The most recent issue of the Celebrator Beer News, still on the stands now (by which we mean some copies may be still sitting in bales or in paper racks around select craft beer destinations for your classic tactile page-turning enjoyment), includes excerpts from an interview with local women in the beer industry, members of the Pink Boots Society, in our regular Celebrator column about beer in the City of San Francisco.
You can go straight to the second half of our SF Beer Scene column to find the story directly. Find out if you are or could become a “Pink Beard.” Learn more about an emerging annual international women’s brewing event. (Since the publication of the Celebrator story, Tiffany has joined Berkeley’s cool new Fieldwork Brewing Company, by the way.)
There is also a sweet shot sent along by Denise Ratfield from San Diego, who we quoted in the Celebrator article about her role in helping female brewers in Mexico participate in the international event. So here we go. A little bit of the rest of the story.
Cat Wiest on getting into the industry:
“During the deepest depression of one of my bouts of unemployed, Winter 2011-2012, I read an article about women brewers in Bitch Magazine, called ‘We’re Here, we’re beer, get used to it.’ I decided to make beer my job. I homebrewed like that was the only job I had, and then I actually got a job at a commercial brewery about six months later.”
Tiffany McFarland on spreading the word about the Pink Boots Society:
“Going to events out in public, people will ask what we are doing in pink Wellingtons. Then people are blown away when they hear about it.”
Summer Huff on experiencing a full professional brewday:
“Before, working here, I didn’t feel comfortable walking into the brewhouse. As confident as I am as a human and a woman! Brewing together was like a Rosetta Stone. Now I understand how to ask questions and I will talk to brewers. It’s opened up my mind so much.”
(Photo by Diego Castillón. of La Cronica newspaper In Mexicali)
The international Pink Boots Society recently circulated word of debilitating brewing accident that struck Kerry Thomas, a brewer from Idaho who could use some help from the beer community in her recovery from massive burns. And on a completely different, beery and cheery note, they are offering a raffle fundraiser for a cool sounding trip to Germany. Check it out.
(Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Gail Ann Williams)
Explore Beer By BART: Use our list of some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s best beer places with detailed transit info, so you can get out there to enjoy without driving.
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