No takers for world’s first beer for homosexuals

The launch of the world’s first beer specifically targeted at homosexual drinkers has been branded ‘silly’.

"Having a beer that was specifically ‘gay’ would be like dictating to gays what they should do. I think it’s a bit silly, really," Brisbane Times quoted Neil McLucas, a long-standing homosexual bar proprietor and outspoken member of Brisbane’s homosexual, bisexual, and transgender community, as saying.

“And if you made a beer a ‘gay’ beer, well, I can’t imagine many men would be caught dead drinking it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lion Nathan’s James Tait said the ‘next generation’ beer represented by their Summer Bright lager was proving popular.

"You want to be very inclusive in terms of how you market to social groups rather than being very specific.

“It’s hard to see why someone would pick a beer based on their gender or sexuality. People drink a beer because they like the taste and the brand resonates with them,” he said.

Paul Donaldson of the Carlton and United Breweries said, “There’s a risk of looking at a market and thinking, ‘great, we’ll launch a targeted beer’, but history would suggest that can often be a poor move because people feel patronised.

“Most beers that have ever targeted females have failed because females think, ‘hang on, I want a legitimate beer just as much as any guy does’.

“If you look at the latest VB stuff it’s evolved from just being about a hard-earned thirst to being a real beer for real blokes and that’s about as far as we can take it,” he said.