Canberra's First Official Pink Boots Brew Day!
This past weekend, we hosted the ACT’s first official Pink Boots Brew Day on Saturday the 10th July. The day was led by BentSpoke Co-Founder and Head Brewer Tracy Margrain. Using the 4th Annual Pink Boots Blend, the group got to work brewing an IPA. It was great day which saw women across the beer industry from different professions come together to learn and participate in all tasks throughout the brewing process. Everyone got a chance to participate, whether it was loading the malt into the grinder, filling the tank with oats for the mash, or emptying the mash once the boil process was complete. The beer, named Marion, is in memory of Marion Mahoney Griffin who was married to the man credited as the architect for designing the city of Canberra. It was later discovered that Marion played a large roll in being the architect whose plans were chosen as the final drawings for the layout of Canberra, which were signed by her husband, leading to his name being credited with the design of the city. It wasn’t until recently that people have discovered it was Marion who played such a vital role in creating the city that we call home. So, we honour her memory and legacy with a beer named after her.
Our participants, who represented a number of great Australian breweries and professions within the industry including Brewing, Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, Front of House, and Packaging, took part in a Q&A with Tara Nurin, award winning beer and spirits writer, and author of the soon to be released book “A Woman's Place is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs”. It was great to meet her and get another perspective on the beer industry from a woman in another country who’s forging her own path in a male dominated industry.
Pink Boots Brew Days are one of the major fundraisers for the Pink Boots Society, with money from the sale of the beer going towards funding scholarships for Pink Boots members. The Pink Boots Society is an international not for profit organisation for women and non-binary people in the fermentation industry, with a purpose to assist, inspire and encourage through education. Founded in 2007 by Teri Fahrendorf, Pink Boots provides scholarships, mentorship programs and networking opportunities for its members. If you are a part of the industry and would like to get involved, Check out their website; https://www.pinkbootssociety.org/.
A big thank you to Tara Nurin for taking the time to talk to the group and to all those that made the time to join.
The beer will be on tap at the BentSpoke BrewPub in Braddon in a couple weeks’ time so make sure to keep an eye on our socials for the beer release and more details about the brew. Cheers!