Northern Monk will be launching two beers to celebrate International Women’s Day 2020, one brewed by women from across the industry, and one brewed by women from the Northern Monk team. The first of these two beers will launch today (Friday 6 March) and the second will be brewed this weekend for a launch at the end of March.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T
On Tuesday 11 February, Northern Monk welcomed over 30 women from across the beer industry to their Old Flax Store home in Holbeck to brew a ‘megacollab’.
Women from breweries including Duration, Burnt Mill, Thornbridge, Beatnikz Republic, Neptune, Nomadic, Wild Card, Orbit, 30six, Double-Barrelled, Earth Station, Marble Brewery and Roosters travelled to Leeds to brew the beer at Northern Monk. As well as breweries, women from all different sectors of the industry joined the brew day, including beer writer Melissa Cole, founder of the Queer Brewing Project Lily Waite, Beer Sommelier Natalya Watson, Lotte Peplow from the Brewers Association, Steph Shuttleworth from MASH, the women behind Ladies That Beer, and female team members from Barworks UK.
The collaboration is launching today (6 March). R.E.S.P.E.C.T is a 4.7% Citrus IPA brewed using Kviek yeast as a nod to ancient methods of brewing, which offers pineapple and mango esters. This is joined by lemon, lime, orange and blood orange which was zested by the women on brew day, and the beer is dry hopped with Citra, Simcoe, Motueka and Ekuanot. The beer label features portrait photos of every woman that was part of the brew team.
R.E.S.P.E.C.T is available from Northern Monk’s online shop www.northernmonkshop.com, Northern Monk Refectory LDS, Northern Monk Refectory MCR and at all London Barworks sites from today. The beer is raising awareness for two women’s charities, Bloody Good Period and Snehalaya.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
As well as the industry-wide collaboration, the women at Northern Monk have teamed up to brew a second International Women’s Day beer, Make It Happen. This will be brewed this weekend in celebration of IWD and is projected to launch on the Friday 27 March.
The beer is a 7.2% Caramelised Biscuit Vegan Milkshake IPA, a recipe developed by Northern Monk’s first female brewer, Maddie Culling. International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day is held on the Sunday 8 March to coincide with IWD. The theme of this year’s International Brew Day is ‘Tribute’. Ancient Sumerian societies championed women as their masters of brewing, under the watch of Ninkasi, Goddess of Beer. These brewers wrote on clay tablets to pass on their knowledge and inspiration through generations of women. The symbols carved onto those tablets, and what they represent, live on through the label of the beer, which was designed by Ellie Kennedy, Northern Monk’s Junior Designer.
25% of profits will be donated to Northern Monk’s For the North Foundation, a grant fund scheme where the brewery donate £5,000 grants to community causes. The money raised will be put towards a grant specifically for a women’s charity, or a charity that’s majority owned by women, that benefits the community.
Make it Happen will be available from Northern Monk’s online shop www.northernmonkshop.com, Northern Monk Refectory LDS and Northern Monk Refectory MCR on Friday 27 March 2020.
Speaking about the International Women’s Day collaborations, Founder of Northern Monk, Russell Bisset, says:
“There is no excuse for sexism, homophobia, racism, or any other kind of marginalisation in this, or any other industry. At Northern Monk we strive for equality, we have a Diversity and Inclusion Policy that’s published on our website, and we set new diversity goals every 12 months. In the past year, we’ve hired 30 employees, and 54% of these hires were women. For us, celebrating International Women’s Day is not a token gesture where we celebrate the women in the industry once a year. It’s about raising awareness of the fact that this is a real issue, everyday. If we work together, positive change can be made, and we can change the narrative of the industry.”
This post is based on a press release issued by Northern Monk
