Women Of N.B.’s Craft Beer Scene Collaborate On Special Women’s Day Brew
SAINT JOHN — Some women in New Brunswick’s craft beer industry have teamed up to create a special brew to celebrate International Women’s Day.
The women of Foghorn Brewing Company, Big Tide Brewing Co., Loyalist City Brewing Co., Gahan House Port City, Graystone Brewing, Hampton Brewing Co., Picaroons General Store, and Red Rover Craft Cider, as well as several other women who work in the industry, have collaborated to brew Sparkölsch, a special beer to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.
The idea to create a women’s day beer came from Sarah Tippett, the head of Foghorn Brewing’s sales and marketing. When she started working for the company in November, she started learning more about the brewing process from Foghorn’s head brewer, Andrew Estabrooks.
“I was looking for what would be a good reason for him to teach me. What brew could we make that makes sense that I would be involved with? I said ‘Oh, we should do one for International Women’s Day’ and he said ‘well, maybe you should. You should brew it’,” says Tippett.
“I said ‘I don’t know how to do that’ and he said ‘Maybe you don’t, but I know somebody who does’.”
Tippett was put in touch with Wendy Papadopoulos and Alyssa Donaldson, head brewers at Big Tide Brewing Co. and Loyalist City Brewing Co., respectively. The idea was Foghorn would host the brewing of the beer and other women working in the craft beer industry in the province would be invited to take part. The group got together last month to brew the beer.
“Probably my favourite part of the entire project was how receptive every person was to the invitation,” says Tippett. “Because I’m fairly new to this community. I knew people didn’t necessarily know who I was, but every person we invited said yes.”
The women decided to go with a Kölsch-style beer because of its clean, crisp flavour and its sparkling appearance. To add to that, food-grade silver glitter will be added to the beer during the kegging process which will amplify the sparkling appearance of the beer.
“We talked about it being spring and hopefully getting something that’s light and crisp after a winter of winter warmers and porters and all of the delicious ‘winter-style’ beers,” says Tippett.
A portion of all proceeds from the beer sold will go to a charity or program that supports women of the brewery or restaurants’ choosing.
“Each one of the women that were here, we had other brewers, we had women who worked at restaurants and bars …we’re allowing them to decide what that contribution looks like and what organizations they’re going to support,” says Tippett.
Sparkölsch will be available on tap March 5 at Big Tide, Foghorn, Red Rover Craft Cider in Fredericton and Picaroons in both Fredericton and Saint John. The beer will also be available at ANBL growler stations across the province and on tap at several restaurants around Saint John including Churchill’s Bar & Pub, McGill’s, Saint John Ale House, Gahan House Port City, Britt’s Pub & Eatery and Woodchucks Axe Throwing. There will also be a limited number of bottles to purchase at Foghorn, Big Tide and Loyalist City. The beer will be available until the limited supply runs out.
“Each individual location isn’t going to have very much of it, so I would expect they will go through it very quickly once they start pouring it,” says Tippett.
For many, the craft beer industry conjures an image of men with beards wearing plaid shirts. But Tippet says the beer collaboration draws attention to how diverse the industry actually is.
“Women who do work in the industry are using it as a way to express themselves, trying to say ‘hey, it actually isn’t all guys with beards and beanies. We’re here too’,” she says.