World: Beer producers try to attract women with milk and fruit-infused beers

Beer manufacturers are increasingly attempting to attract female consumers, with Productscan recording a range of novel beer products, Drinks Business Review published March 30. These include a milk beer, and a flower and a fruit-infused beer, highlighting the industry's belief that if you want to attract women to beer, you've got to make it sweet.

'Content Bilk, from Abashiri Beer, is a new type of beer recently launched in Japan. The beer is said to be made up of one third of milk - its high milk content, combined with its fruity flavor and low-malt taste, is designed to appeal to female taste buds. The idea of a milk beer is said to have come from local dairy farms, who thought that the product would be an ideal way to use their surplus milk.

Anheuser Busch has also released a line of beers targeted towards females. Marketed in the US under the Michelob Ultra Pilsner Beer brand are three new fruit varieties - Lime Cactus, Tuscan Orange Grapefruit, and Pomegranate Raspberry - which are said to be made from natural flavors. As Ultra is already skewed towards women, this line extension should enhance the product's appeal to this group.

Another beer with an unusual flavoring has been introduced in the US by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. The Dogfish Head Chateau Jiahu Beer is flavored with a novel concoction of ingredients, including wildflower honey, Muscat grapes, barley malt, hawthorn fruit, and chrysanthemum flowers. It is said to be a recreation of a 9,000 year old beer mixture, consisting of rice, honey and fruit, that was found preserved in Northern China in 2005.