While pursuing the formidable research that it took to compile this sidebar, Drinkology also happened upon the following, possibly alarming, information: there’s some evidence that drinking too much beer, besides causing beer bellies, can lead to the growth of what are politely termed “man boobs.” In this case, the culprit isn’t calories or carbs; it’s hops. It appears, you see, that hops are estrogenic—they contain estrogenlike compounds that can affect a man’s hormonal balance, constricting the flow of testosterone and causing him to develop those “primary sexual characteristics” known as breasts. Moreover, long-term exposure to hops can (purportedly) lead to impotence—or “brewer’s droop” as old British slang charmingly put it. There are even Internet conspiracy theorists who believe that the Reinheitsgebot, the German Beer Purity Act of 1516—about which you can read more on pages TK–TK—specified that hops and hops only could be used to flavor and bitter beer because those who promulgated it wanted to keep the populace “feminized” and therefore docile. Jeesh. Drinkology knows we’re supposed to be all scientific and everything when reporting such info. But, in fact, we’re (1) confused and (2) amused. Confused: if hops “feminize” male beer drinkers (and if male and female behaviors are really as stereotypical as these theorists seem to believe), then you’d think there would be no such thing as a bar fight involving beer-drinking men. Amused: in contemporary craft-beer-drinking culture, ultra-hoppy beers seem such an emblem of masculine identity that we can’t help finding it ironic that such beers might promote the development of what we can’t help but refer to as “beer jugs.”
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