Christina spent years serving beer for all the wrong reasons until she discovered that beer knowledge in women was scarce. Now on the path to becoming a beer sommelier, she's expanding the palates of other women with her blog Beer 4 Chx.
Christina's Story
"I could do this on my own."
I started working [in a beer bar] where understanding the nuances of every single thing we were selling was truly appreciated. It was a beer bar, with 50 beers on tap from all over the world, and I realized that no one knew about beer and all of its great qualities and how it paired better with food than a lot of wines did. I started making it my life and nerded out on beer. I started home brewing, visiting breweries, and tasting beers from all over.
"It all came together."
I have a degree in Journalism from Indiana University (my mom is so happy that I am finally using it), and there was something about food and beverage that I really like. There was a reason that I was writing all the time, and when I realized my interest in beer it all came together. As soon as I decided what I wanted to do, a flood of opportunities just came my way: book opportunities, writing opportunities, restaurant opportunities.
"Ninety percent of women had no idea about beer."
Women would always come up to me and say that they don't like beer and that they would only want something light. It was only because they had a complete misconception of it; they didn't know what beer could taste like. They were never exposed to beers that had really wonderful flavors, like hazelnut, lemongrass and spice, or chocolate and creamy.
Every time I told a woman about beer she got really excited. I started paying attention to what women were asking and what they didn't know and I would give them advice. They would come up and order beer for their boyfriend as well, and I would ask them questions about what their boyfriend liked and they would tell me, and then I would tell them information to tell their boyfriend about the beer; "Say it's a wheat beer from Belgium, made by nuns." The men would be so excited that their girlfriends knew anything at all about beer. I discovered that knowledge about beer is really empowering. You are dispelling stereo types about what women should or shouldn't know. I started feeling like I was an ambassador for beer and started to love my job and enjoy myself.
"Forget everything you know."
A web savvy friend told me to start a blog so I wrote a couple of articles. I started by telling women to forget everything they know about beer and we were going to embrace it from the beginning. It just took off from there, and it has had a phenomenal response.
I am a believer in responsible drinking and one of the things about people who are paying attention to tasting the nuances of beer is that they are not drinking it as fast; it is not something where you do not care about the flavor. You are pairing it with food, so you are appreciating the flavor, texture, the beginning, the middle, and the end of the beer.
"The biggest difference is confidence."
Learning about beer for me made me more valuable to my job and also opened up a whole new world for me. Truly it was risking something, taking off of the training wheels. Before I would have so much self-doubt. I thought my idea was crazy and didn't think anyone would be interested in it, but the more I just relied on what I had seen I realized that I really did have a good idea. The difference really is confidence.
