More than 100 women from across the Garden State came together Monday to collaborate on one mighty craft beer.

Brewed at Forgotten Boardwalk Brewing Co. in Cherry Hill, the beer is a Belgian tripel called the The Strongest Woman on Earth, and by March you can look for it in liquor stores, bars and at beer events throughout the state.

Proceeds from Women’s Brew Day will benefit the New Jersey Craft Brewers Association, which represents more than half of the state's 114 craft breweries.

Brewery owners, brewers, tasting room “beertenders’’ and other industry professionals gathered in Forgotten Boardwalk’s tasting room to enjoy some chicken parm and other food donated by Ralph’s Pizza of Haddon Heights. Sporting hoodies and other gear emblazoned with their brewery logos — Angry Erik, Ghost Hawk, Axe & Arrow — networked, the women toasted each other and then they got to work.

The day of craft brewing was organized by Alexis Degan of Barrington, executive director of the New Jersey Brewers Association, who ran a much smaller Women’s Brew Day event last year at the brewery.

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“We’ve had a good amount of the breweries here today that were not open last year or are not even open yet, like Alternate Ending, a brewpub coming to Aberdeen," she said. "It’s gratifying to see.’’

Last year, participants made about two kegs of beer on Forgotten Boardwalk’s small-batch pilot system. This year, they crafted 60 barrels on the brewery’s automated brew system, in what organizers say is the state’s largest beer collaboration to date.

Women’s Brew Day took place a month before Women’s History Month, a time when Pink Boots chapters of women brewers throughout the country join in beer collaborations to highlight the role of women in the craft beer industry. New Jersey does not have a chapter of Pink Boots, but women in the industry wanted to create a way to celebrate their “strength in beer.’’

The logo for the Strongest Woman on Earth features a woman in a strong man suit playing Ring the Bell at a carnival or sideshow. It is in keeping with the boardwalk and carnival-style labels that come from Forgotten Boardwalk, and that brewery’s smiling cat logo replaces the bell.

Beer lovers will be able to try The Strongest Woman on Earth in March at the Cherry Hill tasting room, as well as at retail locations throughout the state where Forgotten Boardwalk is sold. Release parties also will be held throughout New Jersey and the beer will be tapped at the New Jersey Brewers Association table at the Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival on April 3 and 4.

The recipe for The Strongest Woman on Earth also will be shared with breweries throughout the state who are welcome to brew their own versions, putting their own twist on it, Degan said. In addition, Hidden Sands has donated two white wine barrels to the project, so some Strongest Woman on Earth will be aged in them and released later at Forgotten Boardwalk.

Beth Manning, who owns Eclipse Brewing Company in Merchantville with husband, Chris Mattern, was back this year after participating in the first Women’s Brew Day event.

“It is great to see how it has exploded to three or four times the amount of people from last year,’’ she said, adding that she enjoyed the chance to help brew on such a large brewing system. “Seeing something other than what we are used to is exciting.’’

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Manning said she also cherished the chance to network and make connections with other women in the craft beer world. “It’s about learning and the sense of collaboration and cooperation.’’

While Manning usually works in the tasting room, she brews a peach and jalapeno beer each summer she said customers have enjoyed.

The craft beer world can be “a dude environment,’’ Manning said, a thought echoed by other participants, so it is especially important to recognize how many women power New Jersey’s craft beer industry. “We have strength and we have numbers and we have ideas.’’

Pam Gordy co-owns Westville Brewing Company in Gloucester County. She said often customers will walk into her brewery and ask to see the owner. They are often surprised when she says she is an owner.

“We are here. Women are in the brewing industry and we are often not recognized for it," she said. "This room right here is filled with a whole lot of women who know a whole lot about beer! And to actually get to see everybody in the state come together — north, south, middle — I think it’s a wonderful thing.’’

Janet Mahoney and her husband, Jay, are among the owners of Burlington City’s Third State Brewing Company, a five-year-old brewery at the forefront of a downtown renaissance.

Mahoney said she enjoyed watching women who typically occupy different roles in breweries — everything from pouring flights to marketing and sales — coming together to learn more about brewing.

“They will have a different appreciation for what’s happening on a Sunday afternoon in the brewhouse, what happened to get that beer there on our taps.’’ And they can then pass that deeper knowledge onto their customers, she said. “I think that’s huge!’’

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For Forgotten Boardwalk owner Jamie Queli, hosting Women’s Brew Day for the second time presented an opportunity to wield her brewery’s large distribution network — ‘’from the tip of the state to the tip of the state’’ — for the greater good.

Queli said she and Degan agreed to keep the beer recipe simple to encourage other brewers to use it as a base for their own innovation.

“We brewed something simplistic. It’s a really strong base recipe so that when we share it, the other breweries can fruit it, barrel it, spice it, whatever they so please. So it’s an easier way for people to collaborate.’’

Once the beers are out there in both their original and more elaborate forms, Queli encourages craft beer lovers to seek them out and discover some of the smaller breweries they may not have heard of.

Organizer Degan surveyed the scene on the brewing floor several hours into the event.

Asked how she felt, she said “elated and exhausted.’’

“I would say it has been an overwhelming success. These women came together and had a great time, met other women doing jobs that they recognize, others doing jobs that they don’t recognize, and they walk away confident and comfortable to reach out to any woman in this room today to ask a question about anything at all. To me, that is amazing.’’

Three women who man the taps at Ghost Hawk Brewing Co. in Clifton, Passaic County, came down to Forgotten Boardwalk for the event.

Leah Kleinkopf, Shayla Papalia and Aphrodite Kelly, who also helps organize Ghost Hawk’s events, said the day was all about supporting other women in the business. They all said they were surprised to see just how many other women were powering the state’s craft beer industry.

Kelly said she was particularly struck by “the kindness and the teamwork’’ she found at Women’s Brew Day, “the inclusivity and all the breweries being together and networking and supporting each other. I’m excited for next year and to see how it will grow!’’

And then the Ghost Hawk women went off to join a crowd of other women lining up to help empty a large pile of sacked hops into what, by March, will be the Strongest Woman on Earth.

Tammy Paolino covers restaurants, breweries, food trucks and arts events for the USA TODAY New Jersey Network. She’s an award-winning reporter and editor who has covered the Garden State for more than 30 years. Reach her at tpaolino@gannett.com or 856-486-2477 or on Twitter @CP_TammyPaolino. Help support local journalism with a Courier-Post subscription.

More about Women's Brew Day

For updates on releases, visit njbeer.org/ and forgottenboardwalk.com/

In addition to Forgotten Boardwalk, participating breweries include: Alementary Brewing (Hackensack), Alternate Ending Brewing (Aberdeen), Angry Erik Brewing (Newton), Axe and Arrow Brewing (Glassboro), Bonesaw Brewing (Glassboro), Bradley Brew Project (Bradley Beach), Cold Spring Brewery (Lower Township), Czig Meister Brewing (Hackettstown), Devil's Creek Brewery (Collingswood), Double Nickel (Pennsauken), Eclipse Brewing (Merchantville), Eight & Sand Beer Co. (Woodbury), Four City Brewing (Orange), Ghosthawk Brewing (Clifton), Gusto Brewing (North Cape May), Hidden Sands Brewing (Egg Harbor Township), Highrail Brewing (High Bridge), Jersey Cyclone Brewing (Somerset), Jersey Girl Brewing (Hackettstown), Kings Road Brewing (Haddonfield), Krogh's Restaurant and Brewpub (Sparta), Ludlam Island Brewery (Ocean View), Man Skirt Brewing (Hackettstown), Montclair Brewery (Montclair), Screamin' Hill Brewery (Cream Ridge), Third State Brewing (Burlington), Toms River Brewing (Toms River), Twin Elephant Brewing (Chatham), Two Ton Brewing (Kenilworth), Untied Brewing (New Providence), Vinyl Brewing (Hammonton), Westville Brewing (Westville) and Zed's Beer (Marlton).