Coors woos women drinkers

Coors Brewers has established a new business arm in a bid to win over women to beer.

The BitterSweet Partnership has been set up following research undertaken by the company's Project Eve, an initiative that was established last year to look into why more women didn't drink beer.

"Following the initial research under Project Eve Coors decided to establish a permanent business unit to try and break down the barriers between women and beer in the UK," said Bittersweet MD Kirsty Derry.

The unit is fully funded by Coors and will report into the Coors board of directors. The four-strong team will work on existing Coors brands as well as developing new beers and brands for women.

Initial consumer research undertaken by the unit revealed that a third of UK women do enjoy drinking beer but only at music and sporting events, outside of these occasions female consumers said they felt uncomfortable and embarrassed to order beer.

"Currently women make up just 13% of UK beer sales, compared to 25% in North America and 36% in the Republic of Ireland, we want to find out why this is and redress the balance," said Derry.