Brittani Myers

Many people hear the words “beer” and “brewing” and a male dominated industry littered with sexist imagery and advertising usually comes to mind. This was the truth about the beer industry for a very long time, but it wasn’t always that way. Brewing was originally a woman’s game. Beginning in Mesopotamia women brewed beer in their homes due to unsafe drinking water. Over time, women realized the demand and began capitalizing on their home brews. Alewives became popular and could be seen in marketplaces with their tall black hats and broomsticks outside of their doors selling beer. The fear of working women leading to the degradation of family values led to society demonizing them. Many historians believe that our modern interpretation of witches comes from alewives. The brewing industry was stolen from women through laws and the funding of male-owned breweries. The age of advertisement solidified beer as a “man’s beverage” that women served. In modern times, women are returning to beer as consumers as well as working in the industry. This change has largely been empowered by the craft beer movement. 

The branding of Judie’s Brewing Company seeks to celebrate women in the beer industry and reclaim the term “Women’s Work”. The 1950s Teddy Girl, also called “Judies”,  counterculture is used to further illustrate society’s fear of working women. In the 1950s a wave of young women in Britain chose to adopt men’s fashion and go to work; making them financially independent. Much in the same that alewives were disliked for their independence; Teddy Girls were looked at with similar disdain. The recreation of an early print style using layered CMYK halftones is reminiscent of comics that also rose to popularity at the time and were heavily criticized by civil and religious leaders. Teddy Girl culture, along with the similar US Greaser culture, was spread largely through motorcycle and hot rod circles. The addition of the popular cafe racer epitomizes the message of the branding; solidifying the rebellious nature of any woman who chooses to go against the grain and make her own way.