Pink Boots fall beer tour will highlight undiscovered women in German brewing

There’s absolutely no question here: If you’re a woman in brewing, we have found the ultimate tour to discover German brewing culture. Plus, the “Beer, Bratwurst and Beyond tour to Bavaria” is being led by the ultimate organization in women’s brewing — the Pink Boots Society (PBS) — a group created to empower women beer professionals, advance women brewing careers and make damn good beer along the way. Plus, plus, it’s coed! So, it’s open to people in the trade and even beer enthusiasts of both genders. Score!

Presented by PBS and Philadelphia-based Treasures of Europe Tours, the fall tour will be from Oct. 5-13, 2015, and will forgo the Oktoberfest and Big Beer destinations, concentrating instead on hidden craft beer hotspots, pioneering women brewers, regional family-operated breweries and farm-to-table eats. PBS announced that two prominent German organizations representing family-owned and small-scale breweries have signed on as local partners: the Bavarian Association of Private Breweries, located in Munich, and the Association of Breweries of Upper Franconia, located in Bayreuth.

“The beer and brewing paradigm is shifting in Germany,” said Emily Engdahl, executive director of the Pink Boots Society.

“Upstart craft brewers are challenging old orthodoxies with inventive, edgy new beer styles. Women brewers in Germany are at the top of their game and are slowly getting the recognition they deserve,” added Tom Conrad, of Treasures of Europe Tours.

“New-vibe craft beer-making is flourishing alongside the native artisanal brewing culture that has defined German beer for centuries. That makes today’s German beer scene fascinating and exciting,” said Conrad, adding that old-school regional brewing never died out in Germany as it nearly did in the U.S. and many other countries.

Highlights include:

• Kick-off event and private tasting hosted by the Bavarian Association of Private Breweries;
• Session with Sister Doris, Germany’s last beer-brewing nun;
• Series of meetings and tours with leading women beer-makers in Franconia and the Upper Palatinate, including the Meinel sisters, master brewers in Hof;
• Private tour of a 1000-year-old abbey brewery and tasting;
• Survey and tasting led by one of Germany’s top sommeliers;
• Series of site visits, private sessions and tastings with Oswald Kundmueller, Andreas Gaenstaller and other craft beer brewers;
• Sausage seminar led by a master butcher who was chosen as Bavaria’s “Bratwurst King;”
• Visit to the home of Zoigl brewing in the remote Upper Palatinate region, including briefing and tasting;
• Site visit and behind-the-scenes look at local cheese-making and small-scale trout-farming.

Samuel Adams, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Lagunitas Brewing Co. have joined hands to sponsor the tour and a PBS members-only sweepstakes, which was launched to raise funds for the organization’s educational programming. Three lucky winners will travel free, courtesy of the tour sponsors.

Beer, Bratwurst and Beyond is all about pulling back the curtain on Germany’s craft beer scene, discovering emerging women beer-makers and celebrating the tradition of small-scale native breweries that operate off the grid and out of the limelight. Space is limited. Reserve online. Additional information about the tour is available at Treasures of Europe Tours. Related photos are available here. Learn about the generous sponsors here.