At the start of this month, the same day as October’s She Drinks Beer at The Good Measure, we welcomed more than 40 local women down to GCHQ in awesome East Bristol to take part in our open brewday to celebrate the first anniversary of She Drinks Beer.
She Drinks Beer was started in November 2021 by me (Kelly) as a regular evening at the pub for women who enjoy beer. Since then it has taken place once a month at our award-winning Redland pub, The Good Measure. During the summer we also put on ‘taproom editions’ of SDB one Friday a month.
‘Openness, accessibility and inclusiveness’ have been core values of GCB since Bob & I started our business seven years ago. One way we strive for this has been my visible and vocal championing and celebrating of women working in the beer and brewing industries, and women who enjoy drinking beer. After years of running one-off events for this at both the brewery and The Good Measure, I wanted to do something that was more regular and frequent. SDB has allowed us to do that.
She Drinks Beer isn’t an organisation, it’s not political or asking you to join anything. It’s about getting together with your women friends in the pub to drink beer. Because when was the last time you were in a pub and it was mostly other women? It doesn’t happen very often. Since starting She Drinks Beer last winter I’ve been really proud of how it’s taken off. We wanted to celebrate that with an anniversary beer, and use it to give women working in the beer and hospitality industries an opportunity to experience what happens in a brewery on a brew-day, and get stuck in helping to make it!
The resulting limited-edition, one-off beer, ALL WELCOME, is a light, hoppy 4.4% pale ale, designed to be accessible and enjoyable, like the SDB event itself. US and NZ hops combine lime, grapefruit and tropical fruit flavours and aromas.
All Welcome will be launched at November’s She Drinks Beer at The Good Measure on Tues 1st November – we hope to see you then! You're welcome to come to SDB with friends, or come on your own to meet other women who enjoy beer, or come on your own and stay on your own - it's entirely up to you, and you're welcome regardless. If you're not sure it's for you, do please pop along and see for yourself - we're a welcoming bunch!
The beer will then be available across Bristol, including at some of the city’s best women-led pubs, bars and shops, as well as on our Webshop here. Do pick up a can or two if you’re not able to make it along to any of the venues pouring the beer. And of course let us know on social media what you think!
Cheers!Kelly (GCB & The Good Measure co-owner, in the middle in the yellow top), Lorin (Operations Extraordinaire, on the right) and Ruth (Sales Supremo, on the left in black)
[Photos below show everyone getting stuck in with mashing in (mixing the grain with hot water); Weighing out the hops; Talking to the group in front of the whirlpool; Digging out the mash tun; Photo at the top shows many of the wonderful women who joined us for the brew-day!]
