Psychology professor Diane Catanzaro has been named Beer Drinker of the Year by the Wynkoop Brewing Company in Denver, CO. Dr. Catanzaro’s comments about beer culture are in itself quite interesting and, personally, I’m quite glad that this year’s winner is both an academic and a woman.

Still looking forward to investigate beer culture further, as an academic pursuit. One important dimension of beer culture, as observed by some participants in the North American craft beer scene, is that beer tends to become a gender-specific beverage in North America. Similarly, wine is often seen as more sophisticated than beer (even though, in terms of biochemistry, beer is arguably more complex than wine). Catanzaro’s victory might help dispel some preconceptions about beer.

Catanzaro isn’t the first woman to win the Beerdrinker of the Year award. Cornelia Corey won it in 2001.  Craft beer has probably become more prominent in the last six years. At the time, Corey had linked to an article about beer marketing and gender. Not sure things have changed much since then, but beer marketing itself has slowly but surely been changing.

Good things may come.