By 3 News online staff
News that woman's entry into a Queenstown home brew competition was rejected because of her gender has outraged the members of a craft beer society..
Rachel Beer found out the Lake Hayes A&P Show beer brewing contest was “blokes only” when she tried to enter her tipple, ‘Beer’s Beer’.
“Who cares if I have or haven’t got balls," she told Queenstown's Mountain Scene paper. "At the end of the day a home brew is a home brew."
SOBA – the Society of Beer Advocates – says the show's organisers are "sexist dinosaurs".
“That there are women competing and excelling in the field of brewing should not come as a surprise,” says SOBA press secretary Martin Bulmer.
“That there are still such sexist dinosaurs as evidenced by Lake Hayes A&P Show organisers should surprise us."
He says that women's involvement in brewing goes back to the Middle Ages, when they were called "alewives".
SOBA says women are more than welcome to enter their beers in its own annual home brew competition.
“Anyone can enter regardless of what genitals they possess," says SOBA secretary, Greig McGill. "Contestants are judged on the quality of their beers alone."
DB Breweries have also taken aim at the show's organisers.
“Women have been making a huge contribution to the New Zealand brewing industry for decades and DB has many women working in senior brewing and management roles," says managing director Brian Blake.
"I will be getting in touch with Rachel personally to invite her to work alongside one of our brewers, female and male, at our Timaru or Auckland breweries just to reiterate that it doesn’t matter to DB whether she is female or not.
"What matters is her passion for brewing – something Rachel has clearly demonstrated she has plenty of."
3 News