Iron Beer Maidens rock the Hammer
Beer-drinking club offers women a “safe space” to learn about beer
Picture, if you will, a stereotypical beer drinker.
Chances are, that person is more than likely male (and possibly sporting a trucker hat, lederhosen, a hipster moustache or some combination thereof).
Aimee Belanger and Tiffany Martin want to change that. The two Hamiltonians are the founders of Iron Beer Maidens, a new group dedicated to making beer more accessible — and more fun — for women.
The premise of Iron Beer Maidens is simple: to host gatherings where any female-identified person can test the beer-drinking waters in a safe, non-judgmental space.
“It just seemed like Hamilton was ready for it,” said Belanger. “There’s a lot of women in Hamilton and the surrounding area that love beer, and we wanted to start something in our area that we could all go to.”
Martin points out that Hamilton’s beer culture is booming — several new breweries have opened up in the past year — which makes it the perfect time to celebrate and investigate the city’s newest beer-related offerings.
“We wanted to have a safe space for women to come, hang out and learn about beer,” Martin said.
The pair met at the Prud’homme Beer Certification program in Guelph, a beer sommelier program that offers instruction in subjects such as brewing ingredients and processes, draught systems, and beer and food pairings.
Both women chose to attend Prud’homme because they had a previous interest in beer — Belanger as a sales representative for a local craft brew- ery, and Martin as the author of the popular beer blog The Travelling Pint. The pair hit it off at first sip, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Beer Maidens host an event roughly every six weeks on Monday evenings (which allows those working in the hospitality industry to attend, as it’s the least busy day of the week at bars and restaurants). Each woman receives a flight of beer — without being told the names or type of each selection — and a tasting note sheet to record their observations about each one. The events also feature a female guest speaker from the beer industry.
A portion of ticket sales is donated to the FAB Foundation, a not-forprofit organization that helps Hamilton girls from low-income neighbourhoods develop goal-setting, self-confidence and fitness skills.
At their last event at the Casbah in March, 41 women attended, who ranged in age from early 20s to their 70s.
Both Martin and Belanger say that part of the reason they created Iron Beer Maidens is to help give women a leg-up in a sector that is still viewed as inherently tied to masculinity. Belanger said in her experience working in the beer industry, the sector is still male-dominated and can be tinged with sexism.
“It comes down to not being invited out for beers after work — not that it was done maliciously, it was just that because I was a woman, they assumed I wouldn’t be interested,” said Belanger. “There’s more and more women getting involved, but the numbers aren’t quite there for brewing or membership or executive positions.”
“When you think, 4000 years ago, it was women that were brewing beer and selling beer. There was this big shift through history,” Martin said. “I think it’s only recently where women are working in beer, women are brewing beer, women are selling beer. But there’s still a lot of room for growth.”