As you may or may not be aware, March 8th was International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day. The IWCBD was started by the “brewsters” of Project Venus in the UK, and promoted by Denise Ratfield of Pink Boots Society, over a hundred women brewed at approximately 70 breweries that day. Both Project Venus in the UK and Pink Boots Society in America aim to create, train and maintain jobs for women in the craft beer industry and generally promote education and innovation for all women who share a passion for craft beer. Who wouldn’t love getting together with a bunch of like-minded ladies to discuss, brew and drink beers?

I was fortunate enough to run into Barbara from Anaheim Brewery at the Bottle Logic soft opening and she invited me to come and hang out with her, Carolyn Bryant and Caitlyn Beas while they brew the Unite Pale Ale beer that all the participating brewers were brewing that day. The pale ale was designed to be a base beer that could be a blank canvas for the “brewsters” take creative freedom and twist the recipe as they saw fit. In Barbara’s case, she added Belgium yeast instead of a pale yeast along with some cardamom to add interesting subtle nuances to the base pale ale recipe. I love a good Belgium yeast that gives off those delicious fruity esters and adds body and mouth-feel to the beer so pairing that with some floral cardamom is really smart.

Portion of the proceeds from every Unite Pale Ale sold will be donated to the Pink Boots Society’s scholarship program where they aim to send women back to school to further their career in beer. If you see a Unite Pale Ale on tap I hope you will give it a try & raise your glass to this sensational cause!