The 2020 Pink Boots Blend has been determined, and is ready to order! That means it’s time to start planning your 2020 Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day!
The eve of Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day at Pelican Brewing Company – Pacific City, OR
Don’t worry, you don’t need to have all the details sorted out just yet! But in order to make sure you get your Pink Boots Blend hops for brew day, it’s time to start thinking about the basics. The deadline to pre-order the Pink Boots Blend is December 15! From the sales of this blend, Yakima Chief will generously donate $3 per pound to Pink Boots Society. This is a huge fundraiser and enables us to expand the offerings of our scholarship program, as well as drive our mission: to assist, inspire, and encourage female beer industry professionals through education.
ORDER HOPS HERE
First things first, if you work in a brewery talk to your head brewer or production manager about getting a Pink Boots Collaboration Brew on the schedule for 2020. The brew day is based around March 8th – International Women’s Day, but you are not bound to this date! Here is the link to our Collaboration Brew Day registration form, and some frequently asked questions. If you are not a brewery employee, get in touch with your local Pink Boots chapter or fellow members and begin conversations about which breweries are hosting collaborations. Solicit your local watering holes to carry Pink Boots Brews, and ask breweries to get involved! Maybe you have a favorite brewery that does not have any Pink Boots members on staff – this is a great opportunity to get them involved! Any commercial brewery can order the Pink Boots Blend, and any brewery can create a Pink Boots Collaboration Brew! Personally, I have a dream that one day the month of April will be ubiquitous with Pink Boots Brews – every taproom and beer bar will proudly serve Pink Boots Collaboration beers and consumers will look forward to enjoying the many ways in which different teams of folks created unique ales and lagers with a common thread!
Now that the conversation has begun, the next step is to order your hops. The deadline to pre-order is December 15 – and that is a firm deadline! The blend will be comprised of the following: 2 parts Loral, 2 parts Idaho Gem, 1 part Azacca, and 1 part El Dorado. Fun fact about Idaho Gem: it’s so new, that this is the first year Yakima Chief Hops is even offering it! So what can we expect from this amalgamation of hops? Tropical fruit, mango, pineapple, cherry, and candied fruit with a touch of citrus, white pepper and pine.
Grace Weitz gave a great recap of the blend’s creation for Hop Culture Magazine, and you can keep an eye on our blog for another first account from the women who assembled the victorious blend.
But I’m not ready to plan my brew day! No problem! The first step is securing the green light for production, and ordering those hops! You may sense a theme here… order those hops!
How much of the hop blend do I need? That depends on the brew you want to create, and the size of your brew house. Check in with your head brewer or production manager. We suggest ordering on the higher end of what you think you’ll need to guarantee you have enough.
What is the alpha acid of the hop blend? We will not know the exact AA% of the blend until after it has been pelletized. It’s possible to get a decent ballpark by patching together the alpha acid content of the hops that make up the blend, but remember, this was put together to be an aroma hop – think whirlpool and dry hop additions. A rough ballpark for this blend is about 13% AA and 2% oil – punchy!
I’m not a brewer, how can I get involved? Are you connected to your local chapter? All Pink Boots members have access to our membership directory. It’s likely there is a chapter or at least other members in your area that you can get involved with. If that’s not the case, hit up breweries in your area to buy the blend and host a brew day! Or buy the blend, and make a donation from a brew that uses it, or just buy the blend! The spirit of collaboration gets people involved in all aspects of the industry, and that’s what this is all about.
Last year the deadline was extended, so I think I’ll wait a little longer on planning. We strongly encourage you to start planning now! Yes, in years past the deadline has been pushed back, but that is no longer an option moving forward. December 15th is a very firm deadline, and will dictate how much of the blend is created. Once the blend is pelletized, that’s all we get, and Yakima Chief needs to know how much to make, so please order by December 15!
Check out this incredible set of Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day guidelines! And remember, if you have any additional questions or concerns on how to plan a successful brew day, we are here to assist and support you!
ORDER HOPS HERE
Cat Wiest is on the Research/Development team at Pelican Brewing Company on the Oregon Coast. She serves on the Pink Boots Society Board of Directors, and she loves Collaboration Brew Day! She’s a beach bum, a cat lady, and enjoys nachos and exotic cocktails.
