Jenn Merrick (pictured above), former head brewer at Beavertown Brewery and founder of community-based brewery Earth Station, is brewing a collaborative beer with a team of 24 female industry-leading brewers, Heriot-Watt University students and lecturers, celebrating the craft and creativity of past, present and future female brewers.
Spearheaded by Jenn and hosted by Katie McCain (pictured right), brewer at Pressure Drop Brewing, the team, comprising 14 female brewers, seven undergraduates and three lecturers / former Heriot-Watt students, will work together to create a limited-edition kettle sour beer. Brewers in attendance will include Pressure Drop, Truman’s Brewery, Cloudwater, Wiper and True, Fuller’s and Burnt Mill.
The team of brewers will work closely with the next generation of female brewers to combine the seasonal fruits, herbs and botanicals to produce the beer, and decide its flavour profile, final recipe, and name.
Greg Wells, founder of We Are Beer, the company behind the London, Edinburgh and Bristol Craft Beer Festivals, who commissioned the project, said: “We identified that 35% of our festival attendees were female, and this is growing year on year.
“We believe most people still perceive beer as quite masculine, but in actuality, that is changing dramatically, which is good for this fast-growing sector and something we’re striving to push forward. We want to profile the incredible female talent and influence on modern brewing by creating a collaborative beer with past, present and future female brewers from across the industry.”
The kettle sour will be available at each of the craft beer festivals being hosted in Edinburgh (May 25-28), London (August 3-5), and Bristol (September 14-16), and will be released in limited-edition small pack.
Heriot-Watt University offers the first and longest running degree course on brewing and distilling and is staffed by 50% female lecturers. Assistant brewing professor, Rachel Sutherland, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for our female students to collaborate with some of the leading female figures within the craft beer industry.
“Beer has, throughout history, been crafted by women. Our students are proudly upholding this tradition, showing the next generation what they can look forward to. There’s a real community in craft beer and our kettle sour collaboration is testament to that, and definitely not one to be missed at any of the craft beer festivals happening across the UK.”
The brewing team
Jenn Merrick, founder, Earth Station
Katie McCain, brewer, Pressure Drop
Sophie de Ronde, brewer, Burnt Mill
Kath Stratford, brewer, Howling Hops
Alix Shaw, lead packaging manager, The Five Points
Charlotte Cook, co-lead brewer, Truman’s Brewery
Jaega Wise, head brewer, Wild Card Brewery
Robyn Bell, cellar manager, Cloudwater
Hayley Marlor, brewer, Fuller’s
Riina Laats, head brewer, Signature Brew
Flo Orford, brewer, Wiper and True
Cynthia Toulouse, assistant brewer, Wiper and True
Sue Fisher, brewer, Ramsgate Brewer
Marta van der Vyver, founder, Husk Brewery
Hester Boyce, production, Wild Beer Co
Claudia Asch, packaging, Cloudwater
The Heriot-Watt team
Rachel Sutherland, assistant professor at Heriot-Watt University (formerly sensory and quality manager at Innis & Gunn)
Margaux Huismann, Heriot-Watt alumnus and current PHD student at the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling, studying the role of dry hopping on the flavour, aroma, and haze characteristics on Scottish craft beers
Dr Dawn Maskell, head of the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt
Seven Heriot-Watt students on the undergraduate and masters degree courses
