Give
me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.
Kaiser
Wilhelm
 |
On March 8, people across the world celebrated
International Women’s Day. IWD was
started in the early 1900’s as part of the suffrage movement, and has turned
into a day of appreciation, camaraderie, and respect for woman everywhere. It’s also a great day of service, with
different charitable events, all supporting women-centric programs. One of these events is the International
Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, put on by the Pink Boots Society, a group
dedicated to promoting women in beer professions. The Pink Boots Society gives a guideline for
creating a craft beer, and breweries across the world use these guidelines to
create their own unique brew. And the
best part, all the brewing is done by women.
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| Alan, our lady for the day! |
Our event was held at Daytona Beach Brewing
Company. They are usually closed on
Sundays, so we had the place to ourselves.
After a fortifying breakfast of Krispy Kreme donuts and coffee,
(breakfast of champions), we headed back to the brewhouse. There we were introduced to Alan, the brewmaster
and honorary lady for the day.
Alan was a great instructor, explaining the different
steps of the brewing process as we completed them. Our brew, the Unite Red Ale, was required to
use Williamette hops, and needed to be a red, hoppy ale. Alan then created a recipe around these
guidelines. Each brewery could add their
own twist to this outline, so we got to add some Florida wildflower honey fresh
from a local apiary.
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| Making the Wort |
There are multiple steps when brewing a beer, but
basically you start with the malt, boil it up until it kind of looks like a big
bowl of oatmeal, add some more boiling water, strain off all that sugary water
goodness into another boiler, boil that up, add the hops and other tasty
goodies, (like honey), and then cool it down, add some yeast, and let it sit
for a while. Of course, that’s highly
simplified, and the process takes several hours, many of them spent watching
water boil. But it’s pretty amazing that
a little bit of chemistry can turn some basic ingredients into something so
delicious.
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| Sparging. What a great word. |
Of course, the truly best part of the day was meeting
the amazing group of ladies that I got to work with. (Even better than beer and that’s saying something.) As much as the craft beer movement has
ballooned in the last several years, I still find it to be a boy’s club. Beyond my close friends, I am
often the only female at the bar that appreciates and is knowledgeable about craft
beer. (Not that it doesn’t have its
perks. I’ve gotten quite a few tasty
free beers because I am the only girl drinking beer with the boys.) But to be surrounded by a group of funny,
kind, down to earth women who are not only knowledgeable, but downright
passionate, about beer was something I won’t easily forget.
I was honored to be included in this event, and I look
forward to more events with the Pink Boots Society and Girl Meets Beer. As for our beer, the Florida Wildflower Unite
Red Ale, it’s not quite ready. A couple
of transfers and a little bit of dry hopping are needed to finish its
adventure. But sometime in April we will
be tapping the kegs and I will get to enjoy the fruits of my (and everyone else’s)
labor, and raising money for some local women’s charities. Not too bad for a days work.
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| Thanks to everyone for a great day! |
Daytona Beach Brewing Company is located at 482 Fentress Blvd, Unit N, Daytona Beach, Florida.
Follow Girl Meets Beer on Facebook or Twitter @girlmeetsbeer1
As always, stay hip, kids!
