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The women behind the beer

A special theme room will be featured at the Coquitlam Craft Beer Festival this weekend, dedicated to women in the beer industry.
Julia Hanlon
Julia Hanlon

Women have a long history with beer.

From the early days, they were the ones in the kitchen: cooking, baking and brewing the alcoholic beverages.

But when the industrial revolution hit, beer production was considered a man’s job and, thus, women were shunted to secondary roles or “ale wives” serving as barmaids, pub managers and brewery bottlers, for example.

Times have changed, said Paul Pyne, an SFU beer instructor who is also the territory sales manager at Central City Brewers + Distillers, “and it’s been a nice resurgence.”

paul

Earlier this year, Pyne — as ambassador of the Coquitlam Craft Beer Festival, which runs this weekend at Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club and is sponsored in part by The Tri-City News — put out an invite to women working in the B.C. craft beer industry, from sales reps and marketers to brewmasters. 

His goal was to highlight “and honour” these women with a theme room at the beer fest, and to demonstrate how they’ve helped to grow the sector.

Pyne got six positive responses.

Among those attending the fest will be Julia Hanlon, the award-winning brewmaster for Vancouver’s Steamworks Brewing Co. — one of the province’s oldest and most-recognized brew pubs that also has product in liquor stores.

Last week, Hanlon, who joined the craft beer company in 2015 after a decade with Molson, took top honours for her Steamworks Winter Lager and for the Steamworks Heroica Red Ale — and second place for the Steamworks Frambozen — at the BC Beer Awards, a three-day juried event that saw 1,085 entries from 109 B.C. breweries.

Also recognized at the Oct. 20 ceremony with the Legend Award was Lundy Dale, who also accepted Pyne’s invite to be at the Coquitlam Craft Beer Fest this weekend.

lundy

Dale is with the Vancouver chapter of the Pink Boots Society (a group designed to encourage women beer professionals through education); she also works with R&B Brewing and TAPS, the beer magazine.

Molly Graham from Coal Harbour Brewing, Sarah Johnston-Watson of Driftwood Brewery, Steph Jones from Red Truck Beer and Samantha Ingham of Collective Arts have also signed up to be at the Coquitlam beer event.

Their six companies will be among the 31 breweries that will pour for guests Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

Like last year, a cask theme room will again be highlighted offering “unique beers that are not available commercially,” Pyne said.

Meanwhile, West Coast Experiences — in partnership with Marquis Wine Cellars — will hosts its second annual Tri-City International Wine and Food Festival, on Saturday night at Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club.

For its theme room, organizers will showcase 10 wines from South America.

• Partial proceeds from both the craft beer and international wine festivals benefit Team Taylor with The Ride to Conquer Cancer, a two-day cycling fundraiser for the BC Cancer Foundation; its next ride takes place in the summer of 2019. To donate or join the team, visit conquercancer.ca.

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THE DETAILS
 

• CRAFT BEER: Friday 7 to 9:30 p.m. ($59) or Saturday 12 to 2:30 p.m. ($49) at Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club (3251 Plateau Blvd., Coquitlam); coquitlambeerfestival.com
 

• INT’L WINE: Saturday 7 to 9:30 p.m. ($69) at at Westwood Plateau Golf and Country Club (3251 Plateau Blvd., Coquitlam); tricitywinefestival.com