Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day 2021

This year’s Pink Boots Collaboration was between four craft breweries that lie on the outskirts of Denver. The brew day was hosted at LandLocked Ales on March 8th, International Women’s Day. We were joined by Mother Tucker Brewery, Coal Mine Avenue Brewing, and Evergreen Brewery. We also had a fellow Pink Boots member join us for our brew day from Ceria along with Natalie from Beer Feelings and Rocky Mountain Brew Runs! It was a fun day indeed.

We purchased the Pink Boots hop blend from Yakima Chief Hops. Typically we participate in a hop blend selection event where we all get together, smell a bunch of hops, and drink a bunch of good beer to put together the hop blend for the following year’s Pink Boots beer. Thanks to COVID-19, our event kicking off the Great American Beer Fest was cancelled. Instead, the 4th Annual Pink Boots Blend was chosen via a virtual hop selection event involving women in beer from across the globe.

Well, the four breweries got together and started throwing around ideas on what to brew for this year’s collaboration brew day. We leaned towards an IPA or Pale Ale. These are beers that have a stigma in the past that women either can’t or wouldn’t choose to brew. We didn’t feel like we had to prove ourselves this year. Women are rising in the craft beer industry and we plan on sticking around. After all, women owned the industry and were the master minds until gender roles changed and we were forced to stop in fear of being called a witch. Since the brew day was just before Spring, we actually decided to brew a saison.

When choosing your recipe, the hop profiles are what drive the rest of the ingredients. The newest blend consists of Cashmere, Ahtanum®, Citra®, Loral® & Sabro® brand hops, creating a blend with tropical, herbal, citrus, and woody aromatic qualities. With these flavor profiles, a piña colada saison farmhouse ale sounded perfect. Sabro hops actually have quite a bit of coconut on the nose and we added some BRU-1 for more pineapple. To finish it off, we threw in real coconut to the fermenter and let it sit for a few days. The flavors of this beer were all natural, without any added flavorings.

The brew turned out AMAZING! We were able to share the batch with as many thirsty guests as possible with three kegs for each of the four breweries. The song, “Escape,” by Rupert Holmes was a natural fit (“If you like piña coladas / And gettin’ caught in the rain”). Not only was it a piña colada beer, but we had a slightly stuck mash during the brew day. The name “Gettin’ Caught in the Grain” was perfect for the brew. Erica, co-owner at Coal Mine Avenue Brewery, did an awesome job whipping up the design for our crowler labels.