The fairer sex enjoy the beauty of beer

Aug 14 2008 By Laurence Mccoy

IF YOUR image of real ale drinkers involves bellies, beards and burping, it's about time to think again.

Beer expert Melissa Cole hardly fits that bill. And although she may appear to be a voice in the wilderness, she's on a crusade to persuade women that there's much more to a pint (or a half) than flat, brown liquid or tasteless, fizzy lager.

She's just spent a week demonstrating the beauty of beer at the UK's Great British Beer Fest ival, showpiece of the Campaign for Real Ale, at Earls Court, in London.

Melissa took groups of women on tours of the hundreds of the golden ales, milds, bitters, stouts, barley wines and porters on offer, to show just how diverse beer can be.

"Beer has a wide variety of tastes, textures and flavours to it," says Melissa. "It is also a great accompaniment to food, a nd solves the riddle of what wine to order when you're having very diverse dishes because ordering a different beer each course takes away all that angst.

"And if you're in the pub and you want to try a cask ale but don't want to order a whole pint, or even a half, ask for a taster - if they refuse it's probably rubbish beer anyway and you might want to find somewhere else to drink!" Supermarkets too, usually have a wide range of bottled beers, she says. "A lot of bottles have great information about how they taste, just like wines." For a glimpse of how different they can be she recommends local Midla nd beers like Holden's Golden Glow, "a wonderfully balanced biscuity and caramelised orange-tasting brew", or Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild, "full of red fruit, coffee & chocolate".