You’re Probably A Beer Girl Too

I’ve never been a beer girl. I like to wear black slip skirts and sip overpriced cocktails in dimly lit bars or uncork a bottle of wine I probably picked because it has a cute label in the comfort of my apartment. Though I’ve witnessed how satisfying the crack of a beer can be for others, I’ve never been one to partake.

The stereotype of a “beer girl” was perhaps best summed up by the 2014 film Gone Girl’s iconic “Cool Girl Monologue.”

“Being the Cool Girl means I am a hot, brilliant, funny woman who adores football, poker, dirty jokes, and burping, who plays video games, drinks cheap beer,” and so on, protagonist Amy Dunne rattles off sarcastically. It’s essentially the same concept as the “pick-me girl,” a more recent phrase that describes the archetype of women who separate themselves from feminine stereotypes for the approval of men. “I’m not like other girls,” one might say, scoffing at an invitation to pop a bottle of rosé and watch The Bachelorette’s hometowns.

A beer girl doesn’t want an Instagrammable drink with a funky garnish; she’s low-maintenance and wants whatever’s on tap. And frankly, I thought that was so not me.

From Cocktail Connoisseur To Beer Girl

In a cultural moment where women can embrace contradictions — brat and demure, low-maintenance in order to be high-maintenance — I attempted to become a beer girl for the weekend while visiting Montauk, New York, with Heineken. I may not be getting dealt into a poker game or drafting a fantasy football team any time soon, but maybe I could learn to enjoy an ale every once in a while. This seemed like the perfect place to give the lifestyle a whirl.

There, I threw all of my preconceived notions out the door while throwing back a couple of brews and learned the “beer girl” has been unfairly vilified.

It felt like my classed-up version of the frat-boy-beloved “shower beer.”

The brand’s latest launch, Heineken Silver, is meant to have a less bitter taste than other offerings, making it ideal for a novice like me. It’s also a good option when drinking for hours on end or on hot days when you want something that doesn’t feel like too much.

The Pregame Vibe Check

To start on my “beer girl” journey, I had to put it through its first test — the pregame. The girlies know there is nothing better than having a little bev while doing your hair and makeup before a night out, and I wanted to know if a beer would do the job.

I opened a can while I started my makeup routine in my hotel room, and immediately I found it easy to drink (something I can’t always say about my hand-poured drinks), and like a smart move knowing it had 4% ABV. Also, the fact that it wasn’t in a glass helped me avoid any clumsy mishaps that could occur as I scrambled around for a brow pencil or fussed with a blow dryer cord.

It felt like my classed-up version of the frat-boy-beloved “shower beer” because drinking in the shower is gross, IMO, and the preferred setup I have during my getting-ready routine is anything but. And, since the Hamptons are the beachy counterpart to Manhattan’s “city that never sleeps” attitude, the lower ABV was a power move knowing that I’d likely be drinking at two or three locations throughout the night. (My Virgo moon was looking out for future me.)

Cans Of Consistency

Throughout the weekend, I also came to love the consistency of ordering a beer. Whether I drank one while getting ready, sipped one by a bonfire on the beach, asked for one at dinner, or ordered one later on at a nightclub, they all tasted exactly the same. Ordering a cocktail can be a game of roulette — you never know if the bartender has a heavy hand, if the mixers will be watered down, or if the garnish will be what you’re looking for. Let’s not get into the number of times I’ve wished for more olive brine in my dirty martini.

Opting for beer over my typical cocktail order throughout the weekend made me feel like a low-maintenance queen, and I could tell servers secretly loved when our table ordered buckets of beer during a busy time of the night rather than 10 different hyperspecific mixed drinks. Sure, maybe I wasn’t getting as many aesthetically appealing snaps for my IG story and I wouldn’t pair a beer with every type of meal, but the pros were apparent.

Drinking responsibly should always be top of mind, and with a lower ABV and a light taste, I was able to enjoy a few Heinekens during the day or while getting ready for the night without feeling like I was setting myself up for a blurry morning-after debrief.

Why We’ve Gotten Beer Girls All Wrong

Earlier this year on TikTok, a trend differentiating “beer girls” from their fruity-drink-preferring friends went viral. For the videos, the friend who preferred a typical cocktail would lip-sync a demure “meow” before the camera panned to their friend holding their beer of choice. The viral sound has been used in more than 40,000 videos, with many users jokingly calling out their beer-drinking friends.

Though the trend lightly pokes fun at the concept of a woman who prefers beer, it’s in a way that confirms both parties are in on the joke. As the Internet always reminds us, we all can contain multitudes.

The notion that women don’t often enjoy beer isn’t just a pop-culture stereotype (hi, Carrie and her Cosmos!), it’s a concept backed, and likely perpetuated, by exclusion in the industry. It’s not that “beer girls” aren’t hard to find; they’ve just been left out of the conversation. In 2021, only 3% of the 9,000 breweries in the United States were fully women-owned.

Beer advertisements that feature women as the main characters rather than as bikini-clad servers have tended to spark social media outrage from male beer drinkers in recent years. For example, a 2023 Miller Lite commercial released during Women’s History Month that poked fun at the past misogyny of the beer industry wasn’t well received by some consumers. It’s no shock women might feel pushed out of the beer-loving loop until they become accustomed to its taste, acknowledge its breadth and variety, and realize they actually like it.

Overall, while I may not think I deserve the full title of “beer girl” quite yet, I can see the appeal of cracking open a cold one on a hot summer day and knowing exactly what taste you’ll get. And the vibe is unbeatable — a beer on the beach, at a sports game, or even as I sit at my vanity perfecting my eyeliner before hanging out with my girlfriends might just be my new MO. And, if I don’t want to shed the liquor-ordering side of me completely, I can always go for a classic New York City beer and a shot combo. After all, there’s beauty in duality.