When Teri Fahrendorf kicked off her career in craft brewing, she was met with strange looks from bearded brewers wherever she went. That was no fault of her own, but one of the brewing industry. She was a unicorn: just the third woman to ever hold the master brewer job title in the United States. Just as quickly as those side-eyed glances were cast, they melted away the moment she got to work. Fahrendorf didn’t just talk the talk, she walked the walk and was often brewing better than her male colleagues. She inadvertently became one of the boys, but that was never the goal. For her, it was all about brewing beer, and brewing beer well.
After two decades of professional brewing, Teri Fahrendorf hit the road in 2007 as an itinerant brewer for a journey spanning nine months, dozens of brewery visits, and thousands of miles. Along the way, she met with other women brewers, all of whom were looking for a way to connect with their colleagues, find community, and succeed working as women in a male-dominated industry. Armed with an email list and a pair of cheap pink boots gifted to her before her departure, Fahrendorf laid the groundwork for what would become — you guessed it — the Pink Boots Society, now the beer industry’s leading professional advocacy group for women and nonbinary people.
Today, the Pink Boots Society hosts events across the country year-round, raises money for a number of scholarships, and continues to inspire generations of women and nonbinary people to get into the alcoholic beverage industry. Today on “Taplines,” Teri Fahrendorf herself joins Dave Infante to tell the story of how it all came to be, from schlepping her campervan around the U.S. to Yakima Chief Hops and the Pink Boots Society collaborating on a seasonal hop blend. Tune in for more.
