Bombshell is the Women’s History Month special edition IPA that’s about to take the local craft beer industry by storm.
“We got together as women-owned breweries and we are doing this collaboration beer, which is a fruited IPA with peach and Cara Cara orange purées in it. It’s going to be nice and juicy and hoppy,” Joy Braddock, co-owner of Hog River Brewing.
Braddock, Alisa Bowens-Mercado and Heather Wilson worked on the recipe together. They’ll release the cans Saturday at a women’s business event at Hog River.
The three female owners are success stories in the craft beer industry, but the journey isn’t always easy.
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“I think that we’re still going to be climbing an uphill battle,” said Heather Wilson, owner of Hop Culture Farms. “I think that having more access to education and resources will definitely help to bridge the gap.”
That’s why they saw Women’s History Month as the perfect time to join forces and raise money for the Connecticut Pink Boots Society’s scholarship in brewing at Sacred Heart University.
“This will allow women to get the support they need to enter that program and get education in the brewing sciences, and that will help further diversify our industry,” Braddock said.
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According to the Brewer’s Association, 24% of craft beer owners are female and 41% of breweries have at least one female owner.
Abby Bibens of the Connecticut Pink Boots Society said the reasons can be varied.
“It’s all these different challenges of being taken seriously, of having the resources of education available, and the opportunities for jobs,” Bibens said.
They say coming together will help change those perceptions.
“The goal and the mission is to empower, inspire and encourage other women to get into the beer industry,” said Alisa Bowen Mercado.
The Connecticut Pink Boots Society scholarship for women in brewing was announced last summer. They hope to raise $15,000, in part through sales of Bombshell, to give out the first scholarship award for an aspiring woman to attend Sacred Heart’s Brewing Science program.
