Beer and food combos for GBBF

Two renowned female beer experts, Christine Cryne and Annabel Smith will run beer and food matching sessions at the Great British Beer Festival at London’s Olympia from 7th to 11th August 2018.

On Friday 10th August from 1.30 to 2.30pm, Annabel Smith, Beer Sommelier and BeerBelle founder, will take tasters through the wonderful world of beer and cheese pairing with a delicious smorgasbord of beer and bites.

Later that day, from 6pm until 7pm, Christine Cryne will be running a session explaining why one of the best combinations of tastes is beer with chocolate! Go and have your preconceptions blown away with some great beers and chocolate – and they are not all dark!

Tickets for both sessions are limited and for CAMRA members cost £16.00 and for non-member £19.00.  Visit www.gbbf.org.uk/tutored-tastings

‘1st Women’ features female beer inspector

Dea Latis founder and director Annabel Smith has had her portrait featured in a major photographic exhibition entitled ‘100 First Women Portraits’ by Anita Corbin .

100 First Women comprises a unique collection of 100 portraits capturing women in the UK who were “first” in their field of achievement. The portraits by photographer Anita Corbin provide inspiration and insight for a new generation of women seeking an understanding of their own roles in a rapidly changing world in which equality is still an issue.

Annabel was photographed by Anita in her capacity as the UK’s ‘First Female Beer Inspector’ for the Cask Marque Trust. The photo was captured at Fuller’s flagship venue The Parcel Yard, at London King’s Cross, in 2009.

The full collection will be revealed at the Dyson Gallery, Royal College of Art, SW11 4AN, and the exhibition will run from 20^th July to 22^nd August 2018 to mark 100 years of women’s suffrage.

Entry is free.

For more information, visit www.1stwomenuk.co.uk

Brewers networking event considers women and beer

Annabel Smith received am enthusiastic trade sales reaction to The Gender Pint Gap report this week when she presented to a brewers’ Drinks Sales Networking event in London for over thirty brewery and drinks representatives from around the country.

In presenting the findings of the report, she challenged the brewers to think about their responses to the range of statistics published; that despite the boom in UK beers and brewing in the last ten years, little has changed in terms of women’s attitudes to drinking beers.

A lively debate ensued after the presentation with everyone there vowing to take back their findings to their respective businesses for consideration.

Annabel said: “As we say in the report, there’s a lot of history to unravel and it’s going to take a concerted effort by the brewers, marketeers, retailers and media to turn these ingrained attitudes around. We can all do something to peel back these layers.”

Joe Brouder, Regional Sales Manager for Timothy Taylor added: “The Gender Pint Gap report has certainly given us all something to think about and there are definitely incremental changes we can all make to support the report’s recommendations.”

 

Brew day for the next generation

Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham is running a Project Venus brew day on 18 May 2018 to raise awareness about brewing as a career choice for women.

Set up by Sara Barton in 2011, Project Venus advocates women’s roles in the UK brewing industry. By facilitating communication, education and collaborative brews, they aim to create an approachable networking space for all females involved in beer. This year marks 20 years of Brewster’s Brewery and the fifteenth event for Project Venus.

The theme is ‘Next Generation’ to highlight the career opportunities for young women in brewing by connecting women currently in the industry to brewing students and those already thinking about a career in beer. Recipe development on the day for the brew is open to anyone who wants to attend, particularly students and people who haven’t designed recipes before.

Brewster’s brewer, Alice Batham said: “As its a Friday we are also planning on heading in Nottingham after the brew day has finished. Nottingham is not too far from the brewery and has lots of beery things to offer. ”

Brewster’s Brewery is in Grantham, a really easy train ride from London Kings Cross and with quick links by road via the A1. Trains and buses run from Grantham to Nottingham. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

Please contact alice@brewsters.co.uk if you would like to attend.

@ProjectVenusUKEire

Brewhouse & Kitchen host nationwide brew days

Brewhouse and Kitchen, the UK’s largest brewpub chain and the second largest in Europe will host hundreds of women nationwide – including celebrities, prominent figures and local community members – at 19 locations across the country on 8 March for their annual FemALE Brewing Experience Day – for the 5^th International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day; ‘Unite Exotic’.

The day will begin with a briefing followed by a mashing in. By lunchtime, guests will have taken part in sparging, digging out the mash tun. After lunch they will start the boil and add hops and finings before transferring the brew to the fermenter.

Brewhouse and Kitchen Marketing Manager Gail Bunn says the rise of women in the industry can be credited to the skills it takes along with changing attitudes in society.

She commented: “Women have greater ability to distinguish between high numbers of aromas and flavours, which is key to success in craft brewing. Along with this, beer companies are more aware of the importance of female beer drinkers and women now feel more comfortable to drink beer, attend pubs and contribute to the growth of the industry.

“We’re seeing this reflected in both our customers base and growth of women participating in our Brewing Academy, which fosters successful careers in brewing.”

Brewhouse and Kitchen will make a donation to Cancer Research UK from each pint sold of the specially brewed beer.

Women’s collaboration day brew seeks a touch of the exotic

The theme for the 5th International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day has been confirmed as: ‘Unite Exotic’.

Held each year on 8^th March to coincide with International Women’s Day the collaboration brew day is designed to unite women brewing all over the world. The inspiration for Unite Exotic was born last summer while founder, Sophie de Ronde was experiencing a south American adventure.

Sophie said: “After seeing the wonderful response to last year’s theme to use local ingredients we are asking Brewsters this year to search far and wide for those exotic ingredients: fruits, cereals, yeasts, flower, herbs, spices – and anything else you can think of – to provide a new twist to your wonderful brews.”

The event is free for participants and embraces all women who brew, whether it be on a commercial basis or for their home brewing hobby. Denise Ratfield, IWCBD Director or Sophie de Ronde, event founder will be more than happy to answer any questions about the day and anyone taking part in a collaborative brew can have their brewery added to the map on the Unite Brew website https://unitebrew.org/

For more information go to the contact page on the website or follow social media streams on Facebook , Instagram or Twitter.

Sheffield Beer Week celebrates women working in beer

In March, Sheffield Beer Week celebrate its fourth year as a city-wide beer festival and series of beer-focused events occurring throughout the city from 12 – 18th March. 

This year sees a celebration of women working in the beer industry with a brewsters tap takeover event at The Rutland Arms, collaborating brews with Ashover and Welbeck Abbey breweries, working with consumer group the Ladies That Beer and Fem.Ale organiser Erica Horton to host beer tastings.

International Women’s Day on March 8^th and will see Sheffield Beer Week celebrate with a brew-day as part of the run-up activity.

Other activities include a back to beer basics with venues acting as ingredient hubs (malt, hops, water, yeast, adjuncts) and hosting events; continued exploration of the Norwich City of Ale partnership with a city tap takeover and a mini Yorkshire beer photography trail working with photographer, Mark Newton and his Beer Yorkshire project.

On Saturday March 10^th, to launch the week, there will be a new one-day ticketed beer festival, Indie Beer Feast –  celebration of craft beer in the iconic Abbeydale Picture House with brewery bars and great street food.

Jules Gray, Sheffield Beer Week Director and joint proprietor of Hop Hideout award-winning beer shop and tasting room, on Abbeydale Road, said: “2018 has a number of really exciting strands that I can’t wait to celebrate including all new ingredient hub venues and celebrating women working in the beer industry.”

Head to for more details

Discrimination debate takes centre-stage

Industry experts will gather at the Manchester Beer Festival trade day to debate how the beer industry should combat discrimination.

Taking place between 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm on 24 January at Manchester Central, the panel discussion “Sexism is bad for business. What are we going to do about it?” aims to address the ongoing issues and challenges of sexism in the beer industry and determine what practical steps can be taken to address it. It follows hot on the heels of the festival’s decision to filter out beers with sexist names or discriminatory images and CAMRA publicly condemning sexism and discrimination in the industry.

Master Beer Trainer Christine Cryne will lead the debate with the following panelists on board:

• Jaega Wise, Head Brewer of Wild Card Brewery, who has recently made headlines for her comments on sexist beer labelling
• Annabel Smith, beer sommelier and founder of Dea Latis, an organisation that aims to bring beer to more women
• Barry Shaw, operations manager for Beerhouse’s pub chain which includes six pubs
• Jennifer Smith, co-owner and founder of Brewsmith Beer, a ten-barrel brewery
• Katie Wiles, CAMRA’s senior communications manager and beer blogger at wilesaboutbeer.com

Annabel Smith said: “During our years running Dea Latis we have gathered a lot of anecdotal evidence about sexism in the beer and pub sector. Most predominantly we have identified there is a proliferation of blatantly sexist beer names and imagery which alienate female consumers, and an assumption that brewing beer is a ‘man’s job’. It even filters down to bar staff who automatically assume that beer is for the males in a group, and women prefer wine.

“Dea Latis wants to change these attitudes and perceptions because we believe that beer is gender neutral and far too good to be appreciated only by men. Come along to the debate if you’re a beer loving female and want to hear your voice heard!”

Graham Donning, CAMRA’s Regional Director for Manchester, said: “Sexism has been a hot topic across many sectors recently. But even within our festival, we have seen outdated attitudes persisting over several years, despite our efforts. It’s led to us deciding passive solutions weren’t working and it was time to take positive action.

“It’s clearly a deep-seated problem within the beer industry of which we are only a small cog. More action is needed and our trade session provides an opportunity for industry professionals and volunteers alike to come together to take us beyond talk. We want to see some practical and realistic ideas on how we can all eradicate sexist attitudes in beer as soon as possible.”

The trade session will kick off the Manchester Beer Festival, and takes place between 5-9pm on the 24th of January. It is open to the press and members of the trade, as well as CAMRA members.

The festival will open to the general public from the 25th-27th January. Tickets are available at http://mancbeerfest.uk/.

Beer and women group to stage tasting for female MPs

Beer and women group Dea Latis is joining forces with the Parliamentary Beer Group and British Beer & Pub Association to bring beer to women MPs at an event in Westminster next month.

As well as tasting a selection of beers from across the country, matched to different foods by Beer Sommelier Annabel Smith, guests will meet some of the many women who work in brewing and related industries, from grain to glass. Dea Latis will also be revealing the results of recent research into women and beer at the event.

Smith said, “The aim of our event at Westminster is to remind MPs that women play a vital role in producing our national drink and introduce them to some of the talented women involved in it.

“Women in this country drink less beer than in the USA and most European countries.  At Dea Latis, we’re committed to narrowing this gap by introducing more women to beer and we hope this event creates some new, influential advocates for our cause.”

The event is hosted by Ruth Smeeth MP, vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group.  She said, “We’re delighted to be partnering with Dea Latis to bring together women working in parliament and women working in the brewing industry, from grain to glass. It promises to be an enjoyable and informative evening and we’re confident guests will leave the tasting seeing beer in an entirely new light”

Brigid Simmonds, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, added, “‘With a growing number of female MPs taking a keen interest in beer and brewing, the BBPA is delighted to support this Parliamentary celebration of women in beer.”

Dea Latis has staged two previous beer tastings for MPs in 2015 and 2013. The upcoming event, on 21 November, is by invitation only, and is expected to attract some 80 guests drawn from parliament and across the brewing industry:  brewers, maltsters, hop growers, licensees and off-trade retailers, beer sommeliers and writers.

Dinner with Beer at Lewes Octoberfeast

Ladies in Lewes are invited to swap their Prosecco for a pale ale for the evening, and come to a Dinner with Beer organised by beer and women group Dea Latis, as part of the Lewes Octoberfeast.  The dinner, in partnership with Harvey’s Brewery, takes place on 30 September, at the John Harvey Tavern.

Guests will be served a delicious four-course meal specially created by the pub’s chef, Dan Baker, to complement a variety of beers from Harvey’s and Burning Sky Brewery,  while award-winning Beer Sommelier Jane Peyton will be talking through the combinations and helping guests to discover the delights of beer and food matching.

Dea Latis has held similar dinners across the UK, but the event at the John Harvey Tavern is the first in Lewes. Dinners are ideal for women who are interested in food and drink, but men are also welcome.

Ros Shiel for Dea Latis said, “Our dinners are all about presenting beer in a new way to women and changing the way they think about it.  We show the diversity of beers, from pale ales to dark stouts, and we taste some magical beer and food matches.  By the end of the evening, even the staunchest wine drinkers have found a beer they love!

“We also address women’s concerns about beer, explaining that it’s made from natural ingredients, and that it doesn’t give you a ‘beer belly’, when drunk in moderation.  Most importantly, though, we want our guests to have a great time – and with a roomful of women enjoying the John Harvey Tavern’s fantastic food, paired with some brilliant beers, we think that’s guaranteed.”

Miles Jenner, head brewer at Harvey’s Brewery said: “Beer is a wonderful match to food because it is so versatile and works with a wide range of foods, yet many ‘foodies’, particularly women, still don’t think of drinking beer with a meal.  So an event like this is a great introduction, especially with the expert guidance from a Beer Sommelier, and we’re delighted to be partnering with Dea Latis to bring beer and food matching to the Octoberfeast.”

Buy tickets

Dinner with Beer starts at 7.30 on 30 September at the John Harvey Tavern,  Bear Yard, Cliffe High Street, Lewes.  Tickets are on sale now at £30 per person, including: welcome beer on arrival, four-course meal matched with beer and expert guidance from Jane Peyton.  To purchase, visit Eventbrite or call into the John Harvey Tavern.