A feminist movement is bubbling in the beer world, with more women going bar-hopping and buying--and making--craft beers.
Women were some pioneers in the resurgence of craft beer, which began in the 1980s, and has attracted more women into the beer brewing industry. Every day, more opportunities arise for women to enter brewing, be it in front-of-house, manufacturing, or in the beer trade. With new, emerging brands capitalizing on a cultural obsession with all things local and craft, all women need to enter the beer industry is a hopping heart and some dreams.
More women are seeking careers in the beer industry, thanks in part to the advocacy of the Pink Boots Society and groups such as the Pink Boots Society. The Houston area alone has nearly 20 breweries, and more are opening at a fast pace. In Houston, organizations such as Pink Boots Society and Girls Pint Out are encouraging women to play an active role in the male-dominated industry. Another organization, Women Enjoying Beer, works with various partners--retailers, breweries, distributors, and bars--to help promote beer to women consumers.
Teri has also helped to organize the group Barley, Angels, which is geared towards women interested in craft beer, but who are not female beer makers. Teri Dahrendorf, who has brewed for many craft brewing companies and was an early woman brewery owner in the U.S., believes that one way to address this gender imbalance is to attract and unite women working in the industry. The more women brewers making amazing beers, the less that crafting craft beer seems to be an especially male-dominated endeavor.
There is no question millennial men comprise a large portion of craft beer enthusiasts, but if brewers are not welcoming women to the craft, they are missing out. We do not know how many women (or non-white folks, for that matter) are even working in craft brewing, making it more difficult to tackle their invisibility, their under appreciation, and strategies to create a more diverse, inclusive space. This is where qualitative studies (observations, interviews) can tell stories about the visibility of women in craft beer that numbers alone cannot.
A side effect of the continued growth of greater selection and diverse flavors in craft beer has led to greater interest among more women--both consumers and industry professionals--in an industry where men were once dominant. Female beer experts are trying to convert more women to the common Jane Six-pack, with groups such as Barley, Angels, Crafty Ladies, and Girls Pint Out. The Brewers Association does not have firm numbers on how many women are tapping, but a spike was reported this weekend at the New York Craft Brewing Festival in the Lexington Avenue Armory by girls who love.
Several of those women mentioned difficulties raising money to start a brewery, but mainly that the idea of making craft beer back in the 1980s and 1990s was still alien to a lot of people. Women continued home brewing, had to work their way back to making beer for others as a profession. After the Black Death of the middle of the 14th century, the rise of incomes and the growing numbers of people who began making and drinking beer led to an increased interest in beer-making, additional regulations, and ultimately, women being forced out of the spaces that they had long controlled.
The mechanization of beer making forced beer making from home, and, by extension, out of reach of women brewers; drinking beer became popularized at city taprooms, which catered to men--and, thanks to fears about prostitution, barred women, too. By brewing at convents, inns, and in their own homes, women made beer in order to feed their families and communities a safe, nutritious beverage. For many women brewers, making good beer feels like making magic, in a way that hark ens, back to the days of the Alewives stirring the bubbling jugs. Jennifer Newman, Managing Director, Young Lion Brewing Company Young Lion Brewing Company supports a movement that is pushing for more women to be involved in crafting beer.
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