“Arizona had always been an underserved market by local breweries until this latest boom,” says Leah Huss, co-owner of Huss Brewing Company in Uptown Phoenix.

Founded in 2007, the Pink Boots Society is an organization of women in the brewing industry, which has grown from 16 chapters when it was first founded to about 2,400 today.

“Back when I first started in the industry in the early 2000s, beer festivals were mainly Southern California and Colorado breweries. It was time for us to catch up so we could nurture a local beer culture,” said Huss.

Megan Greenwood, owner and founder of one of the first female brewers in Arizona, Greenwood Brewing, said the city’s slow development of a craft beer scene compared to some other big cities has been an assett to women in the Phoenix brewing industry.

“I love that what we’re doing is exactly what I intended to do, and that’s inspiring women to get out of their comfort zone,” said Greenwood. “I think that women are nervous to do something like brewing because it’s not a traditional industry for them to go into.” “We have had a lot of applicants to our brewery and our taproom that traditionally have never thought they were going to be a brewer, but because of our story, our brand pillars, and our mission — they saw that they could fit into this space,” said Greenwood.

Huss’s experience in the craft beer world so far has taught her that gender in business shouldn’t matter, but being a woman in business is nonetheless challenging. Still, Huss says it’s an exciting time in craft brewing.

“It seems like a night and day difference between now and 2001, 2002. All of a sudden, there’s starting to be more and more women and I’m like, Yes, this is awesome, I’m loving this.’”