The women holding their own in a very male industry.

This year on International Women’s Day, over 60 breweries around the world united in support. It all began in the UK, where an idea was spawned to invite as many female brewers around the world to simultaneously brew a beer to celebrate women in the often male-dominated beer industry.

The inaugural day of brewing was called the International Women’s Collaboration Brewday. The aim of the brew day was to raise the profile of women in the beer industry and to raise the profile of beer to women. Profits from the brewed beer will be donated to charity, including in Australia, in part to the Australian Pink Boots society, which support and promotes women in the Australian beer industry.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this post is sponsored by Lion. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100 per cent authentic and written in their own words.

Here in Australia, members of the Women of Beer (a collective of female brewsters, brewery operators and industry professionals) brewed a Salted Caramel Brown Ale at the Young Henry’s Brewery in Newtown, Sydney. This is the fourth beer in the Women of Beer series, the last one being a Vanilla Milk Stout incorporating Heilala vanilla bean into the brew.

Female brewers and brewing personalities came together from around Australia on the day, with each having a hand in the brewing and the recipe development. Young Henry’s in Australia was one of over 60 breweries that participated in this inaugural event. Countries alongside Australia participating were the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Japan, New Zealand, Italy and Canada.

This idea originated with Sophie de Ronde of Brentwood Brewing Company in Essex, UK, who was also the initial event organiser. Sophie is a member of Project Venus UK & Eire, an organisation founded by Sara Barton, owner and Brewmaster of Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham, UK. She was the first woman winner of the coveted UK Brewer of the Year Award, given by the British Guild of Beer Writers.

The International Event Organiser was Denise Ratfield of Stone Brewing in the USA, who stated, “For this event, we as brewsters want to raise the awareness of women in the brewing industry. We are dedicated brewers, making top quality beer and we want to make a difference in how beer is promoted and perceived around the world.”

Within the Australian Women of Beer collective, the group has the incredible opportunity to work side by side with an amazing group of females in the beer industry. The core group continues to grow and each individual female has their own inspirational story, and together they celebrate all of their individual strengths. The ability to learn from one another and bring together individual skills to create, market, sell and then channel the profits of our beers into either charitable organisations or sponsorships/grants within the beer industry is a testament to the strength of the group and their cause. The group will undoubtedly grow again for next year’s brew!

What did you do to celebrate International Women’s Day? 

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