Tucked inside an industrial warehouse in Milford, a handful of eager customers perched on bar stools. They had a front row seat to the brewing operations that led to the eight beers on tap displayed before them.
Maureen Fabry, who has been a brewmaster for 22 years, opened Craft Roots Brewing in Milford with her wife, Robin, six years ago. While Maureen enjoys watching people sip the beer she crafted, she prefers the brewing process.
"I enjoy the physicality of beer, knowing which malts to use to get the colors and flavors you want, being able to understand different beer styles that have been brewed for centuries and emulating those,” she said.
Her business is one of New England's women-owned breweries, a category that industry leaders say is growing more common as the industry becomes more inclusive.
Fabry said when she was first starting out in the brewing world, she noticed some hesitation among her male counterparts when they encountered her.
"I think there was some concern about being able to handle the weights of picking up a 50-pound bag or a keg, but that's not really an issue. And there are so many more women now in all aspects of the brewing industry,” she says.
Katie Stinchon is executive director of the Massachusetts Brewers Guild, a trade association that protects and promotes the interests of brewers. She says the guild has taken steps to address equity in the craft beer industry.
"We recently purchased Speakfully, which is an anonymous third-party reporting system for all of our members to implement inside their breweries to make sure they're managing their culture. They're ridding their space of any sexism or racism that may exist."
She said 13 breweries have signed up so far.
A nod to the 'alewives'
In Holyoke, maltster Andrea Stanley co-owns Valley Malt, the first malt house built in the Northeast in over a century.
Stanley, who began as a home brewer and now grows wheat, rye and barley, said beer shouldn't be considered a male-led industry — because women have been brewing beer for at least 12,000 years.
"[Male-led brewing] has been a temporary blip in the screen," she said.
Stanley is encouraged by seeing more women in the industry, but she acknowledges she has had to fight an uphill battle.
"A lot of times when I go to events, either as a business owner or a consumer, depending on the space that you're in, you don't always feel necessarily that it’s a safe supportive space for women."
Dara Klotz has been brewing beer at Exhibit 'A' Brewing Company in Framingham for a year and a half. She recently demonstrated her craft as part of Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day, an international celebration of women and non-binary individuals in the fermented and alcoholic beverage industry.
Klotz brewed a Hefeweizen for the occasion, a limited-edition beer called Salem's End, a nod to the witches of Salem who were brewers, or "alewives," a term that dates to the 5th century, according to the website Beer and Brewing.
"Women were the original brewers. It was considered one of the tasks of running a home. So, I think that we're reclaiming that," Klotz said.
Klotz, who began brewing at Exhibit 'A' after 12 years in the restaurant industry, says she feels supported and encouraged by her male colleagues.
“I’m the only woman on our production team, but I definitely don't feel that way. It's an equitable team. We work really well together," she said.
Representation is changing
The job finder website Zippia says in 2021 just 11% of all brewers in the U.S. were women. That's a 2% increase from the previous decade.
Lora Estey, co-owner of Distraction Brewing in Roslindale, believes the numbers are still relatively low because of a lack of representation.
"Going into an environment where you can work hard and someone is not going to second guess you all the time, that needs to happen before women think of themselves as brewers," Estey said.
Estey opened Distraction Brewing Company with her husband in an old flat iron building in Roslindale Village that once housed a bank. She says they opened four months before the pandemic hit and as a result, they have pivoted multiple times over the last three years.
"I order everything. I design the T-shirts. I taught myself how to do the labels. The list goes on and on," she said.
Estey also works full-time as a software engineer, so she's no stranger to gender stereotypes in the workplace. She says the beer industry has been more accepting of her as a woman than the engineering field, yet skepticism from male brewers persists.
"Aren't I a customer who orders beer? Don't I understand what a customer would want? Do I not get to have a perspective because I'm female? I mean just little things like that, especially about actual beer," Estey said.
Estey sees women's interest in beer growing.
"I think if I look at our Instagram feed and followers, I think we're 60 percent women and 40 percent men," she said.
