It may not be long before the sight of ladies supping a pint of real ale becomes more commonplace in pubs - certainly if the founder of a just-launched ale has her way.
Harry’s Beer is the baby of 19-year-old Harriet Easton, who wants to make drinking ale cool and fashionable for women. The teenager teamed up with Hanby Ales in Wem to create a new pale-golden beer with citrus flavours, designed specifically with women in mind.
Now, after 18 months and a research-and-development spend in excess of £35,000, the ale has been launched at the Salopian Bar in Shrewsbury - one of Shropshire’s best regarded real-ale venues.
Paula Waters, chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale pulled the first pint and has given her support to the project- after she remonstrated with the big brewers earlier in the year for failing to acknowledge the growing female audience with their overly macho marketing.
“I applaud Harriet’s entrepreneurial spirit and the inventive way she has gone about bringing this well-overdue product to the market,” she said at the time.
“She is a sassy and savvy young woman who has recognised there are others just like her who want to drink real ale and retain their femininity. I will watch the progress of Harry’s Beer with great interest.”
Harriet, who has set up The Rushing Dolls Company to market female products, has been helped with her business innovation by mum Fay Easton, who runs the Shropshire Enterprise Partnership, and sister Emma Jones, who runs her own company called Enterprise Nation.
Mrs Easton admits that she is very proud of her daughter.
“Being in business takes some time and she is studying for a degree so as her mother, I’m anxious that the study and business balance comes through,” says Mrs Easton.
“It’s been exciting because I’m in business myself. I started at 28 years old running restaurants around Shropshire.
“I think it’s an exciting time to be in business in the UK and we are lucky we live in a country where you get opportunities; I will be doing what I can to support her.
“I think she got the bug because her brother and sister are much older. There’s a 17-year age gap so her experience of growing up was when they were entering the world of work, which I think made a big impression on her.”
Hanby Ales, which is now a shareholder in The Rushing Dolls Company, is getting ready for expansion with the launch of Harry’s Beer, which will be sold across the West Midlands and Wales next year.
Managing director Jack Hanby says he was very impressed with Harriet when she first approached him with the idea.
“I thought it was a great idea and really wish we had thought of it ourselves,” says Mr Hanby.
“She is young but she has got a good group of people around her. The launch went really well. Everybody who tried it was very impressed. I think if it goes well, it will be inevitable that we will expand.”
Harriet, who is studying politics at Newcastle University, says she was thrilled to see her beer behind the bar.
“All the girls who have tried it so far really like it,” she says. “It’s an easy beer to drink. Hopefully all my friends will start drinking it now.
“The launch went really well. It was really nice to see people drinking my beer and I got lots of positive comments.
“They were positive comments about both the idea and the beer itself, and the launch was about whether people would like it or not; it came through that they did.
“One lady said it tasted like liquid Terry’s Chocolate Orange which made me very happy!”
Read more about Harry’s Beer in the January issue of The Shropshire Magazine, out next week.
By Rebecca Lawrence
11 Comments
is it april 1st already????
great….more trampy, unclassy women to look at when we go out!
Fairplay for the idea am sure you will make a killing, and as Britain is binge drink mad am sure your profits will sore…wish I had thought of it!
Well done Harriet, binge drinking women are now to come with a beer belly and excessive Flatulence.
I know its somewhat sexist, but women drinking pints is not attractive.
Just take a look at the picture dd does Harriet look like a trampy unclassy binge drinker! no an enterprising sensible young lady is what I can see. There are plenty of alcopops and shooters out there to keep the so called tramps happy, leave the girl alone!
My wife is a convert from fizzy lager to proper beer but finds that many ales don’t appeal to her palate. I’m glad to see this positive venture promoting real ales. Good luck to Harriet, The Rushing Dolls and Hanby Ales. I hope we’ll soon see more ventures appealing to classy lady real ale drinkers.
What about half pints? A little more feminine perhaps? There’s nothing wrong with girls appreciating a decent ale once in a while (particularly if its Hobgoblin or Dubbel - yum!)
I just dont like beer bellys and beards on girls.
It is a great idea from a business point of view though and I congratulate Harriet for fronting this venture.
But I still dont like birds with beards! x
Excellent news - as a politics student myself (albeit at Newcastle in the famine years of the mid to late ’70s) - kool / right on / good on yer babe - I can only applaud this. I’ve copied details to my local in Covent Garden - The Harp - run by Binny and an all woman crew, one or tow I have been educating about good beer.
And the West London CAMRA branch want to run an evening with Harry’s Beer and Harriet.
Can we talk? I’ll be in the NE Dec 23rd for the duration, and then Jan 19th for the Courier 60th anniversary do!
Dominic
Big Matty… get out of the dark ages! Just because a woman drinks beer does not mean she has a beard! I think it’s brilliant that this young woman has had the courage and the foresight to take on such a potentially controversial task. Good on her, and long may women drink beer! I love it and have no beard in sight!
I’m a great fan of real ales and have been for some years now.
I think you’ll actually find that real ales has less calories than the gassier lagers, ciders and alcopops, so women spouting beer bellies from this is just a stupid suggestion. As for beards my mother always told me that eating the crusts on bread would give you a beard, you going to believe this too???
Fair play to you Harriet I’m all for new ales and getting ales back to being popular, I’m finding it increasingly frustrating going into pubs only to be offered the nasty chemical cream flow beers…
Real Ales forever!!!
Great beer Harriet–the best thing ever to come out of Hanby’s.I’m sure that being business-minded you won’t be put off by the stupid comments you’re getting,probably from lager drinkers.
cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!