Blog — women in beer

In 1972, Rosa Merckx became the first official female brewmaster and operations director in 20th century Belgium. After the death of her former boss, she was given control of the 300 year-old Liefmans Oudenaarde brewery, where she had worked since 1946 (Nurin). Merckx is an absolute pioneer in the female brewing revolution, which has taken until the new millennium to really build momentum in Europe. Want proof? It took until 2012 for a woman - Sara Barton - to win the British Guild of Beer Writers Brewer of the Year award. And it was just last year that a group...

In the first instalment of this series, I wrote about the awesome early history of women in brewing. In this edition, we'll focus on where, when, and (most importantly) why it all went wrong. In the years following the Black Death of the mid 14th century, the European brewing trade started to change. When it did, the changes were as quick as they were drastic. The high death toll led to a labour shortage, which in turn led to a major wage increase for those in the workforce. Higher wages meant more disposable income to spend on beer, driving up demand for...

The world’s earliest brewers were women; from ancient Sumeria to medieval England, women were responsible for crafting the barley-based beverage that is so often associated with bearded men today. So, what changed? How and when did women start brewing, and why did they stop? In this three-part series, I’ll explore the origins, devolution, and re(volution) of women’s role in brewing. For the first instalment, let’s start with the understanding that the female-dominated craft of brewing developed in much the same way all over the world. Installment One: The Origins of Women in Brewing Ancient Sumerians believed that beer was a...