Ask the Sluts: What beer do you drink?

People are often surprised that a lot of the Domestic Sluts drink beer. Actually, finances often dictate that we drink more beer than we do cocktails. It's (thankfully) not unusual for women to drink beer these days, and to know a little bit more about it than the price of a pint of Stella. We care just as much about what our beer tastes like as we do our gin. We're also certain that there's a beer out there for everybody, you just have to know what it is that you do and don't like. Here's what you'll find us drinking in the pub.

Siany: I'm a hoppy girl. I not really a fan of dark ales, they're too heavy for me even in winter. Instead I'm all about IPAs (not Green King, avoid that like the plague). Anything pale and refreshing suits me. But I need it to have a bit of a punch as well. Waggle Dance is a favourite, as is Mad Goose. Meantime do a fantastic pint too. And while I don't really go in for fruit beers, I'll happily drink Leifmans cherry beer until I can't stand (usually about six bottles in).

Kat: I don't know what weird process happens to beer when it crosses the Channel, but with the exceptions of Kirin and Corona (bottled) and most wheat beers, I always seem to get a really vile, stinging aftertaste when I drink it. So I drink gin instead. My all-time favourite beer, and place to drink it, is in Les Brasseurs in Geneva. I spent most of my university summer holidays in Switzerland, and Les Brasseurs, with its great colonnes, was blissful (a colonne is basically a huge tube of beer with a tap to siphon it off). Their biere blanche was the reason I kept asking for white beer, rather than wheat beer, when I moved to London, and so kept on getting looked at as though I'd just escaped from one of Oxford Street's more rubbish English schools.

Carrie: One of my first "proper" jobs was managing a pub in Falmouth, Cornwall. It was there that I discovered (and ordered many-a-keg of) Skinners. This Cornish brewery is my total favourite, and I've never been known to turn down a pint of their gorgeous blonde ale; Cornish Knocker (plus, it has a picture of a flasher on the label that always makes me laugh!). If you like something a little darker then Skinner's Betty Stoggs is another fantastically tasty beer.

Sara: Beers that make my male companion say "I'm not bloody asking for that, you order it." Mainly fruit beers like Fruli, Kriek, Meantime raspberry or Sam Smith's cherry beer. Anything bright red that doesn't really taste like beer, basically.

Sel: As I work in a real ale pub, I get to drink quite a lot of beer. It's research, honest. My favourite at the moment is Citra by Oakham Ales. It has quite a zesty taste which makes for perfect summer drinking. I'm also quite partial to a Rauchbier which is basically smoked beer. We always try to have Aecht Schlenkerla Marzen in stock. If you see it and want to try something different, get it!

Sarah D: What is it with us Sara's? Just like Sara, I'm not a big beer drinker: blame growing up in the Cotswolds, a job in a real ale pub and more eye-splitting barn dance scrumpy hangovers than I can shake a stick at. But show me a cherry-coloured sherberty beer like Meantime raspberry.

Frances: Seeing as all the other ladies have already rhapsodised about my favourites (Meantime and Kriek if you want to buy me a pint), I was forced to go to the pub last night to try and find something new to write about. And I was very much enjoying this: Freedom.

Michelle: In my younger days I used to be quite a big real ale fan, mainly as I am a good traditional Yorkshire gal and frequented lots of real ale pubs. However, significant blame must fall at the feet of Hull's old town and the Merchant Navy as I was led astray by some lovely old navvies who introduced me to the delights of Theakstons Old Peculiar followed by a cheeky peach schnapps chaser during my student days.

Got a favourite beer? Tell us in the comments!

Flickr image from James Cridland.