Sarah Polkinghorne is the head brewer at Black Kettle Brewing in North Vancouver, BC, and she is collaborating on a special brew to support women in the beer industry..

“At 16, I hated beer,” said Polkinghorne. “If you had told me I would end up being a brewer I wouldn’t have believed you.”

The brewery was erected in 2014 and Polkinghorne created the special brew this month to celebrate International Women’s Day earlier this month.

According to the Brewers Association in 2019, women make up around 37 percent of the non-staff roles in the industry with most women in the industry working as service staff, making up 54 percent, but as head brewers, women only make up about 7.5 percent of the industry.

While studying at Niagara College’s Brewmaster program in Ontario, Polkinghorne joined the Society of Beer Drinking Ladies and was able to experience events that were exclusively for women to learn about beer and attend plenty of festivals. When she returned to Vancouver, she became a member of the Pink Boots Society, which supports women through scholarships and education.

“I just got to meet a lot of other great women in the industry. “A lot who were head brewers and who had started their own breweries. So, I got to, you know, see how far you can come along if you keep plugging away at it.”

After graduation in 2017, she went on to work at Foamers’ Folly in Pitt Meadows for three years as a brewer and in quality assurance before becoming head brewer at Black Kettle Brewing seven months ago.

“I love being able to be involved in all aspects of it,” Polkinghorne said. “As a brewmaster, I still get to do the scientific testing, I package, I get to run around all day, and I get to make the beers that I love to drink.”

Having huge support on her journey, she decided to give back to all the women and planned a collaboration event with the Pink Boots Society and the other female employees at Black Kettle Brewing.

“This year I decided it’s going to be to SMASH, which stands for single malt and single hop,” Polkinghorne said.  “It’s going to have a pale malt and the Pink Boots Society hops and it’ll be closest to a hazy IPA.”

The collaboration brew will take place on March 21 and the beer will be available on tap a few weeks later where $3 from every pound of the hop sold and $1 from each beer will be donated back to the society.

“You never know what you’re going to like,” she said. “Your tastes change, and often what happens is you find one beer you like, and then your passion kind of just grows from there.”