It's the "S" word again as Julia Herz weighs in on women in beer.

You might think I've been on a tangent this year.

You would be right. Here's a six-pack of my annoyance with sexism in beer.

• July 15, 2015: Yes, "Craft Brewing Has a Sexism Problem."
• May 17, 2015: Leg Spreader's notoriety spreads all the way to Great Britain.
• May 10, 2015: Sexism and beer and money all around. And more money.
• March 24, 2015: "Does craft beer have a sexism problem?"
• January 27, 2015: Brewers of Indiana Guild: "We obviously don’t condone sexism or racism."
• January 19, 2015: The PC: Ripped straight from the pages of an Onion satire: “13 white males not really so eager to discuss issues like racism and sexism.”

Julia Herz has written a timely piece on the topic, one I suggest all brewing industry peeps read.

Julia Herz is the Craft Beer Program Director for the Brewers Association and co-author of the CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Course. Julia is a life-long homebrewer, BJCP beer judge and Certified Cicerone®. Despite her extensive experience, she will always consider herself a beer beginner on an unending journey to learn more about craft beer.

I especially like her conclusion.

Let’s challenge today’s generation of brewers and those to come: May we all be a part of setting new standards of marketing that broadens beer’s customer base.

As I've tried to mount an independent campaign for mayor of New Albany, it has become obvious that the notion of "challenging" anyone to learn or adapt is becoming increasingly archaic. In broad terms, America is far more about pandering than challenging. Improvement takes thought and hard work. Many breweries are putting in the legwork, but others aren't.

We can be better, people.

Weighing in on Women and Beer, by Julia Herz (Craft Beer Dot Com)

Craft Beer Doesn't Need Sexism--It Needs Women

It’s time to share some personal thoughts on a theme I seem to speak to on a weekly basis: women and beer. In light of the recent Bud Light #UpForWhatever campaign, which included the tagline, “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night,” the topic has surfaced once again—and the conversation is spilling over into the craft beer world.

Beyond the general topic of women and beer, the specific topic of sexism is a subject both in beer and beyond. As Bay Area writer and bartender Jen Muehlbauer told Slate.com recently, “I can cite examples of sexism both extreme and subtle in the beer industry, but so can any woman in any industry. I don’t think beer in particular has a woman problem so much as Planet Earth does.”

Paris Hilton doesn't care who makes your beer, which is why you should.

Julia Herz's piece is appended with a poll, and currently 94% of respondents agree that it's important to know who makes your beer.

Covering similar territory, Beer Pulse picked up a recent PC posting, prompting a richly amusing dialogue at Facebook. The Publican as Paris Hilton? Who'd have thunk it?

Who Makes Your Beer?, by Julia Herz (CraftBeer.com)

... In a recent CNN Money article,"Big Beer dresses up in craft brewers' clothing," Greg Koch, CEO and co-founder of Stone Brewing Co., said: “Craft brewers are creative. We don't follow trends—we create them. We specifically went against the mass-homogenized, corporatized business model…. When that very empire, the multinational conglomerate, starts giving the impression to unsuspecting consumers that they're a part of our world, of course that's offensive.”

What Koch is referring to are recent changes from big brewers including the creation of separate divisions featuring fuller-flavored beers (e.g., Blue Moon Brewing Company, Tenth & Blake Beer Company, and Green Valley Brewery), and purchasing all or part of existing small breweries (e.g., Anheuser Busch’s recent purchase of Goose Island).

So what is a craft brewer anyway?