Three ladies from B.C.’s beer community: Leslie Fenn (L), co-owner of Howe Sound Brewing; Claire Connolly (C) Brewmaster at the Big River Brew Pub and Lundy Dale (R), President of CAMRA B.C. gathered at the Alibi Room Wednesday, April 27, 2011 in Vancouver, B.C.
Sisters are brewing it for themselves.
That’s one of the big themes of B.C.’s burgeoning craft-beer industry, which marks the launch of Vancouver Craft Beer Week Friday.
Brewing was traditionally a female domain so it’s little surprise that a growing number of women are drinking all-natural beer and — creating it.
“Brewing beer sterilized the water and made it clean for the homes and that was the women’s job,” says Claire Connolly, brewmaster at Richmond’s Big River brew pub.
“Going back to Egyptian times, the women were the brewers,” adds Leslie Fenn, co-owner of Howe Sound Brewing in Squamish. “A lot of the ales were actually used as ancient herbal remedies. Ales were full of vitamins and herbs.”
Men took over brewing during the Industrial Revolution when it became a paid job, says Connolly. The dominance of mass-produced beer from the mid-20th century onward consolidated the boys’ club.
But the exploding popularity of craft beer — all-natural beer crafted by artisan brewers — has rekindled female interest.
“The craft-brewing industry has brought so many women on board because they’re actually tasting real beer for the first time ever,” says Lundy Dale, president of the B.C. chapter of the Campaign for Real Ale advocacy group.
Connolly, Dale and Fenn are three of the drivers behind the Women and Beer event on May 12, part of craft beer week. The nine-day festival boasts more than 60 events across Metro Vancouver that feature many of B.C.’s 30-plus microbreweries.
The wider scope of this year’s craft beer week is a response to last year’s sellout events and the growing thirst for craft beer in all its styles — from pale wheat ale to inky-black imperial stout.
The latest figures from the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch show overall packaged beer sales falling 8.6 per cent year-over-year — but a 40-per-cent spike for microbreweries’ packaged product.
VCBW opens Friday evening when Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson taps a cask of the festival’s official beer: a Cascadian Dark Ale brewed by 25 of the province’s best craft brewers.
Not to be outdone, a team of women brewers, including Connolly, has created its own collaborative brew for VCBW, a cherrywood-smoked Belgian-style beer.
Over a round of craft ale in the Alibi Room bar in Gastown, Connolly, Dale and Fenn agree that the female presence in brewing will only get stronger.
“There’s definitely a place for women in the brewing industry, in the creative process and having women involved with running a company,” says Fenn, who founded Howe Sound with her brother David in 1996.
“Creating beer with local farm products and local fruits and local herbs, marrying the whole idea of farm to market to product,” she adds.
Connolly says women are better able to identify threshold levels of unique flavours.
“That’s why large generic brands of beer which are very low in flavour don’t really appeal to women,” adds Connolly, who says female craft-beer drinkers generally begin with fruitier styles before acquiring a taste for more bitter brews.
Dale, through her Pink Pints beer-education program, has opened many female eyes to beer.
“It’s getting them to realize what beer is all about, actually tasting beer,” Dale says.
Women in Beer offers a focus for women who care about the quality of food and drink to see how delicious beer can be.
As well as female representatives from the brewing world, there will be a five-course meal with pairings from B.C. breweries with a strong female influence — and a chance to try that Smokin’ Cherry Bomb collaborative beer.
“I feel really good about [the event], to see those women supported and celebrated because we’ve got some damn good women in this province,” Dale says.
Women and Beer runs May 12 at Republic, 958 Granville St., from 6 p.m. Tickets cost $55 and can be purchased at vancouvercraftbeerweek.com.
By Jan Zeschky | Originally published in The Province on May 4th, 2011
jzeschky@theprovince.com
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