I saw a meme the other day that first made me giggle, then it gave me a second thought. The picture was of a group of 'hipster' men and the caption read, "The last thing a craft beer sees before it gets drank."
Funny, but honestly it isn't a clear representation of the craft beer drinkers. While bearded men do tend to be a majority in most places, women are a growing demographic. This is what the Pink Boots Society is promoting. Not just women drinking craft beer but also brewing it.
Each March 8, the Pink Boots Society promotes a women's brew day. They're a non-profit organization that was created to assist, encourage and inspire women beer professionals. These are women who own breweries, brew beer, and serve and promote it.
Newly opened Legacy Ale Works played host to a group of women representing four local breweries, homebrewers, beer writers (like me) and beer drinkers on March 8. Using a special Pink Boots hops blend, we did all the steps from milling grain until the beer was in the fermenter.
Each participating brewery used the same hops blend but were free to create any style beer they wished. At Legacy Ale Works, owners Liz and Matt Jacobs added Belgian yeast to create a Belgian Style IPA. Liz Jacobs is calling #Nailedit!
Main and Six Brewing, brewed a NEIPA called "Great Minds Pink Alike", which they brewed several weeks ago and released on March 8. Jessica LaPointe, who organized and helped brew Main & Six's beer, joined us at Legacy Ale Works.
The process of brewing went by quickly with so many able hands. We quickly milled all the grains needed for the beer and added them to the mash tank. Matt told us that you add the hot water to the grain, stirring as you go. It's basically like brewing tea, you let the grains steep in the hot water, stirring regularly.
A good portion of brewing is timing. Using a recipe, the grains steep for a set amount of time. The pH is measured and adjusted as needed. Then they transfer to the boil kettle. After the wort boils, hops are added to the tank in increments. Each is added at a specific time during the boil, according to the recipe. In our case, 60 minutes, 15 minutes and five minutes.
Finally, the hopped wort is chilled down and added to the fermenter tank. The yeast is added at that point and now it is just a waiting game. I have obviously oversimplified the process. Overall the process took about six hours, with a lot of cleaning and sanitizing in between the steps.
The #NailedIt Belgian IPA should be ready for tapping in about 3 - 4 weeks. Some of you may have sampled the pilot batch of this beer at Legacy's grand opening. Proceeds from this beer will be donated to the Pink Books Society. There will be an event when it is released, so make sure to keep an eye out on our social media pages.
Thank you to Liz and Matt Jacobs for hosting us and to Matt for politely answering all of my silly questions! Thanks to Craft Chef Sarah Copeland for feeding us an outstanding Brunch. It was a wonderful event and I enjoyed meeting all the ladies who participated. It was a fun and uplifting experience! Cheers y'all!
