The response is inevitable: “Oh, we don’t drink beer – we don’t like it!”
Tiffany is unfazed. “You don’t like yellow, fizzy beer,” she says, offering them a glass of something smoother and more complex.
“This isn’t beer!” the hens proclaim. Tiffany assures them it most certainly is.
It’s a scenario Tiffany has seen time and again since she moved to Australia from the US eight years ago.
Jayne Lewis, Jess Craig and Tiffany Waldron. Photo: Reg Ryan
“Here, when I wanted to go out with the girls, I’d have to put a really good spin on why we should go to a beer bar,” she says.
“Then I’d go home [to the US] and all my friends would be like, ‘Yeah, let’s go down to the brew pub’, and they were excited about some new beer being released.”
Ever since the Victoria Bitter man growled that “a hard-earned thirst needs a big cold beer”, beer in Australia has largely been men’s business – made by men, marketed to men and mostly drunk by men.
But things are changing as new, more female-friendly brews are finding their way into our bars and restaurants, and a new guard of female brewers is infiltrating the once male-dominated industry.
This year’s Good Beer Week will see two events run by women, along with a dedicated festival HQ at Two Row bar, where women-made beers will feature on tap.
One of the pioneers of the female face of brewing is Jayne Lewis, co-founder and head brewer of Two Birds Brewing in Spotswood – Australia’s first female-owned brewery.
From humble beginnings in a rented facility in Geelong five years ago, Two Birds has evolved into a staple of Melbourne’s burgeoning craft beer scene, now with its own purpose-built brewery, tasting room and dining hall.
Jayne started her brewing career 12 years ago after a brief stint as a winemaker. She admits she wasn’t a beer fan until a night out in her home town of Perth when she was about 19.
“It must have been the first time I had a beer that wasn’t a lager. I had this ale, this Coopers Sparkling Ale. I was just like, ‘Oh my god, this is so delicious, I’m totally in love with this’.”
Her new-found passion led to work at Little Creatures, Matilda Bay and Mountain Goat breweries, before she went out on her own to start Two Birds with business partner and friend Danielle Allen in 2011.
Jayne is also president of the Australian chapter of the Pink Boots Society, a group that started in the US to bring together women in the beer industry for events and support. There are more than 100 members in Australia, and the number is growing.
On a bright Saturday morning in March, about 20 women in pink boots and vests gathered at Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong. Although they work at often competing breweries, they came together to share secrets and laughs, and to make beer.
Among them was Jess Craig from Richmond-based Mountain Goat Brewery. A food science graduate from the University of Ballarat, Jess had a family connection to the beer industry – her mum’s cousin married Mountain Goat Brewery co-founder Dave Bonighton.
But when she tried her first beer at age 18 – a pot of Tooheys New – she wasn’t convinced. “I didn’t love it at the time, but it was probably about then that I also tried the Mountain Goat Hightail and I was a big fan of that.”
After working in quality control for some big breweries in the UK, she followed her passion, returned to Melbourne and joined the Mountain Goat team as a brewer.
Jess loves the camaraderie the Pink Boots Society offers, and the opportunity to learn from more experienced women.
“It’s good to go and share ideas. You might be making similar sorts of products, but you can all help each other out and give little tips or hints here and there on how to make it better.”
Tiffany Waldron. Photo: Reg Ryan.
Also high on the Pink Boots Society’s agenda is shattering the idea that beer is a blokey beverage. “There’s definitely a negative perception out there in the marketplace, and that’s kind of something that we’re all aiming to try to break down,” Jayne says.
She believes the key to persuading more women to appreciate beer lies in playing with new flavours. For instance, Two Birds’ Taco Beer, with lime, corn and coriander, has converted many. Jayne says people often tell her “I don’t drink beer but I drink Taco”.
She wants women to “just see the world of flavour that exists”. Jayne and co hope to spread the word at Good Beer Week.
They’ll set up Pink Boots HQ at Two Row, with beer made by women on tap – including Two Birds, Himmel and a special pepperberry beer – as well as daily sessions to help people appreciate beer.
“There’s no reason why you can’t drink beer like you drink wine, and match it with food like chocolate and cupcakes,” says the bar’s Tiffany Waldron.
Also on the program is Pink Boots’ carnival-style afternoon, Women of Beer, at Newport’s Junction Beer Hall, and Girl Power, a night of music and beer at the Fox Hotel.
GOOD BEER WEEK RUNS FROM MAY 13-22
PINK BOOTS SOCIETY HQ
- May 14-22, 2-11pm.
- Two Row, 351 Smith Street, Fitzroy.
- Free entry
GIRL POWER: WOMEN & BEER
- May 15, 3pm-late.
- The Fox Hotel, 351 Wellington Street, Collingwood.
- Free entry
WOMEN OF BEER CARNIVAL
- May 22, 1-6pm.
- Junction Beer Hall and Wine Room, 15 Hall Street, Newport.
- Cost: $60
Jemimah Clegg 