🎪 WOT FEST 🎪

Women on Tap Festival was founded 7 years ago by Rachel Auty in her home town of Harrogate.  The event was designed to promote women in beer - both from a working and drinking perspective.  It ran across venues in the town including bars and breweries.  It covered collab brews, tasting sessions, art installations, live music and more!

I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few times, including the online version during lockdown.  It’s always been inspiring to me as I am passionate about promoting women in beer.

6 years ago I founded a ladies’ beer group - Brum Beer Babs.  Its aims are to encourage women to drink beer, learn more about it and have fun while doing it!  

This year, for their 7th birthday, they have reached out to 7 national women in beer advocates to help them deliver a diverse range of events not just in Harrogate but further afield.

I was delighted when Rachel asked me to be involved with Brum Beer Babs, and I immediately thought of some statistics from the recent SIBA Craft Beer Report.  The report stated:

only 28% of female consumers say they ever drink beer – meaning that approaching three-quarters of our surveyed women are not beer drinkers. This tallies with a fall in the number of female consumers drinking beer more than once a week – down to 

just 9% in our 2023 survey – as compared to 28% of men. 

and:

Looking at consumers visiting taprooms, the survey also shows us that female drinkers – at 24% - are bigger fans than men, at 17%. This is a great sign that craft brewers are getting their offer right in their taprooms, making the spaces appealing and inclusive. 

So women like taprooms but don’t drink beer?  It’s great to think that taprooms like ours at Attic Brew Co. are seen as welcoming, inclusive spaces but I’d also like them to be seen as great places for women to learn about and try new beers.  I wondered if sometimes women feel pressure in pub environments to not ask questions or are unsure of what they’d like to drink.  I’ve certainly had similar feedback from some of my beer babs in the past and giving them an opportunity to ask questions freely has been one of the best parts of our group.  I wanted to offer that experience more widely as part of our event for Women on Tap.

I was keen to be able to share an insight into the ingredients, the process and the flavours of beer in an environment that was welcoming, relaxed and non-judgmental.  So along with Attic Brew Co. I’m delighted to be hosting a women only brewery tour, beer school and tasting event on the 27th May.  Limited to 15 tickets we’ll sit in the brewery, talk through the ingredients, what they do in the recipe, have a walk around our brew kit then try 4 delicious Attic Brew Co. beers and talk about them together.  There’ll be plenty of opportunities to ask questions and maybe try a beer you wouldn’t normally drink.  

All money from the ticket sales will be donated to Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid.

Get Tickets: https://rb.gy/z2owu