Women On Tap CIC is the new organiser of International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (IWCBD). After a year off, the global initiative will make a comeback in 2025 with the theme ‘Unite Society’.
The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) is the campaign’s headline partner, with WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) on board as an education partner, with additional sponsorship pledged from Simpsons Malt.
Founded in 2014 by Burnt Mill head brewer Sophie de Ronde, the campaign encourages women in the beer industry, those brewing at home, and local communities to come together and create new beers to mark International Women’s Day (IWD).
From 2014 to 2023, IWCBD provided a central theme and platform on which to bring together all the IWD brew day projects onto one map. While a number of International Women’s Day brewing events happened in 2024, there was no central IWCBD campaign to bring them all together. Women On Tap CIC will take on the coordination and publicity of IWCBD for 2025 as an independent delivery lead, with a few small adjustments.
Taking inspiration from the Brave Noise campaign, commercial breweries are now encouraged to commit to a donation to a non-profit women’s organisation or group at sign-up stage. The suggested minimum donation is £100, or the brewery can instead donate a percentage of profits from the IWD beer sales over and above the minimum amount.
“IWCBD is a brilliant project, and there’s an opportunity to capitalise on its legacy by driving tangible support for the causes and campaigns that work hard to make the beer industry more diverse and inclusive, and in turn, commercially resilient,” said Rachel Auty, founder of Women On Tap (WOT).
“With the main theme for International Women’s Day 2025 being #AccelerateAction, with a call-to-action for all IWD 2025 events to include an element of women-focused fundraising, we believe we can help generate thousands of pounds to enable more of this vital work.”
Participating breweries are welcome to choose a cause that is local, known, or personally important to them, as long as it is a relevant non-profit women’s cause with a beer diversity mission. A suggested list of such groups will also be provided for those who would like guidance on this, and a sign-up form has been launched inviting nominations for this list.
Sophie de Ronde said: “After a year off planning and organising IWCBD, I am delighted to have been in discussions with Rachel at Women On Tap, who is now leading the coordination of the long-established event.
“IWCBD has been a passion project and achieved all that it was set up to achieve. It was, and always will be, an autonomous event, encouraging women and other minorities to get involved with beer.
“WOT has achieved great things since its establishment in 2017 and I am thrilled that they want to continue with the initiative and take it to the next level.”
Neil Walker, head of communications and marketing at SIBA, added: “SIBA are proud to be partnering with Women On Tap to support the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, bringing people together to brew a diverse range of world-class beers.
“Our own industry research, released in 2024, shows the shortcomings … in attracting and promoting more women to join the brewing industry, particularly in senior brewing and leadership roles, and we hope this collaboration will be the start of a long future working together to improve the beer industry for everyone.”
The main campaign will launch in early January. Find out more here.
