St Austell Brewery has launched a limited edition, gin-infused pale ale to celebrate International Women’s Day. Gineous is available in select pubs across the South West from Tuesday.
On 15th February, 25 women from across St Austell Brewery collaborated with brewing director, Georgina Young, to brew the innovative beer, paying tribute to the women who have played a role in the business over the years and who continue to do so.
Volunteers from head office roles and the company’s pub estate got stuck in, squeezing fruit, adding hops, mashing, digging out spent grain, pitching yeast, and learning all about brewing (and one another) in the process.
Gineous is the first beer in St Austell’s Cask Club series for 2022. The Cask Club — formerly known as the Small Batch Club — is an initiative which allows pubs to serve up new and limited-edition St Austell cask brews for their customers. It’s also a fantastic opportunity for St Austell’s brewing team to get creative and experiment with different beer styles from around the world.
The brew day in St Austell’s small batch brewery
Georgina said: “It’s been a fantastic experience bringing women from across the business together to brew such a unique beer, and to demonstrate how exciting and creative the brewing process is.
“Gineous is a delicious fruity pale ale, with added juniper, orange peel, and bergamot. A splash of Gin 77 — a London dry gin which was kindly donated to us by Bristol Distilling Company — lifts the flavour of the beer, adding notes of fresh grapefruit zest, root ginger, and pink peppercorns.”
St Austell has been brewing beer in Cornwall since 1851 and is the largest cask brewer in the South West. The brewery attributes much of its growth and success to female leadership, not just today, but throughout the business’s history.
Hester Parnall was chairman between 1916 and 1939 — a rare example of female leadership in brewing at that time. Georgina Young took the helm of the company’s brewing operations in 2020.
Gineous is available from 8th March in 40 pubs across the South West. View the full list here.
