Punky Brewster

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.

I got to attend one of these events and got the fun job of being a Brewster for a day.  (In case you didn’t know, a Brewster is a female brewer.)  As much as I love beer, it was my first time actually being a part of the commercial brewing process.  And it was awesome.  It was a long day, but I got to learn so much, meet some awesome ladies, and drink beer.  How can you beat that?

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.

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.

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.

Thanks to everyone for a great day!

Check out the Pink Boots Society and the good work they are doing at http://pinkbootssociety.org/

Daytona Beach Brewing Company is located at 482 Fentress Blvd, Unit N, Daytona Beach, Florida.

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As always, stay hip, kids!