Hey Folks! As you can probably tell, I get passionate about beer, in many many facets. The liquid, the process, the nuances, and even the culture of beer is something I consider important to our experience with this tasty liquid.
Historically, women were often the brewers of beer, but as industrialization improved the production and made it a commercial driven business, it soon became a very predominantly male driven business. When the Pink Boots Society was founded in 2007 by Teri Fahrendorf, it was first started as a list of 60 women she knew in the brewing industry, first written down because she met another female brewer (aka brewster) who hadn’t met another female brewer. The Pink Boots Society is now a fully formed non-profit professional group, whose mission is to assist, inspire, and encourage women in the beer industry through education and scholarships. They also have a strong stance in “Paying it forward” so those who have received a scholarship from PBS are then required to present to their fellow chapter what they learned, because knowledge is power.
Because I can count the women who have worked in actual production here at IHB on one hand since I started at the brewery, it made perfect sense to me to join a group that aims to ensure other gals entering the industry have a strong support network and opportunities to educate themselves for the careers they want. I am a bit selfish, and joined this because I also wanted to meet cool people*, so participating in the Pink Boots Society has helped me do just that via meetings with first the Seattle chapter, then the Yakima chapter when that formed, and even going to this year’s national meeting in Austin, Texas. Also, it’s not just brewsters in the group! I have met tap room managers, hop farmers, beer writers, beer event producers, and more through this group.
Pink Boots is something I participate in on my own time, but when the opportunity came up for us to purchase the Pink Boot’s 2019 blend from Yakima Chief Hops, I had to make sure Iron Horse Brewery jumped on the chance to utilize its tasty goodness. Now, this isn’t a Pink Boots Collaboration Brew, which has its own list of requirements (read more about that process in a down the road blog), but it was made with the Pink Boots Blend of hops, featured in a recipe by our very capable brewer/cellarman, John Patchett. The Pink Boots Blend of hops was selected by members of the Pink Boots Society last year at GABF in Denver (right around hop selection time, for those keeping track), and Yakima Chief Hops pledged to donate $3 a pound of that blend’s sales directly to the Pink Boots Society, which worked out to $84,543 for 2019 which in turn sparked Country Malt Group to round up the sum another $15,457 to make a hearty donation of $100,000 to the Pink Boots Society. Holy Cow! That is a lot of education about to happen!
* I met my hero Julia Herz at the national meeting and had the chance to even tell her how much her work has helped me in my own career. People who say ‘don’t meet your heroes’ are wrong, she’s the bees knees.
From The Brewer:
Hello, my name is John McCarter Patchett, I put together the recipe and brewed the Pink Boots Hazy IPA. I wanted a recipe that would highlight the hops in the Pink Boots blend so I made a simple grain bill consisting of 2 row, wheat, cara pils and flaked oats. The wheat and the 2 row malt are pretty neutral in flavor, so they don’t add very much malt flavor. This allows the hop flavors and aromas to shine through. The oat flakes add to the mouthfeel along with the wheat and carapils, giving it a fuller, rounder body. I added some Comet hops to the whirlpool to bring some grapefruit flavor then I double dry hopped it. Double dry hopping means dry hopping two times instead of the more traditional single dry hopping at terminal gravity. I dry hopped with a fair amount of the Pink Boots blend at 48 hours, that is adding the hops 48 hours into the fermentation, which is about halfway through the fermentation process. Once fermentation (terminal) is complete we cool the beer to 62 degrees then dry hop it again with the rest of the Pink Boots blend and a bunch of Citra hops. I added the Citra to complement the Pink Boots blend with tropical fruit flavors and citrus. The blend consists of five hops: Loral, Glacier, Mosaic, Simcoe and Sabro. The aroma has been described as stone fruit, tropical and dank. Yakima Chief Hops will donate $3 for each pound purchased to The Pink Boots Society, Iron Horse Brewery purchased 44 pounds. I hope you enjoy the beer, I like it.
Batch 6207 A Hazy IPA Appearance: Dark yellow, light orange, cloudy Aroma: Citrus, Vanilla, Tropical Fruit Palate: Fresh, bright, slight alcohol Mouthfeel: Full and rich, silky with a low to moderate hop presence Finish: Fairly short finish and a quickly diminishing bitterness ABV: 7.1 % Draft only. Available at [ the pub ] while supplies last.
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