“Craft beer shouldn’t be a boys’ club.”
And that, says Sara Stathes, co-owner of The Barrel House in downtown Dayton, is why she has put together an International Women's Day event for this Friday, March 8, that is "meant to celebrate all of the bad-ass women who work hard in this industry and inspire me as a woman."
Nearly a dozen women who work at various levels in breweries throughout Ohio will share their experiences of working in a male-dominated industry at the International Women’s Day event, scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Friday. The beer-themed bar will feature beers from the speakers’ breweries on its tap list that night, some of which were brewed specifically for International Women's Day.
“There’s no reason why someone without a beard can’t be as knowledgeable (about craft beer), if not moreso, than someone who does,” Stathes said. “I’ve dealt with a lot of disrespect and dismissal, especially as a business owner in this industry. But for every small-minded dude who has treated me disrespectfully, there are 20 more who are rooting me on, so I don’t want people to think that they’re all bad.”
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The Barrel House will be donating $1 from every pint it pours that day to the YWCA of Dayton, and also will be accepting donations all day Friday — as well as through the end of March — for the local non-profit. Food will be available from Griller B's, the food truck parked outside the Barrel House's back door, from 5 p.m. to midnight.
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The women scheduled to speak include:
- Haley Long, Streetside Brewery
- Sara Cleary, Fat Head's Brewery
- Lisa Wolters, Heather Gnau, Hannah Ohl and Rebekah Little, Yellow Springs Brewery
- Liz Stout, Seventh Son Brewing
- Cathy Szuter Scott, Wolf's Ridge Brewing
- Lydia Johnson, Sierra Nevada
- Kristy Williams, Lock 27
- Tanya Brock, Fifth Street Brewpub
- Sophie Lazuka, Little Fish Brewing
- Ryanne Oldham, Jackie O's Brewery
- Natalie Phillips, Malt Products Corporation
For more information, including the full tap list for the event, check out The Barrel House Facebook page event page.
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