A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs

by Tara Nurin, Teri Fahrendorf (Foreword by)

Overview

• North American Guild of Beer Writers Best Book 2022

Dismiss the stereotype of the bearded brewer.

It’s women, not men, who’ve brewed beer throughout most of human history. Their role as family and village brewer lasted for hundreds of thousands of years—through the earliest days of Mesopotamian civilization, the reign of Cleopatra, the witch trials of early modern Europe, and the settling of colonial America. A Woman’s Place Is in the Brewhouse celebrates the contributions and influence of female brewers and explores the forces that have erased them from the brewing world.
 
It’s a history that’s simultaneously inspiring and demeaning. Wherever and whenever the cottage brewing industry has grown profitable, politics, religion, and capitalism have grown greedy. On a macro scale, men have repeatedly seized control and forced women out of the business. Other times, women have simply lost the minimal independence, respect, and economic power brewing brought them.
 
But there are more breweries now than at any time in American history and today women serve as founder, CEO, or head brewer at more than one thousand of them.

As women continue to work hard for equal treatment and recognition in the industry, author Tara Nurin shows readers that women have been—and are once again becoming—relevant in the brewing world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781641603423
Publisher:	Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/21/2021
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	632,950
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Tara Nurin is the beer and spirits contributor to Forbes and an adjunct Beer 101 instructor at Wilmington University. The former major-market TV news reporter has been the Libations columnist for New Jersey Monthly, the women-in-beer columnist for Ale Street News, and the cohost of the What’s on Tap weekly beer TV show. Her work has been published in more than fifty newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms such as Food + Wine, USA Today, and Wine Enthusiast. She is certified by the Beer Judge Certification Program and serves as a frequent expert and host in the media and in educational programming. She lives outside of Philadelphia, PA. Teri Fahrendorf is an American brewer and founder of the Pink Boots Society, an organization that supports women in the brewing industry. She is notable for being one of the first women in the craft brewing industry and her brews have been widely awarded from organizations such as Great American Beer Festival and the Brewer's Association. 
 

Table of Contents

Foreword Teri Fahrendorf ix

Time Line xi

Preface xiii

1 The Rebeginning 1

2 Planting the Seed 8

3 Rainbows End down That Highway 13

4 The Hymn to Ninkasi 20

5 The Birth of Beervana 26

6 Of Goddesses and High Priestesses 34

7 Decentralization 37

8 Brew Like an Egyptian 42

9 The Great Eastward Migration 47

10 What's Past Is Prologue 55

11 Relax, Don't Worry, Have a Homebrew 62

12 It's a Sahti Paati 68

13 Slow Food, Slower Beer 74

14 B(eer) Is for Barbarians 81

15 The Last of the First Craft Brewery Women 86

16 The Fatherland 94

17 Boom and Bust 101

18 Wallflower at the Orgy 106

19 Alewives Unflattered 113

20 Beer's Bridge over Troubled Water 123

21 Strange Brew: Did Renaissance Brewsters Practice Fermentation … Or Witchcraft? 128

22 These Boots Are Made for Brewing 137

23 Coming to America 145

24 From the Back Office to the Boardroom 156

25 Rivers of Lager Flow Toward Temperance 161

26 The Customer Is Sometimes Right 178

27 Prohibited from the Halls of Power No More 185

28 Big Boss Ladies and the Family Ties That Bind 192

29 Don't Worry, Darling, You Didn't Burn the Beer 202

30 Beyond Beards, Beyond Breasts 214

31 It's a Woman's World After All 220

32 Raging Bitches 227

33 That's Right, the Women Are Smarter 236

34 Sisters Are Brewing It for Themselves 241

Acknowledgments 245

Notes 248

Index 262

About the Authors 272

Editorial Reviews

“This book is the key to the queendom. If you like women, beer, and history, as I do, then find a comfortable chair and pour yourself a tall frothy glass of fermented barley juice. The adventure you’re about to embark on will open your eyes to the forgotten history of women and their role in the greatest civilizing event in history: beer." —Teri Fahrendorf,Pink Boots Society founder, from her foreword


"You may or may not have heard of Ninkasi, the Sumerian goddess of beer. You must become familiar with Tara Nurin, the goddess of contemporary beer writing. Tara has been an award-winning writer of beer and the business of beer for Forbes for years. She knows how to grab your attention with fascinating stories in short pieces. With the unlimited space of a book, her story becomes interesting, compelling, and comprehensive." —Pete Slosberg, founder of Pete's Wicked Ales and author of Beer for Pete's Sake
 

"Tara Nurin has written one of the more novel and, indeed, necessary beer books of the past few decades. It was an eye-opener to learn about a segment of the brewing past that's often overlooked or simply outright ignored. I highly recommend this read to anyone serious, or even just curious, about beer." —Tom Acitelli, author of The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution and PILSNER: How the Beer of Kings Changed the World 
 

“A timely, fascinating, and incisive reminder of what has always been true but too often ignored: women are every bit as core to the beer industry as their male counterparts. Tara Nurin’s deeply reported and lovingly told tale underscores that a woman’s place isn’t only in the brewhouse but across every inch of the beer industry.” —Josh Noel, author of Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out
 

“Tara Nurin shines a much-needed spotlight on the ‘herstory’ of beer during a time of reckoning and self-reflection in our industry. From Mesopotamian women with cauldrons to modern-day brewery owners like myself, Tara effortlessly captures the evolution and importance of women in beer over thousands of years on the pages of this captivating read!” —Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner and president, Russian River Brewing Company

“A very insightful book highlighting the relevance of women in the brewing industry in Africa and around the world.” —Peace Onwuchekwa, brewer, Bature Brewery, Nigeria

From the Publisher