The Year of the Woman?

Although I've noticed for a few years that more and more women have become avid fans of good beer, it seems that in the last couple--and 2010 in particular--women have really become major stakeholders. Here's a good example. The new female collective "Ladies of Craft Beer" is one of this year's most active blogs, and yesterday Stevie Caldarola interviewed Deschutes brewer Veronica Vega.

Women bloggers interviewing a brewing woman. Even five years ago, this would have been a pretty remarkable thing--now, not so much. (Cool, certainly; remarkable, no.) Five years ago, the likelihood that the interview was with Teri Fahrendorf, one of the country's first female brewers, would have been pretty high. Teri went on to found the Pink Boots Society, which supports women in the world of beer. The post about Vega caught my eye because it makes at least two women brewing in Bend, which is pretty remarkable. I looked on Pink Boots' list of members and saw that eighteen women now brew professionally or own breweries in Oregon. The list also includes folks like Lisa Morrison, world-famous beer writer, and Megan Flynn, editor and publisher of Beer Northwest.

A decade ago, this was an incredibly male-dominated field. It's still heavily skewed toward men (most of the women brewing in Oregon are assistants), but the trajectory has changed sharply. Next month I'll do my usual year-end review; I'm thinking we may have to call 2010 the year of the woman.