Beer of the Month Club March 2025: Women in Beer

Woman Owned Breweries

While brewing has been considered a male dominated industry for hundreds of years, it wasn’t always so.  Going back to the beginning of the history of beer, women have been brewing.  Both ancient Sumerians and Egyptians had goddesses devoted to beer and brewing was considered in the same realm as baking.  Early beer was low in alcohol, rich in protein, vitamin b, riboflavin, carbohydrates, and calories, making it a staple food item for the poor and sailors who had to sustain themselves on low vitamin food. In England up to the 1500s most women knew how to brew as it was considered at the same level as cooking.  Hops were not generally used, so the beer spoiled fairly quickly, creating a need for a constant stock of beer which was filled by brewing at home or buying excess from someone else who was brewing, letting women earn some extra cash on the side, and allowing them to eventually get jobs in larger-scale professional brewers.  This was all eventually pulled back by industrialization, cutting women out in favour of men as the industry was professionalized.  While men are still the overwhelming majority in the modern beer industry, organizations like the Pink Boots Society and the NBWA’s Alliance for Women in Beer are taking steps to even the playing field.  Though we will only be mentioning two breweries, we would like to shout just a few of the other great women-run breweries like Local Brewing Co., Crowns and Hops, Otherwise Brewing, Mindscape Fermentations, and Japas Cervejaria.

The Ale Apothecary was founded in 2011 by Staci and Paul Arney. Paul had spent 15 years at Deschutes, working his way up from shift brewer to assistant brewmaster.  When they first moved to Bend, Staci worked at the local ice skating rink driving the zamboni and renting out equipment.  She went on to work a slew of leadership and development roles including being selected to be the director of the Boys and Girls Club of Central Oregon.  While working these roles she could be found all around the US at tasting events.  When Staci and Paul decided to sell the company in 2024, it was taken over by the owners of Wolf Tree Brewery, Taryn Arvold and Joe Hitselberger.

Russian River Brewing Company was founded in 1997 by the Korbel Winery with Vinnie Cilurzo being the first employee.  Natalie Cilurzo had worked in wine for almost 2 decades, starting out labeling, bottling, and working in the tasting room  at a small winery in Julian, CA.  From there she worked in wineries in Temecula, CA, which is where she met Vinnie. The two of them moved to Sonoma with Vinnie working at Russian River Brewing Co. and Natalie continued in wine, working with Silver Oak, Franciscan Winery, and Kendall-Jackson. When Korbel decided to exit the beer business in 2003, Natalie and Vinnie drew up a business plan and got investment from friends and family to purchase the company.  Natalie quit her wine job to run the business while Vinnie made the beer. Together they grew Russian River Brewing into one of the most well-respected names in beer.  Natalie now sits on the Board of Directors for the California Craft Brewers Association and is a champion for craft beer.

Cheers! 

Plumpjack Wine & Spirits