Des Moines Beer Week! So exciting with so many events! So many new brews to share!
Collaborations abound this week, and we have one to put on tap a few of our staff helped contribute to. Five of the 515 staff - Whitney, Barb, Micah, Aleigh and myself are all part of an organization called the Pink Boots Society. It sounds like a super, secret society, but I promise you it isn’t. PBS, for short, is an organization with chapters all over the world bringing women together to “assist, inspire, and encourage women beer professionals through education.” The local chapter, which started this past January, has women come together from all parts of Iowa and from all different areas of the craft beer industry to learn from each other. We have brewers, beertenders, managers, owners, hop farmers, and even staff educators who work for brewpubs as part of our chapter.
Our first project to tackle was to get involved in the annual Big Boots Brew Day that happened on International Women’s Day in March. Megan McKay, owner of Peace Tree Brewing and member of PBS as well, was extraordinarily kind enough to host her brand new brewing facilities in the Des Moines location to brew our beer, with the help of her head brewer Joe Kesteloot. We are pretty proud to note that our beer was only the second batch to be brewed there!
We all decided to go with a variation of a historic ale style, so Molly Frana, Barbara Lynn Becker, and Sheri Houdesheldt all researched recipes and ingredients, coming up with a hybrid of a strong and old ale style. In attempting to make the beer a bit different, we went with using adjuncts of yarrow, a historically more typical herb used for bittering, as well as adding molasses to the end of the boil for some sweetness. To temper these strong ingredients we took advantage of the Templeton Rye barrels that Peace Tree has readily available, and barrel-aged the brew for a solid 3 months. The outcome is a malt forward brew, with notes of caramel and toffee, and an undercurrent of oak, vanilla, and whiskey. The herbal bitterness of the yarrow is just
enough to balance the brew and reign in the sweetness of the molasses that also comes through smoothing out this 9% ABV beer. It’s a delicious sipper of a beer that is certainly unique and a must try!
With such a strong beer, it needed a strong name, so it was dubbed thee “Unite: Nasty Woman Strong Ale.” A portion of the proceeds of the beer sold will go to PBS’s scholarship fund, and another portion will stay local to help a women’s charity. You'll be able to find this beer at different breweries and brewpubs across the metro soon, but 515 Brewing will be tapping it as part of our Des Moines Beer Week festivities on Wednesday, June 21st. We hope to see you there!
Cheers!
Collaborations abound this week, and we have one to put on tap a few of our staff helped contribute to. Five of the 515 staff - Whitney, Barb, Micah, Aleigh and myself are all part of an organization called the Pink Boots Society. It sounds like a super, secret society, but I promise you it isn’t. PBS, for short, is an organization with chapters all over the world bringing women together to “assist, inspire, and encourage women beer professionals through education.” The local chapter, which started this past January, has women come together from all parts of Iowa and from all different areas of the craft beer industry to learn from each other. We have brewers, beertenders, managers, owners, hop farmers, and even staff educators who work for brewpubs as part of our chapter.
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| Some of the Pink Boots crew on brew day! Employees from 515, Peace Tree, El Bait Shop, New American, Firetrucker, C and S Brew Supply, Lion Bridge, and Front Street were in attendance. |
We all decided to go with a variation of a historic ale style, so Molly Frana, Barbara Lynn Becker, and Sheri Houdesheldt all researched recipes and ingredients, coming up with a hybrid of a strong and old ale style. In attempting to make the beer a bit different, we went with using adjuncts of yarrow, a historically more typical herb used for bittering, as well as adding molasses to the end of the boil for some sweetness. To temper these strong ingredients we took advantage of the Templeton Rye barrels that Peace Tree has readily available, and barrel-aged the brew for a solid 3 months. The outcome is a malt forward brew, with notes of caramel and toffee, and an undercurrent of oak, vanilla, and whiskey. The herbal bitterness of the yarrow is just
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| Watching and learning about the mash-in process. |
With such a strong beer, it needed a strong name, so it was dubbed thee “Unite: Nasty Woman Strong Ale.” A portion of the proceeds of the beer sold will go to PBS’s scholarship fund, and another portion will stay local to help a women’s charity. You'll be able to find this beer at different breweries and brewpubs across the metro soon, but 515 Brewing will be tapping it as part of our Des Moines Beer Week festivities on Wednesday, June 21st. We hope to see you there!
Cheers!
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Written by:
Monica Ortiz Shinn
Beertender
Monica lives in Des Moines, IA as part-time domestic goddess, part-time super hero kicking ass and pummeling everyday sexism where she sees it. Her super powers include parallel parking, regenerative palate, and turning a crappy situation into a not-so-crappy situation. Her sidekick is a cat named the Melodramatic Melody, who’s super powers include sleeping for 20 hours a day and Jedi powers that have something to with big eyes and overwhelming cuteness, just like a manga character (you will do what she says, put the tuna down and no one gets hurt). You can also follow Monica on Twitter @BeerMeMon for beer and cat related nonsense.Monica Ortiz Shinn
Beertender
