Our Humble Beginnings

We are the movers and shakers in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry. We make fermented and alcoholic beverages with the highest possible quality. We are the women and non-binary individuals that own the companies, package the product, design the labels, serve the drinks, write about our industry – and just about everything in between. Most importantly, we teach each other what we know through our own seminar programs, and we help each other advance both front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house careers by raising money for educational scholarships.

The Pink Boots Society was formed in 2007 during our Founder, Teri Fahrendorf’s, 139-day guest brewing road trip across the country and back.

^{“In 2007 I quit my job after 19 years as a brewmaster and went in search of adventure and another job. What I found were many
new or young women brewers who had never met a woman brewmaster, and in fact, had never met another woman brewer. They
had felt throughout their careers that they were “the only woman brewer”, and thus felt quite alone.”}

Teri began tracking the women brewers she met along her road trip. When she posted her initial list of 60 women brewers
online, she called the list “The Pink Boots Society.” The name was inspired by Teri’s own pink boots (given to her by her
mother-in-law), worn throughout her trip. In April 2008, she invited the women on the list to attend a luncheon. During the
meeting, Teri posed several questions, and the women present voted for two key things: they wanted Pink Boots Society to be an
organization, and the organization stood for one thing: Women Beer Professionals. Therefore, any woman—anywhere in the
world—who earned income from beer would be able to join.

Today we have created an organization that provides a genuine community for mutual support and advancement of women and non-binary individuals within the fermented beverage industry.