By Juleidy Peña
International Women’s Day is a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. In the craft brewing industry it is the day when breweries around the world come together to participate in the Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day. Here’s a little history to set the scene:
“Pink Boots Society is a non profit organization that works to ASSIST, INSPIRE, and ENCOURAGE women beer professionals through EDUCATION.
Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day was born from our members’ desire to take part in International Women’s Day (IWD) March 8th by raising the profile of women’s roles in the beer industry. Chapters and members of Pink Boots Society get together along with supporting breweries and individuals, put on their pink boots and brew their chosen beer style. Pink Boots Society splits proceeds from sales of this collaboration brew with participating chapters. The revenue is applied to educational scholarships and programming for its members.
In 2018 we forged a partnership with Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) to make an exclusive Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day hops blend available. Each year our members create a new blend during the hops rub at our annual fall GABF meeting. YCH scales it up so it’s available for purchase; they also donate $3 from every pound sold to Pink Boots Society for education and programming.”
Aeronaut Brewing Company has been actively participating in this Collaborative Brew Day, gathering the ladies from all sides of the business to conceptualize, brew, package, and bring to life unique recipes using the proprietary YCH Hop Blend. The sale of this beer directly benefits the Pink Boots Boston Chapter, creating scholarships for PBS members.
This year our team of amazing women chose to brew a Fruited IPA. Our beer is dosed liberally with Soursop, a pineapple-like Caribbean fruit, and hopped entirely with the YCH Hop Blend, which consists of Azacca®, El Dorado®, Idaho Gem,™ and Loral®. The result is a punchy brew that offers tropical, citrus, and piney aromatic qualities. The blend of hops was chosen by more than 100 PBS members during the 2019 Great American Beer Festival.
Pink Boots 2019 brew crew!
The beer itself is a very simple recipe comprised of Weyermann Pale Ale, Weyermann Munich II, and Golden Naked Oats. We introduced a modest charge of hops to impart bitterness and balance, mostly focusing on the aromatics of the hop blend. To accentuate these notes we added late hop additions in the kettle and whirlpool (with a small dry-hop addition.) Once primary fermentation approached completion we dosed the beer with our aseptic soursop puree; if you’re unfamiliar with this tropical fruit, it’s not “sour” as the name might imply. Soursop, a fruit native to South America and the Carribean, is actually very sweet and resembles a blend of both strawberry and pineapple. The result is Future Feature–a beer with rich tropical aromas of pineapple, strawberries, and bananas. Future Feature offers a pleasant citrus flavor paired with a delicate hop profile creating a harmonic and balanced fruited IPA that is neither overly sweet nor cloying and drinks nicely.
We couldn’t be more excited to share Future Feature with all of you–at a safe distance, of course. Our hope is to bring a little bit of joy to all of you during these uncertain and trying times. Remember: this too shall pass.
Cheers!
Juleidy Peña is a brewer at Aeronaut and a member of the Pink Boots Society. The views and opinions expressed on this web site are solely those of the original author, and they do not necessarily represent those of Aeronaut Brewing Co.