TEMPE, AZ — Brewers around the world celebrated International Women’s Day by all using the same recipe from a group aimed to encourage women brewers.
Whether it’s what you did before you got one or you love to share a few with others, there are countless reasons to love beer. For Valerie Adee, the head brewer at Hundred Mile Brewing Co. in Tempe, her love for beer can get a little technical.
“I also added brewing salts which is gypsum and calcium chloride that will provide a mineral profile I’m looking (for),” said Adee.
She helped make a brew hundreds of other brewers like herself are concocting on International Women’s Day in more than 20 other countries.
The ingredients for the soon-to-be pale ale come in part from the Pink Boots Society, an advocacy group that encourages, assists, and inspires women to make an impact in an industry predominantly run by men.
“It isn’t easy. You have to be resilient, hardworking, strong,” said Adee.
There is a literal philanthropic arm with the Pink Boots Society.
Events like competitive arm-wrestling raised thousands of dollars for their local chapter. The money goes to help fund brewers’ education, retreats, and certification.
Billie McGovern helped organize the well-attended event in Arizona.
“The arm-wrestling shows how self-confident, strong independent we can be and still have fun so we can be ourselves,” said McGovern.
For those who wear the pink boots, they’re helping keep alive what women started thousands of years ago when recipes of grain, water, and herbs were etched in stone.
“We’re kind of taking that back,” said Sue Rigler, founder of Hundred Mile Brewing Co.
Her love for beer dates back to her days in Iowa. She recalls how, when there was beer, good times were had in the community.
“I’ve always had this affinity for community and beer,” said Rigler.
She recalls a photo of when she was 10 years old and wearing a Budweiser t-shirt with her family. Years later, she was at a brewery in Montana and noticed a microscope. A brewer told her there’s plenty of science in making beer.
That was an ‘ah-ha’ moment for Rigler.
She was able to use her microbiologist degree from Arizona State University and now she’s the founder of Hundred Mile Brew Co. north of Tempe Town Lake.
Rigler champions female brewers, like her friends at Greenwood Brewing on Roosevelt Street in Phoenix. A founder there is also, coincidentally, from Iowa.
Her brewery aims to recreate that same sense of community she first noticed when she was a child.
“Breweries are really well known to be an extension of your living room,” said Rigler.
