Order Yakima Chief Hops’ new Pink Boots Blend, supporting women in brewing, right here

This is always a cool idea to support. Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) recently announced the pre-sale of its 5th annual Pink Boots Blend in partnership with the Pink Boots Society (PBS). PBS is an international nonprofit with a mission to assist, inspire and encourage women in the fermented and alcoholic beverage industry, and YCH is 100 percent grower-owned global hop supplier.

The Pink Boots Blend, which you can preorder right here, is an annual hop blend and part of YCH’s pursuit of promoting inclusivity in the industry. Each year, women in the beer profession across the globe collaborate with YCH on a new blend recipe through an extensive virtual selection process. This year, the selection included women from 37 different PBS chapters across five different countries.

For the 5th annual blend, YCH was able to offer a virtual selection kit to any active Pink Boots Chapter in the world. This resulted in more than 60 kits being delivered to multiple countries, including Czech Republic, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the USA. Each chapter conducted their own sensory analysis on multiple hop varieties and submitted the recipe for their “dream blend.” With those submissions, YCH’s sensory and planning teams strategically compiled the information on the most frequently selected hops and at what percentages. YCH created three final blend recipes that best represented the overall information gathered and the PBS chapters were asked to cast their vote!

Each team then submitted their top choice for the final blend, resulting in an overwhelming 50 percent of the teams choosing Blend A. Blend A consists of Idaho Gem, HBC 630, Talus, Triumph and Loral. The expected brewing values are 12.5 percent alpha, with expected aromas of citrus, sweet aromatics and berry. Stay tuned for the official blend description in early January.

The blend is then released for presale to commercial brewers and a portion of the sales proceeds are contributed to the PBS scholarship fund. This helps provide educational opportunities to women in the industry with the goal of assisting with career advancement and leadership skills. To date, more than $381,000 has been contributed.

This year, YCH and PBS have reached an important milestone with the 5th anniversary of the Pink Boots Blend, which will reach brew kettles worldwide in early 2022. This occasion is made even more special with the upcoming 15th anniversary of the Pink Boots Society next year. In celebration, they have set a goal of selling 50,000 lbs and reaching an overall total blend contribution of $500,000.

The deadline to order is Dec. 15, allowing time to ship and brew by International Women’s Day on March 8 when PBS hosts their Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day. Brewers are encouraged to register their Pink Boots Blend brew day and join the global movement in the craft beer community. Visit www.yakimachief.com/commercial/hop-wire/5th-annual-pink-boots-blend to learn more and pinkbootssociety.org for brew day registration.