The Pink Boots Society is proud to announce the recipients of the Siebel World Brewing Academy Concise Course in Brewing Technology scholarship! Each recipient was selected by a committee made up of experienced, women beer industry professionals who hold positions in the brewing industry as brewers, educators and writers. Congratulations to Betsy Lay, Adrianna Hodapp and Nicole McCollem!

Betsy Lay, our Denver Chapter recipient, co-founded Lady Justice Brewing Company in Colorado five years ago and is currently getting ready to make big strides. Personally, she will be leaving her full-time job (the one that pays the bills) to run the brewery, Lady Justice, exclusively. She will also be shepherding the brewery into a significantly larger space with greater foot traffic. “Things are getting serious and it’s time that we step up and make sure we’re in this for a long, long time.”

Betsy started out as a homebrewer – educating herself with every book she could get her hands on and learning from professional brewers. She understands the advantages formal brewing education can provide, and she realizes there are valuable courses and programs that could greatly enhance her skills. In addition to the knowledge she’ll receive from this course, she also wishes to pass the Certified Cicerone Level 2 exam, and eventually continue all the way to Master Cicerone. “I want to be an expert in my field. It’s a long road, for sure, but I know that education will provide the strongest path to get there. I especially love when women can learn with and from each other and I will be excited to share this expertise with my Pink Boots comrades.”

Adrianna Hodapp, our National recipient, became a brewer with Three Weavers Brewing Company in California last January. This is a role she took after six years in the beer industry so she could continue her career growth. Having started out at a small brewpub as a server and bartender, she says, “I expressed my interest in the brewing process and eagerly started shadowing brew days in my spare time. I ended up getting a job at another brewery as a part time cellar person, where I tirelessly washed kegs and scrubbed floors.” Her hard work and initiative paid off when a few months later she moved into the brewery full time. There she learned basic cellaring duties and spent more time on the brew deck, eventually becoming head brewer.

Working for a small brewhouse, she loved the freedom to create new beers, but she wanted more and the position at Three Weavers offered her the ability to grow at a much quicker pace. With the help of this scholarship, Adrianna is looking forward to gaining more knowledge with professional training that is recognized throughout the industry. Her involvement with the Pink Boots Society has increased her confidence in her abilities. “Ever since I started my career as a brewer, I have felt like there is more pressure on me as a woman to be more knowledgeable than my male counterparts.” The scholarship committee took note from Adrianna’s application that “this scholarship would solidify and expand her knowledge and certainly make her more competitive to her male counterparts.”

Nicole McCollem came to the brewing world with a Bachelor of Science in Bakery and Pastry Arts and ten years of baking experience. Now a brewer at Night Shift Brewing in Massachusetts, “My greatest passions include chemistry and engineering, two things the brewing industry holds in spades.”

She has been learning all that she can, both from hands-on experience in the brewery and by taking a brewing chemistry course at a local college last year. That course spawned new recipe ideas as she gained an understanding of how to manipulate ingredients in ways that she didn’t know existed. Applying her experience as a baker and the knowledge of brewing she has acquired “fueled my desire to create interesting recipes by utilizing best practices for yeast propagation and ingredient use.”

The scholarship selection committee was impressed by Nicole’s dedication to the industry, as well as her ability to clearly identify her hopes to professionally improve. They felt the opportunity to take the Siebel course would assist her goals in advancing her knowledge of recipe development. Nicole is looking forward to gaining more knowledge for herself and being able to share it with members in her Pink Boots Society Chapter.

The Concise Course in Brewing Technology is an intensive, online three-month course that utilizes a mix of textual instructions, streaming video presentations narrated by some of the best instructors in brewing, and synchronous chat sessions between students and faculty. Students will gain the knowledge and confidence to work effectively in the world of commercial brewing in this course that covers topics ranging from business of beer, alcohol and health, CIP programs and Quality Assurance/Quality Control.

To learn more about upcoming scholarship opportunities, visit the Pink Boots scholarship page at: https://www.pinkbootssociety.org/upcoming-scholarships/. 

When I moved to a goat farm after the devastating Gatlinburg wildfires in late
2016, I never expected to fall in love… with craft beer. Ever since I started
working at a local brewery I have been enamored with beer and the brewing
process, so much that I started homebrewing and looking for scholarships in
brewing. Fast-forward a few years later and I have accepted a job in canning and
cellar work. This job came from a journey of volunteering, education, and most
importantly, beer.
I first started brewing at home like many others by making meads, beer and
anything else that I could ferment. I was captivated with the brewing process
instantly and felt in my gut that this is what I wanted to do for a living. I knew I
needed to go to school to learn more about brewing to build a solid foundation, as
most of my brewing came from a “feel” of brewing. As Charlie Papazian says in
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, “It is about feeling your beer and letting your
beer feel you.” While this is a great skill set in craft brewing and a priceless
education, my scientific method behind beer was lacking. I heard that Siebel
Institute of Technology was the way to learn from many professional brewers, so it
was a course from them that I focused on. I needed to take the Siebel W1 course so
I could understand the technical part of brewing, to combine my hands-on learning
with mechanical learning, and most importantly to grow in my career.
I came upon the Pink Boots Society as I was searching for a scholarship at Siebel. I
Googled “scholarship for Siebel Institute of Technology” and the Pink Boots
Society website was the first thing to pop up. I went through the site and was so
excited that I stumbled upon this group of female beer professionals. I signed up
that very day, submitted a request for volunteering and started working on my
scholarship application for the Siebel Concise Course in Brewing Technology. I
felt that it would better my chances of getting a scholarship if I volunteered for this
organization, and I was right. I learned a lot in that first year about Pink Boots and
it helped kick start my volunteer work for the following years. I went on to
volunteer at the local Biere de Femme in Asheville, North Carolina and met many
women that I had only known through email. This experience as a whole taught me
that I could be a part of something big and work hard for something I believe in.
I ended up receiving the scholarship for the Siebel online course at the beginning
of 2019 and attended over the summer. It was a whirlwind of information and I
stayed glued to my computer.

The Siebel class really helped me see the bigger picture behind brewing and answered a lot of my technical questions about brewing on a commercial system. For those of you who have not looked into the course, it is basically an overview of everything in brewing, from water chemistry to cleaning kegs, in three months. If you are planning on taking the course, I would suggest taking an organic chemistry class before taking the Siebel online class. I was fortunate enough to take a craft beer chemistry class the year before and it
really helped me digest what the Siebel course was teaching me in the organic
chemistry lectures. There were many positives of this course. I really enjoyed it
because it was online and I could work on it on my schedule and not be tied to a
class time every week. I also enjoyed the weekly discussions with the class and
instructor about that week’s topic. The instructors were awesome and there to
answer whatever question you have. One drawback for me was that since I was
still bartending, I was not able to apply what I was learning in the physical right
away. But that is why I was taking the class: to get a working knowledge of
commercial brewing in order to get a foot in the door. So, I took extensive notes
and frequently talked to professional brewers I know about whatever subject I was
learning about that week. I ended up passing the class with an “A!”
The significant thing that I learned is that I could spend my whole life learning
about beer and still never know all there is to know. That is why I love this career
and industry so much.
The Siebel Concise course in Brewing Technology has changed my life. With this
education I have been able to land a job in a brew house doing canning and cellar
work. This opportunity also allows me to grow within the company so I can
eventually brew beer commercially. I would not have gotten this job without my
certificate and for that I am very thankful to Pink Boots Society. In my journey I
was supported by women who I did not even know, I found stories that I could
relate to, I found ideas for growing my career and my beer, and most importantly, I
felt like I had found family.

Taylor Paige King resides in Eastern North Carolina with her partner Jordy and her cat Sigi. She works at Mother Earth Brewing as a packing technician and is currently planning a brew for the Pink Boots Society collaboration brew day.  She volunteers with Pink Boots Society as a national and North Carolina scholarship liaison. She also attends Nash Community College full time and will complete her degree this May. In her spare time she enjoys home brewing, farming and reading. 

The Pink Boots Society is proud to announce that Taylor Paige King of Pitt Street Brewing Company in North Carolina is the recipient of the Siebel World Brewing Academy Concise Course in Brewing Technology Online scholarship.

Taylor was chosen by the PBS Scholarship Selection Committee (SSC), five very experienced women beer professionals who hold positions as brewers, educators and writers, to receive this scholarship based on her well-written essay, glowing recommendations and heavy involvement with the Pink Boots Society as a volunteer. “Her dreams of starting and running a brewery, in a county that only has one, would be greatly helped by the education this course can provide.”

Taylor currently works as a bartender and brewing intern and says, “I was born and raised in the heart of the Great Smoky Mountains and while there is a lot of white lightning in those hills, there’s not a plethora of beer. After the 2016 Gatlinburg wildfires a lot of local businesses were destroyed or damaged. This would be a perfect opportunity for me to give back to my community by building a craft brewery. Gatlinburg is an ever-growing tourist industry that would benefit from a local brewery.” Besides gaining experience from her work at Pitt Street, she has started homebrewing, using locally foraged ingredients such yarrow and spruce tips, and is attending Nash Community College, pursuing a degree in Brewing, Distillation and Fermentation. She feels that the technical knowledge this scholarship will provide will help to round out her knowledge and grow her career.

Taylor is also an active member of the Pink Boots Society where she contributes her talents to monthly newsletters and e-blasts. She says, “I have been met with so much love and support from my PBS family and I cannot wait to give back.” After completing this course she plans to write an article to fulfill her Pay It Forward requirement, attend Biere de Femme to represent Nash Community College’s programs (like the one she is enrolled in) and work toward establishing an Eastern North Carolina chapter of the Pink Boots Society.

The Concise Course in Brewing Technology is an intensive, online three-month course that utilizes a mix of textual instructions, streaming video presentations narrated by some of the best instructors in brewing, and synchronous chat sessions between students and faculty. Students will gain the knowledge and confidence to work effectively in the world of commercial brewing in this course that covers topics ranging from business of beer, alcohol and health, CIP programs and Quality Assurance/Quality Control.

By Caroline Parnin, Co-chapter Leader of the Raleigh, NC Pink Boots Chapter; East Coast Technical Manager, Lallemand Brewing/Siebel Institute of Technology

Origins:

Bière de Femme is a festival designed to showcase the women of NC beer, while also raising money for women to pursue their beer career dreams through education. During our May 2016 meeting I challenged the members of the Raleigh, North Carolina chapter with a specific question: Rather than working hard on many small events and spreading ourselves thin, what were some events/projects that could combine our efforts to raise significant amounts of money? In November 2016 chapter members Jordan Boinest and Anita Riley brought forward a festival idea at a meeting and Bière de Femme was born. We decided at that November meeting that we would donate 100% of our proceeds to Pink Boots Society. Our 1st Bière de Femme Festival took place four months later, on March 11, 2017 in Shelby, NC .

In our planning stage we set goals for what we wanted to achieve and they included:

• Raise money for Scholarships
• Showcase the badass women in NC beer (with each brewery serving a beer made by women employees specifically for the festival)
• Provide a tasting and educational experience like no other around (this includes guest learning experiences like a test sensory skills both, a history of women in beer educational wall and also local guild representation, educational programs and ingredient manufacturers providing fun learning experiences on site)

Last year we raised almost $11,000! We hope to hit $18,000 this year. On a side note, co-chapter leader Anita Riley wrote Brewing Ambition: Recipes & Stories From the Women of North Carolina Craft Beer. In addition to being a great read full of homebrew recipes, it’s a great gift. All proceeds go to Pink Boots.

Bière de Femme 2018

The 2nd annual Bière de Femme happens March 3, 2018 in Raleigh, NC. Organization is definitely a task that has brought our team together!  We utilized some great programs for communication, delegated tasks, and kept very open lines of communication throughout the process to be successful. The app Asana for delegation/communication helps us see who is working on what, and progress made. We created a to-do list/timeline and have tried to follow it as best we can. We have bi-weekly check-ins with everyone available.

Each chapter member brings a certain skill set that is extremely helpful in organization – for example Anita Riley (our other Raleigh Chapter Leader) is a writer- so she is our media communications manager.  Katie Smith (Asheville Chapter Co-Leader) is a social media whiz- she handles our posts and also organizes our volunteers. Natalie Anderson (Raleigh Chapter member) who runs a brewery has managed people her entire adult life. She helped us organize the task list and heads brewery communications for the event. Each person’s ownership of certain responsibilities allows us to not stretch ourselves too thin and ensures we move forward.

Helpful Tips for Producing An Event:

If I could offer a few helpful tips to plan successful fundraising events to other PBS chapters they would be the following:

• Don’t try to do it alone, work as a team or the tasks will be impossible. Delegate tasks to your chapter members; each has skills or contacts that will prove very useful.  Life happens, so have a backup plan in place if someone has to step away from their duties.
• Contact the board for help, there are many resources available if you need them.
• Create a timeline with tasks and deadlines and stick to it
• Delegate tasks – using the app Asana has been our savior for this
• Don’t be afraid to ask for sponsorship money. You never know unless you ask  In-kind sponsorships are great too, we have received them for glassware/t-shirts/media promotion.
• Designate one person in charge of money, so things done get confusing.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I must say I am honored to be a part of such a dynamic group of women breaking molds and providing support to one another. North Carolina has come a long way in 4 years with the progression of women in our beloved industry. I hope you’ll be able to join us at Bière de Femme this year!

Cheers to women in beer!

About Caroline Parnin: 

In the spring of 2007 I took a RV cross country road trip with some girlfriends that changed the course my life forever. Instead of LSATs and law school I decided I would pursue my dream of making beer for a living.

I immediately began volunteering at a local brewery in Raleigh on their bottling line on an as needed basis.  They paid me in hi/low fill beer. After a couple years of volunteering, I took an (unpaid) assistant brewer position at a new brewpub in town. Three years later I was sidelined by a kickball accident.

During my recovery I decided that in order to move forward in the industry I would get a formal brewing education. After registering for the full Advanced Brewing Theory course through Siebel Institute of Technology in 2014, I reached out to PBS to see what financial aid resources were available. Founder Teri Fahrendorf replied to my email for help quickly, with some pointers and a wish of good luck. Unfortunately, PBS simply did not have funds to help with that size of a scholarship.

I’ll never forget Teri’s encouragement and support; it was very welcomed. I was the only women working on the production side of a brewery that I knew of in my city. I did not know many women in the industry at all, and I was only one of two women in the Seibel program. As they say, all’s well that ends well. Soon I will become Product Manager for sensory kits and also will take on a larger marketing/business development rolle within Lallemand Brewing/Siebel Institute of Technology.