International Women’s Day is this Friday, and for a lot of reasons this year’s feels extra special. We encourage craft breweries to send us your IWD beer events, collaborations and stories surrounding the day, and we’ll try to throw them up on this thread.
First off, the Pink Boots Society, an amazing trade organization created to assist, inspire and encourage women in the beer industry, has nearly 20 events listed on its website for various chapters (just click right here). Some of these events are somewhat open to the public if you’re a woman. For example, this North Jersey Brew Day for the greater Philadelphia area chapter invites Pink Boots members, female first responders and female veterans to brew a beer as a group, which is very cool. You just gotta register!
Here is some other coolness coming up this Friday and/or celebrating International Women’s Day in general.
Seattle: Pike Brewing’s annual Planned Parenthood fundraiser, Women in Beer
Ok, this event is technically May 14, but Pike Brewing Co. starts to promote this great event during the week of International Women’s Day. It’s such a great event, we can’t pass up mentioning it. Pike Brewing’s Women in Beer tasting event highlights an impressive selection of women-owned and -run producers who continue to move our industry forward.
Pike Morning After Pale, the official beer of Women in Beer, features a light and creamy malt base and refreshing, bright hop character from whole leaf Citra. Brewed by the women of Pike, this pale ale will be available on draft and, for the first time ever, also available in 12-oz six-pack cans. The new can design will feature Pike’s Star P logo in Planned Parenthood blue and pink. A portion of proceeds of Pike Morning After Pale supports Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and Hawaiian Islands.
Pike noted it is proud to support Planned Parenthood, whose mission is to empower individuals to make independent, informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive lives through providing information and health care, and promoting public policies that make those services available to all.
Ogden, Utah: International Women’s Day ventures to Roosters Brewing
On International Women’s Day the world celebrates female leaders, change-makers and the many historic milestones in moving equality forward. But in Utah, one group of gals is trying to make a little history of their own and kick preconceived notions to the curb. Starting in 2018, Roosters Brewing Co. — a local brewery based out of Ogden, Utah — has made an annual gathering of female brewers from across the state to host a Pink Boots Brew Day on International Women’s Day.
“Ever since joining the Pink Boots Society three years ago, and brewing Femintation last year, I’ve been trying to connect with women in Utah’s beer industry,” said Jacquie Wright King, the girl boss brewer from Roosters leading the charge on Collaborative Brew Day. “Two summers ago, Julie Schuler from Strap Tank brewing started up a Utah Chapter of Pink Boots. With the formulation of the Utah Chapter, I thought this was naturally the next step.”
Wright King got the ball rolling for the 2018 Women’s Day event which also served as the first official Pink Boots Brew Day for the Utah chapter. She goes on to explain her excitement for this historic day, “Women still only account for 2 percent of head brewers nationwide. We obviously are a very, very small portion of this industry, so events like this help women and girls everywhere realize that it is attainable to work in beer!”
Wright King is once again taking the lead on the 2019 event, hosting at her home brewery Roosters which has just opened an additional brewery and canning facility where the ladies will be meeting up.
Utah is not well known for being one of the major beer capitals in the US and has received a fair share of negative press about women’s equality in the work force. People are surprised to find there are several award-winning breweries based here and that more and more breweries are bringing women on board. “Together, we’re not only changing perceptions, we’re changing realities,” said a spokesperson for Roosters Brewing.
Last year it was Mash the Patriarchy, this year the group has selected a Pink Boots exclusive hop blend and will be brewing together on Women’s Day to create a Cold IPA. Lady brewers are coming from all over the state including Kiitos, Wasatch/Squatters, Epic, Uinta, Strap Tank, Red Rock, Proper, Fisher and Talisman.
The collaborative brew — On Wednesdays We Wear Pink Boots Cold IPA — will take a couple weeks to ferment but once it’s kegged, will be pouring across the state of Utah, starting with a few local restaurants and of course the participating breweries. So, what’s the big deal getting some female brewers to brew together? The whole point is to draw attention to the disparity of women in the workforce, particularly in the craft brew segment.
Northern California: Six Rivers Brewery collaborates on Hazy IPA for International Women’s Brew Day
Building on the success of last year’s International Women’s Brew Day, Six Rivers Brewery co-owner, Meredith Maier, set her sights high for this year’s local collaboration. Inviting women from every local brewery, cidery and distillery to participate, Maier is excited for the opportunity to celebrate women in what has historically been a male-dominated field.
“A powerhouse of ladies taking over our brewhouse is my dream day! And choosing to donate the proceeds of our beer to McKinleyville, Calif.’s Family Resource Center makes it even sweeter,” Maier said.
On March 8, the female co-owners, distillers and team members of Alchemy Distillery, Humboldt Craft Spirits, Jewell Distillery, Humboldt Distillery, Mad River Brewing, Eel River Brewing, Humboldt Cider Co. and Wrangletown Cider Co. will come together to brew a Hazy IPA style beer under the direction of Six Rivers’ head brewer Carlos Sanchez.
This brew day coincides with the Pink Boots Society Collaboration Brew Day and will utilize their exclusive hop blend — formulated by Yakima Chief Hops — who donates $3 of every pound of hops sold to the Pink Boots Society. PBS is an organization whose mission is to assist, inspire and encourage women beer industry professionals to advance their careers through education. Each chapter of PBS around the world will create their brew using these hops.
As Humboldt’s PBS chair and co-owner of one of the few women-owned breweries in California, Maier is clearly enthusiastic about supporting women in the beer industry. But this year’s International Women’s Brew Day created the perfect set of circumstances to support local businesses, another mission that is close to her heart.
Alchemy Distillery co-owner and distiller Amy Bohner shares this passion for partnering with local businesses — she will be contributing local grain milled and supplied by her award-winning distillery grown at nearby Hindley Ranch in Honeydew. Alchemy’s focus is creating small batch, high quality spirits using local grains. Bohner noted, “We have a large sign that hangs in our Distillery that says we are nothing without our farmers. Teaming up with local farmers is at the core of our business philosophy. Collaborating with local businesses is one of my favorite things about being a woman in business.”
Both Alchemy Distillery and Six Rivers Brewery are members of Humboldt Made — a local non-profit dedicated to growing the Redwood Coast’s economy by supporting homegrown businesses, Maier embraces the notion that ‘a rising tide lifts all ships.’ “Being able to share this brew day with fellow local business owners is energizing! At Six Rivers we strive to include as many Humboldt Made producers as possible throughout our menu and behind our bar,” Maier said. Hoping that this Brew Day will give way to successful future collaborations.
The Hazy IPA is expected to be on tap at Six River’s 15th Anniversary party on Sun., March 17. An all day party featuring live music from the Pine Box Boys and the culmination of their “Brew Your Beard” beard growing contest (a fundraiser for McKinleyville’s Teen Center). Find more information about this event on their Facebook page.
Kansas City: Double Shift Brewing Pink Boots Society chapter brew day
Double Shift Brewing Co., in Kansas City, Mo., will be brewing Nevertheless She Brewed (generic photo above), a DH sour with mango and passionfruit with the local Kansas City Pink Boots Society chapter on March 8 at 8:00 a.m. It’s free for members, but anyone can join us for $20.
The money will go back to the chapter, so the chapter can do more fun educational events and maybe start its own scholarship. Double Shift is also brewed yesterday (March 5) at The Big Rip Brewing Co. in North Kansas City, Mo. The beer brewed was a Foggy Haddonfield 2.0 hazy IPA.
Hawley, Pa.: Wallenpaupack Brewing’s Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day
Becky Ryman, co-owner of Wallenpaupack Brewing Co., will be hosting a Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day at Wallenpaupack Brewing on March 8. Members of the Scranton Brewer’s Guild, WBC staff and Pink Boot’s members and women in the brewing industry are all welcome to join in on the brew day. Please dress appropriately (closed-toe, non-slip shoes, long pants, etc.). Lunch will be provided for participants. The beer they will be brewing is a Brewing Pink Bruts Society — Brut IPA with Pink Boots hop blend and hibiscus.
Start time is 9 a.m. on Friday 3/8 and will run all day. The beer is expected to be released on April 5 in cans and on draft.
Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day was born from members’ desire to take part in International Women’s Day (IWD) March 8 by raising the profile of women’s roles in the beer industry. Chapters and members of Pink Boots Society get together along with supporting breweries and individuals, put on their pink boots and brew their chosen beer style. Pink Boots Society splits proceeds from sales of this collaboration brew with participating chapters. The revenue is applied to educational scholarships and programming for its members.
In 2018 they forged a partnership with Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) to make an exclusive Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day hops blend available. Each year, members create a new blend during the hops rub at our annual fall GABF meeting. YCH scales it up so it’s available for purchase; they also donate $3 from every pound sold to Pink Boots Society for education and programming.
San Diego: Second Chance Beer will Brew Women’s Everyday Rosé
Second Chance Beer Co. is celebrating women in craft beer this International Women’s Day. The female-owned, San Diego-based brewery is creating a Women’s Everyday Rosé, in collaboration with other local and women-led companies from all different fields. The base of the Women’s Everyday Rosé is a blonde ale which then has fresh citrus, Semillon grapes and rose petals added in.
The anticipated release date is April 7, National Beer Day, partial profits from the beverage will benefit Pink Boots Society’s scholarship program for women looking to advance in the beer industry. Here’s Virginia Morrison, CEO and cofounder of Second Chance.
“The beer industry historically has been portrayed by hairy men in flannels. We brought together a rainbow of San Diego women busting ceilings in our local, independent craft beer community and beyond. Women Everyday Rosé can be enjoyed with girlfriends, boyfriends and family of all colors and genders, identity be damned! We believe that’s what true community and love should be. So many women — across many industries traditionally male-predominate — are change-makers. I want to draw attention to that fact and show how our indie beer community can bring us together for a great cause and fantastic beer!”
Charlotte: Resident Culture taps Pink Boots beer, throws a big ole party
In celebration of International Women’s Day, Resident Culture Brewing Co. is curating a night that is going to blow last year’s event out of the water. Just come prepared for a night full of kinetic energy, free samples and massages, interactive art and an incredible vendor and speaker lineup of female entrepreneurs. Oh, and live piercings and music. Resident Culture will also be tapping Human Potential, the company’s Triple Dry Hopped Triple IPA using the Pink Boots Hop Blend and Citra. All six of the women on RC’s team brewed this beer, and the can release will be Saturday, 3/9, so this will be a fun sneak peek on tap.
This event is free and open to the public, but there is a suggested donation of $5 to Pink Boots Society in support of women in the beer industry.
Details
- Date: Friday, March 8th
- Time: 6:30 – 11:00 p.m.
- Food Truck: The Dumpling Lady
- Music Performances: DownTown Abby & The Echoes and Courtney Lynn & Quinn
There’s a crazy amount of other details right here.
New Orleans: NOLA Brewing is watching A League of Their Own and brewing A Beer of Their Own
This comes from Jamie Dowd, director of marketing at NOLA Brewing: We’re recovering from all the Mardi Gras hoopla here in New Orleans, but that won’t stop us from getting the lovely ladies of the Mississippi and Louisiana Chapter of Pink Boots Society together for our Pink Boots Brew. On Friday, March 8, we’re celebrating women in beer with this year’s brew day!
NOLA Brewing is psyched to host this year’s brew day, and we have a great day planned for us all to get together and participate in the making of this beer. A Beer of Their Own is going to be a dry hopped peach Berliner. The day will start with lunch for the ladies before working on the brew. Once the brew is finished, we will have a Happy Hour with coffee, sweets, of course, beer, and a showing of A League of Their Own!
The beer will be released in April with a party at NOLA Brewing where all are invited, and we can celebrate and raise money for women in beer through the Pink Boots Society.
NYC: Lineup Brewing collabin’ with Randolph Beer
This comes from Katarina Martinez, sole female owner and head brewer at NYC’s Lineup Brewing in Brooklyn.
“My brewery, Lineup Brewing, is doing a collab with Randolph Beer in DUMBO Brooklyn this Friday from 8-1 p.m. for women’s brew day.”
We’ve reached out for more details, but that’s all we got right now.
Massachusetts: Bone Up brewing a hoppy farmhouse and Pink Boots Society release party
Liz Kiraly, co-founder and brewer at Bone Up in Everett, Mass., tells us:
Even though I’m making beer every week here, this is my third year in a row doing a special brew for Pink Boots. It’s been great to watch my local chapter grow from like six members to almost 200 in the past year! Anyway, we made a hoppy farmhouse ale, which will be called Big Boots ’19, with local wheat and hopped with Idaho Gem. We’ll be hosting a PBS release party and participating in local PBS tap takeover once the beer is ready.”
Cleveland: Masthead Brewing uses Pink Boots hop blend in new double IPA
On March 1, Masthead Brewing Co. staff joined its brewers for Pony Goes Pink, a double NEIPA with pink guava, utilizing the Pink Boots hop blend.
“We will be canning the beer and celebrating it’s release on Sunday, March 24 at 11 a.m. A portion of the proceeds will go back to Pink Boots Society and Girls With Sole, a local charity in Cleveland that provides girls ages 8-18 who are at-risk or have experienced abuse in any way, all the tools necessary to establish a regular free fitness routine, while supporting each other in the process,” the brewery tells us.
Denver: Several breweries come together for a Pink Boots collab at Blue Moon
Over 40 women from several Denver breweries will join forces to create a special collaborative beer at the Blue Moon Brewing Co. in RiNo as part of Pink Books Collaboration Brew Day. This one of a kind brew will be distributed by participating Denver breweries in April for consumers to enjoy. All of the proceeds from the beer benefit the Pink Boots Society, which supports scholarships for women all across the nation to advance careers in the beer industry. Emilie Stewart, a pilot brewer at Blue Moon, will be leading the brewing process on Friday for what is being called “Equal Hopportunity 2.0,” a Pomegranate Key Lime IPA.
This is the second year of the collaboration day, as last year more than $18,000 was raised for Pink Boots Society. All kegs will be donated by Blue Moon on a first come first serve basis to any willing bar or brewery, with the caveat that 100% of the proceeds will be donated back to Pink Boots. Keg reservation begins on brew day. Info about the beer and ingredient sponsors can be found here.
Greenville, S.C.: Birds Fly South Ale Project teams up with the The Homeless Period Project for a Period Party
Ames Cashin from Birds Fly South Ale Project (love that name) sent this our way:
For the third year in a row we’ve partnered with The Homeless Period Project for a Period Party. This incredible group works tirelessly to give dignity back to girls and women across the globe by providing free menstrual products. We’ve also brewed a really special beer that will release at this event. This exclusively women-brewed ale, Sonita, is a wheat beer with honey, turmeric and lemon grass. This unique project was researched, the recipe developed and the beer brewed by the incredible women on our Birds Fly South team. We are super proud to say that the core ingredients were sourced from all women growers and artisans as well!
- Carolina Ground — Raw Harrus Heritage Wheat
- Roundtop Farm — Red Hawaiian and White Mango Turmeric
- Vdovichenko Bee Farm — Raw Sourwood Honey
This beer was named in honor of social activist and survivor Sonita Alizadeh, an Afghan advocate and rapper working to end the practice of forced marriages. Learn more about her amazing story here: www.sonita.org.
Asheville, N.C.: Wicked Weed releases International Women’s Day beer, with money going to local non-profit Our Voice
Thanks to Rachel Dudasik, community engagement coordinator | Philanthropy at Wicked Weed Brewing, for sending this our way.
We recently did two all brew days with the women of Wicked Weed to create beers for the Biere de Femme festival (Pink Boots fundraiser held in N.C. every year). We’ll be releasing those two beers tomorrow for International Women’s Day, with $1 per pour of both beers going to Our Voice, a local nonprofit serving survivors of sexual assault. We’ll also have music from local female musicians, 20 percent off food for all women during the event and decorations featuring strong women both in history and of Wicked Weed (nominated by our employees). I’ve included probably way too many photos, and we’ll be releasing a video tomorrow about the day.
NEVER TOO MANY PHOTOS!
Blue Ridge, Ga.: Grumpy Old Men Brewing serves women’s brewing contest beer
Grumpy Old Men Brewing is a small brewery located in the north Georgia mountains in the town of Blue Ridge. It’s owned by Kristie Young and her husband Jeff. The Youngs were inspired by prior collaboration brew days to get involved and celebrate International Women’s Day with a contest for a chance to brew with the company. Grumpy Old Men posted on its social media handles, asking women who were interested to submit a cool idea and name for a beer. Basically…
Send us your unique idea for a beer, along with a catchy name for that beer that you think would fit in well in our tap room AND get the GOMBies excited. Then be willing to be photographed and posted shamelessly all over the internet (ok, at least on social media platforms).
The entries were judged by the posted rules and a winner was chosen. The winner was Cassondra Padilla and the winning idea was a pale ale with blueberries, lavender and lemon zest. She wanted to call her beer “Violet, your turning violet, Violet!” which is a great name. It is worth noting here that Cassondra and her husband recently had a baby and not surprisingly named her Violet. March 8, GOMB gathered at the brewery with Cassondra and a host of female friends and family to brew the beer.
“A good time was had, and we are looking forward to next year and are planning to involve a local charity in the event,” said Jeff Young.
Celebrate International Women’s Day with three different CANarchy brands
In honor of International Women’s Day, CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective members are celebrating women who drink beer, brew beer and contribute their talents to the craft beer industry. Here are our upcoming events and features:
Perrin Brewing Co. will brew a beer today in collaboration with Fermenta, a non-profit initiated by Michigan women that is committed to diversity, camaraderie, networking and education within the craft beverage industry. The beer is a loose tea-inspired brew with hints of ginger, lavender and honey. Crafted with a Belgian yeast strain and experimental hops, the result is a light, flavorful Witbier for a springtime release. Dubbed “Renaissance Woman,” the brew will be released on draft and in 6-packs of 12oz cans in the Perrin Pub on April 11.
Oskar Blues Brewery’s Brevard, North Carolina, location will host an International Women’s Day Celebration today in the Tasty Weasel Taproom, complete with the release of Gose Before Bros, a dry-hopped Gose brewed with coriander and sea salt smoked on Chardonnay barrels, which was brewed by an all-female Oskar Blues team in collaboration with the Pink Books Society. Gose Before Bros will also be available at the 2019 Biere de Femme Festival. You can also read interviews with Oskar Blues’ production women in Brevard, North Carolina, Austin, Texas, and Longmont, Colorado.
On March 13, Cigar City Brewing Co. will participate in the FemAle Festival, taking place at Pegasus Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The FemAle Festival is a celebration of beer open to all beer lovers, that highlights female beer experts and brewsters. Cigar City Brewing representatives will be there presenting CCB’s award-winning beers.
Please raise a can today in recognition of the hard-working women of the craft beer industry.
Send us your International Women’s Day events and stories, and we’ll stick’em right here. Just e-mail [email protected].
[…] brewing collaborations to parties supporting female-focused non-profits. I highly suggest you read our running thread on IWD events going on all over the United States […]