Women in brewing

You obviously haven't spent much time in Wisconsin.

 

Sheesh, this thread got really weird really quickly! Everybody relax, have a beer...

 

It's sounds like you are having a hard time looking passed the caricature you've created in your mind of someone that would write a post such as mine. That is unfortunate, as I think it opens up the door to dismiss my words completely without actually thinking about them (even if in thinking about them you disagreed with them). Oh well, such is life....

 

It's kinda ironic how women are now struggling in both the world of gastronomy and brewing, since cooking and brewing used to be women's jobs.

There've been some projects going on here (Belgium and Holland) to try and put the spotlight on "women and beer", but the beers that have come out of it have been mediocre at best. The ladies that have moved on to different projects have made some pretty stellar stuff though.

This imperial stout for instance:



It was made by one of the women that was involved in the Dutch "Tasty Lady" project to celebrate the birth of her son. It was then re-worked and brewed in a way bigger batch @ De Molen as "Sprout 2.0". Very nice stuff.

 

Lost Coast Brewing in Eureka CA. Founded by two women over 20 years ago.

http://www.lostcoast.com/ourstory.php

 

Point of order: I said forum etiquette, wasn't playing Miss Manners -- especially around here. But that's what the emoticons are for -- to express that tongue-in-cheek tone of voice you might use at a party or bar when you can't be heard over the fiber optic.

Aside from that, humor -- like beer enjoyment, is very subjective. I tend toward the Marx Brothers and Spaten Oktoberfest, but I also like Monty Python and Fullers London Pride. Easy to mix it up.

Hardly, and no harm - no foul. Just didn't want you to get the wrong impression(s).

 

Lot of anecdotal evidence and barstool theorizing going on here as an excuse for justifying PC attitudes about the sufferings of (insert group identity here.)

If I recall the stories correctly, both Jim Koch and Larry Bell had to start by borrowing from friends since banks wouldn't loan them the money. Fritz Maytag put up his own money to resurrect Anchor and had a difficult time getting local restaurants to serve it due to its reputation as crap beer. I wouldn't doubt that a lot of the early craft companies started with passion but great difficulty and little outside support. That's the way it is with entrepreneurship.

And most of them, like Jim Koch, still "reflect on the achievement of it all." He mentions it often in his commercials.

 

You win, dude! If we stop talking about it, it ceases to be a problem! Disparity between male and female employment in the beer industry? Pfftt, no such thing.

 

LOST COAST BREWING COMPANY, Eureka, CA

The Lost Coast Brewery and Café began with a common dream. In 1986 Barbara Groom, a pharmacist, and Wendy Pound, a family counselor, wondered what it would require to start their own brewpub. After years of experimental home brewing, planning and studying, which included visiting scores of pubs in England & Wales, Barbara and Wendy were ready to transform their dream into a reality.....

 

Interesting thread; thanks for starting.

I've been mulling this over for quite some time now, and it's interesting to hear the responses. As a woman, and a (home)brewer, I can say I don't often feel totally welcome on BA. While there are a lot of awesome guys on this site, there seem to be just as many that would rather keep this the "old boys club" or something. Several times a week, I'll come across a post that's totally sexist (and usually derogatory). And every time I do, I double-check that this is in fact Beer Advocate, not Beerman Advocate or something.

Anyway, guess I went off on a bit of a tangent there..

Yes, "women in brewing" seems to be on the rise. I'm not sure if we're just talking about 'brewing' specifically, or women in the craft beer scene in general. One of currently only four Master Cicerones is a chick. There have also been many feature stories about women in craft, in several beer publications including Beer Advocate magazine.

So it seems it's happening, albeit slowly.

 

*I* am a lady brewer!!! Well, as of just last week, haha. I just started, but still, my official position on my time card is "brewer." I about fainted when the brewmaster filled it out. So far I haven't felt that my gender has had any effect on my job. I applied last summer, was actually offered the job, but I turned it down. Then recently, the brewmaster contacted me and offered me the job again. I definitely get paid more than minimum wage, and I'm only taking a tiny pay cut from working as a radiochemist at an environmental testing lab.

So far the work has been excellent. I'm definitely physically tired at the end of the day, but as of yet, I haven't encountered anything that I can't do. I can lift (empty) half barrel kegs above my head, toss sack after sack of 50lbs of grain into the mill, I can operate the forklifts, etc etc. Nobody has treated me like a delicate flower or an incompetent airhead. They tell me the job, and I do it, asking questions if I need to. We start our new canning line in a few weeks, and I'm excited to be learning that along with the brewmaster and everyone else. Although I just started, I'm loving the job so far. Everyday is different and it's all about beer. I love telling people that I work at the brewery, and they assume I'm a bartender. Nope, I'm in the brewhouse!

But aside from my new job, I've homebrewed a fair amount. I follow recipes and do all grain. One of my best friends is also a lady homebrewer and beer enthusiast. We both homebrewed independently before we met.

 

I agree with this. I'm not typically one to get butthurt about sexist comments. In fact, it wouldn't be a lie to admit that I'm a bit of a traditionalist as far as gender roles (I'm perfectly happy to be in the kitchen making dinner while my boyfriend fixes my Jeep or whatever else). But I've definitely noticed the phenomenon you describe reasonably frequently. Some truly insulting comments get tossed around that cross the line from playful harmless sarcasm to definitively degrading. I would like to think that anyone that goes so far as to consider themselves an advocate of craft beer, especially males, would be thrilled to have more female interest. But it doesn't always seem that way.

 

I'm happy to have competent and competitive women in any career field. Especially when they are displacing less competent male counterparts. Makes for a much better and creative workplace when all the people that "should" be there are the ones that are. Wish it would have happened long ago. As long as it's based on merit, gender doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me. Any man that feels threatened by such a thing better crawl into a cave, because it's been a long time coming.

 

This article was featured in May's edition of a local Wilmington magazine (which focuses on & caters to mainly women.) This particular article is about not only women home brewers, but also females in the craft beer industry as a whole. Enjoy!

http://www.wilmaontheweb.com/May-2013/Hop-Hobbyists/

 

It's great that those guys mention their achievements. They should be proud of them. I am taking nothing away from that. But the playing field is still not level.

Your conversation about the struggles of Koch, Bell and Maytag are exactly my point actually. You talk about Koch and Bell having to borrow from friends because banks wouldn't loan them money. Their friends had money to lend in the first place. That's an advantage. The groups that have been historically oppressed don't have friends with means to lend. You talk about Maytag putting up his own money. He had money in the first place. That's an advantage. That groups that have been historically oppressed don't have the money to put up in the first place. I am not saying those guys didn't work hard, they worked their butts off, but they never would have to work as hard as a woman or a person of color trying to achieve the same thing.

It's simply not a level playing field. There's overwhelming amounts of evidence that suggest what I am getting at. This is far from barstool theorizing.

If you do think it's a level playing field and always has been, then we should probably just end the conversation now because it's not going to go anywhere. Let's just stick to beer. Beermail me if you ever head to Rhode Island, I would prefer to have conversations like these over a couple of brews.

 

I came here to say this. Their oatmeal stout is always in stock in my fridge. Amazing beer

 

No, the notion of "Native Americans" is a misnomer, so there is no such thing. As Americans, we're just people whose ancestors came here at a different point in time.

Because you aren't s much of a pioneer if you're following in someone else's footsteps?
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There seems to be a cottage industry of preaching victimhood and preferential treatment based on race. One of the main tactics of said industry is to stereotype and make generalizations about those who oppose it or dare to call it out (the irony). You're racist, you're white, you're sexist, you're ignorant etc. . . and sometimes that's just if you oppose increasing government spending!

(warning, self pimping is next). . . Having a bachelors degree in history (with honors!), I can say that every peoples have suffered discrimination throughout time. Let's move on already and agree that treat people equally is a good thing.

I'll drink beer that is good. You won't be a (insert racial/gender classification) brewer. You'll just be a good brewer to me.

 

This is what I can't stand. Making a sweeping categorical generalization and stereotype based on race.

 

I thought it would be interesting to add that in a lot of ancient cultures women were responsible for the brewing as it was viewed the same way as cooking. In ancient Babylon ( If my memory serves me right) one of the few jobs single women could acquire was tavern owner. If their beer was accused of being watered down or tampered with and the accusations were proved true they were drowned in their own product.

Fun fact of the day.