My two daughters and a fellow beer mom and I had the pleasure of joining the Pink Boots Society of Bellingham in their annual collaboration brew at Stones Throw Brewery in the historic Fairhaven district of Bellingham last week! The Local chapter of the Pink Boots posted on social media that all women were welcome to participate and I jumped at the chance to get some PNW Beer Moms up in there! This year they had two brew days for a double batch of goodness! We missed the first brew day, but there was no way we would miss the second. We adorned our feet with our rain boots (a flowery pink pair, an owl pair, and my black and white plaid pair) and headed down to the brewery! We were welcomed with cookies, banana bread, a beer for me and lots of smiles!
The Pink Boots Society of Bellingham was formed not to long ago as a way to commemorate a good friend of the founding members, who passed away before fulfilling her dream of starting a chapter in Bellingham. Her friends took up the cause in her memory. If you're not familiar with the Pink Boots. It's a non profit and society of women in the beer industry, working to educate and advance women in the beer industry. The literal wearing of pink boots represent all the women fighting for their place in a sea of male filled boots in the brewing industry. In order to be an official Pink Boots member you must be in the beer industry and a certain portion of your income must be earned from beer. Unfortunately for me, my income is spent on beer, not the other way around! But, I digress!
Each year at the annual meeting of the Pink Boots Society, they choose their brew blend for the year.'s collaboration beer. Yakima Chief Hops then packages it and then sells it to them. A certain amount of that sell, and the sale of the beer once brewed goes to fund scholarships for women. To remain a chapter there are guidelines that need to be fulfilled, including education days. Hence, opening up their local brew day to all women in the community that are interested.
I was very excited to bring my girls down to take part. Ages 5 and 2, it was the 'Mister Roger's visits the neighborhood', but with beer! My girls are no stranger to breweries, but they had little idea what goes into making it. Brewer Duncan and part owner Tony of Stones Throw were so welcoming of my little offspring. If anything they take cute photos! They even were willing to have them help flip switches, clean out the wort, look throw the spectrometer and as it turned out watch my littlest jump in beer puddles! Got to start 'em young I say!
With the recipe already worked out, brew day is a lot of standing around and waiting and then not forgetting to check the temperatures, switch valves, take the pH readings, and cleaning out the wort when all is said and done, oh and adding the hops at the right times! And man does it smell great! Like fresh baked bran muffins and the steam from the boiling gives your complexion a nice boost! a true beer spa! We all took turns doing our part. It's amazing how simple, but yet precise everything is.
The hardest part is probably coming up with a name. This years beer is a red IPA. My vote is for "Boot Stomping" inspired by my youngest and Pink Boot member Holly who couldn't help but stomp in the beer puddles when we were draining the tank into the floor drains. Plus, it pays respect to what the Pink Boots and PNW Beer Moms are all about, putting our stamp on bcraft beer! And empowering women to be apart of it!
You'll have a chance to see how we did March 8th at Stones Throw when we celebrate the release. But I'll give you a hint. It's delicious, we all had a little sneak of a taste. Even warm, it's good. See you all there!
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