Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day
Hosted by Wind River Brewing
by Terry Allen
March 8, 2018
To celebrate International Women's Day, Beer Brewer Emily Johnston and The Wind River Brewing Company in Pinedale, Wyoming invited members of the community to a tour and tasting on Thursday at noon, March 8, 2018. In fact, over 200 breweries around the world with women brewers, were part of this special celebration.
Emily was in Italy studying wine making when she decided beer making might satisfy her creative side more. For about five years since then she has been brewing beer at breweries in Colorado and Montana. Emily explained the specific ingredients that go into various beers and then explained the very complicated (too complicated for me to even follow more than the basics), yet creative process to turn them into a good beer.
We all passed around a bottle that contained this year’s hops blend made especially for this year’s Pink Boots Collaboration Brew, and every one of us expressed amazement at the heady and delicious aroma. The hops varieties that go into this years special brew include Palisade®, Simcoe®, Mosaic®, Citra® and Loral®. Emily just started the brewing process and expects the special beer to be ready to drink in about a month; so mark your appointment books and keep your ear the ground.
As we drank Blond Ale paired with salsa and chips, artichoke and spinach dip, and a hummus dip, I did a survey of some of the women in attendance and was surprised so many preferred a little stronger beer than I would have expected. Emily likes IPA, Caitlin Tan likes the Weizen, Tiffany Biffle likes the IPA, while Liz Biffle likes the Blond Ale. Shaunna Bennett really likes a dark Stout. This seems like a very encouraging sign to me, since so many of my male friends drink the ghastly lite beers, that I can't help but question their beer values.
I did some research and discovered that until the industrial age of the mid-1800's women the world over were the brewers in all societies. Somehow though, men took over the job in western societies almost exclusively and that imbalance continued until the 1970's when a handful of women jumped into the business. There is still resistance to women brewers in some corners, but women such as Jill Vaughn and Rebecca Reid have been successful at becoming top brewmasters at Anheuser-Busch, where they developed brands such as Bud Light Platinum, Shock Top and the Straw-Ber-Rita. In 2013, Sara Barton, owner and director of Brewster's Brewery, won the Brewer of the Year award.
Sometimes we wonder when a polite time to leave a party is. Well, I overheard a group of the beer tasting women coming up with some blushingly creative names for the special Pink Boots beer that will be coming out in around 30 days. I sensed they were having a little fun turning up the shades of red in my cheeks, or maybe I was just invisible like geezers often are, but in any case, I decided to make a graceful exit and let them close out this International Women's Day event among themselves.
Thank you Emily Johnston and Kari DeWitt for inviting me to be the only man invited to the tasting. I really appreciate your confidence. I had a great time.
Thanks to Dawn Ballou for sponsoring this story.
Terry Allen: txpartisan@gmail.com
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