The third bi-annual Women in Beer Festival kicks off next Wednesday (23rd October) showcasing the brilliant women who work in and lead the beer industry, as well as celebrating those who enjoy a good pint.
Taking place in pubs and bars across Edinburgh, the festival will showcase women brewers from eight breweries. There will also be a self-guided Women in Beer pub crawl, and the launch of four special collaboration beers.
The festival launches with a party co-hosted with festival partner Cold Town House. Women brewers from Canterbury’s Hand Brew Co and Edinburgh’s Cold Town Beer will be on hand for a meet the brewer event. They will also launch the first of Women in Beer’s special festival beers, Hawaiian Topic, a coconut porter brewed in-house with head brewer Halyey Ransome. There will be music from Wendy McAuslan.
There are more opportunities to meet the brewers on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, Nia Rylance from regenerative farming-focused Ideal Day Family Brewery (Cornwall) and Elizabeth Townsend from Manx micro-brewery Kerroo Brewing (Isle of Man) will host a tap takeover at the Jolly Judge to highlight heritage and sustainability in craft beer.
Then, on Friday, Emily Hutchinson from Bluestone Brewing (Pembrokeshire) and Lara Lopes from Round Corner Brewing (Melton Mowbray) will take up residence at Dreadnought Leith to showcase their sustainable brews.
Saturday sees Women in Beer’s Big Meet Up taking place, inviting women who enjoy beer and their allies to share a pint together. Taking place at the Stockbridge Tap, this will also see the launch of the remaining three festival beers: Cult of Arduinna, a mixed fermentation sour from Dundee’s Holy Goat Brewing; No Quarter, a non-alcoholic pacific pale from Scotland’s only alcohol-free brewery Jump Ship; and Rising Waves, a West Coast DIPA from Round Corner Brewing.
On Sunday, the festival will come to a close with a Craft & Craft event, co-hosted with local crafting group Stitches & B—hes Edinburgh. This will take place at the newly opened False Widow, on Constitution Street. There will be an Edinburgh beer showcase and meet the brewer event with Lilith Harrison-Rooke from Newbarns Brewery and Lucy and Lizzie Stevens from Closet Brewing.
Women in Beer will also host an industry event on Friday, with sensory training hosted by Lallemand Brewing, and a Crisp Malt industry seminar with talks and panel discussions.
In addition to the main festival programme, venues across Edinburgh will join in highlighting the efforts of women in the beer industry by pouring a selection of beer brewed or from a brewery led by women across the festival dates. Programme information, tickets to industry events, and a festival map are available here.
Amélie Tassin, founder of Women in Beer, said: “Visibility is so important and I believe that the more we shout out about women in the industry, the more we’ll help redress the gender balance.
“We want to create role models for women who wouldn’t have thought beer was for them. We do this by bringing our talented guests to our events and seminars, and giving women the opportunity to connect. And this year’s addition of Chaser Venues will help us share the word even louder.”
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