Tessa Gabiniewicz, head brewer of The Land & Sea Brewing Company, was recently part of a celebration of expert women brewers in the UK, with Gabiniewicz being one of only five women in the world to get the invite, according to My Campbell River Now.

Every year JD Wetherspoon, one of the UK’s largest pub owners, hosts guest brewers from around the world.

This year it celebrated female brewers and Gabiniewicz was one of only five women in the world to get the invite, joined by women from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, and Italy.

The beer JD Wetherspoon chose was her Estuary Session Ale, which features British Columbia spruce tips, which Gabiniewicz said created a problem.

“So typically when I’ve brewed that beer last spring when the spruce tips were in season I went out and hand-harvested a couple of kilograms and came in and brewed that day and threw them in. But when they said they wanted the Estuary Session Ale, I thought oh great, thinking it would be maybe 2000 liters, something like that. But when I found out it was 40,800 liters and I needed 80 kilograms of spruce tips I was sweating a little bit because I can’t bring a tree from Canada over to England.”

The solution to her dilemma was solved thanks to a local tree farm who was able to grind up the spruce pellets, combine them with hops, and turn them into pellets so it was easier to package and ship overseas.

Land & Sea Brewing Company is located in Comox, BC. 

For the full story, go here.

Photo from Land & Sea Brewing Company’s Facebook page.