The name of the Martha Stewart Show episode was “The Man Show.” Okay, I get it—beer, men, fire—that was an easy let go. She had on Dogfish Head Brewery founder Sam Calagione, who was doing a “Beer 101″ with Martha. Sam had Martha try five great beers: Saranac Adirondack Lager, Firestone Walker Pale 31, Dogfish Head Burton Baton, the Blind Bat Hellsmoke Porter, and finally Dogfish Head Midas Touch.

Martha and Sam went one by one, trying each beer, until Sam got to the Hellsmoke Porter. He was literally in mid-pour when Martha curled up her nose and said, “Oh, this is not my favorite.” Sam asked, “Just by color?” Martha’s face was still crinkly and she continued, “It’s too dark. Ugh!”

Sam's charm on 11 couldn't break Martha

She didn’t even try it. She handed it off to her cameraman. Did I happen to mention she didn’t even try it? She finished the last Dogfish Head beer and asked Sam to send her a keg of their beer Namaste, which she never had before but liked the name because she does yoga.

Martha, you are not helping.

Right now, commercial breweries are coming up with crazy ways to attract the large untapped [I get it! — ed.] beer-drinking market for women. Whether it be the lowest of the low calorie beer or making beer clear, pink, or sparkly, Ooo, sparkly. I’ll bet when that “Man Show” episode aired, beer reps ran home to their focus groups and tried to come up with “womanly” names for their future beer. How about Unicorn’s Mane Lager? Soccer Field Weizen? I know! *Sun Salutation 24-Calorie Pink Palest Ale. (I believe a bit of my soul died when I wrote that.)

Martha Stewart, in that one action, was telling millions of women that dark beer equals icky, confirming the suspicions of women who may never try another dark beer because they had a sip of Guinness 15 years ago. It’s a shame, because she is reinforcing that stereotype of how the market views women beer drinkers: Light and bland is good; dark and bitter is bad. Well guess what? Martha’s wrong. The beer conglomerates are wrong. And they should both know better.

Want to attract more women beer drinkers? Announce and advertise your beer in ways that don’t insult our intelligence or pigeonhole our palates. And ladies, we’re not off the hook. We need to get out there and try beers that may seem to be out of our comfort zones. Many bars and restaurants offer sample glasses so we can try what is on tap, and attending craft beer festivals is a great way to try many different styles of beer.

I’m going to let everyone in on a deep, dark secret about women beer drinkers. We want exactly the same thing men want—a good quality brew. It saddens me that Martha dropped the ball instead of carrying it for a touchdown. Speaking of football, I guess she’s on my shit list along with Rachel Maddow. I still haven’t forgiven Maddow for giving her entire crew Bud Light when the Giants beat the Pats. She will kick the ass of the bartender using juice from a bottle instead of real fruit, but Bud Light? BUD LIGHT?

But, I digress…

What Shelton Bros. essentially downplays is that the law made it more expensive for it to sell to the large New York market alone. It was not more expensive to do any business. We’re sure Massachusetts and other New England states have their own import laws and fees, but, let’s face it, the New York market is much larger than all of the New England states combined, and Shelton Bros. wanted access to that without the fees, understandably, but this was glossed-over in the Facebook response. It says that it is content with having the playing field leveled, but the supposed level playing field has actually tilted towards importers, as they don’t have to pay to brew in New York where it is more expensive to run a business.

The law exempting NYS brewers from certain beer taxes was encouraging growth in that market. It can’t be denied. The loss of the exemption will hurt that growth. We don’t think we’re being emotionally fraught by pointing this out.

One thing we all agree on though, the “brand registration” fees are simply a way for the NYS Legislators to raise taxes without calling it a tax. When those go, all consumers win.