Have one conversation with Georgina Solis, a brewer at Peticolas Brewing Co. in Dallas, and it's obvious she knows a lot about beer. A former police officer, Solis joined Peticolas as a volunteer cleaning kegs before being hired as a delivery truck driver. In 2017, she began brewing there full-time.
Solis can dissect nearly everything about the makeup of the beer in your hand, from the malts used to the characteristics of its specific hops. But many times, she says, she's not taken seriously, because she's a woman.
"People assum[e] that you don't really know a whole lot about beer and you're just the beer girl that's supposed to sell it," Solis says. "Especially when they find out when I'm an actual brewer, I wish you could see their faces ... they're just so shocked."
Solis is now the leader of the Northern Texas chapter of Pink Boots Society, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating and uniting women who work in the beer industry. Like D-FW's beer scene, the chapter is young, having been founded in 2017. It has 25 active members from varying corners of the industry, including brewing, ownership, management, sales and social media.
On March 8, a dozen members gathered at Oak Highlands Brewery in Dallas to make a special beer in honor of Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day, which annually coincides with International Women's Day. Traditionally, the Pink Boots Society's participating chapters across the globe brew a certain style; this year, the only prerequisite was using a hop blend designed specifically for the occasion.
"The hops are Simcoe, Loral, Palisade, Citra and Mosaic," says Solis. "The common attributes of those were citrus, earthy and floral," making it a fit for an American pale ale.
The resulting beer, called Pinky Boots, is set to be released Saturday, March 24, at Oak Highlands Brewery. Proceeds from its sales will be donated to Pink Boots Society, which offers scholarships to women looking to further their beer education.
Meryl Wideman, front office manager for Dallas' Deep Ellum Brewing Co., is hoping to land one of those scholarships. A former nursing student, she was an assistant manager at The Ginger Man bar in Lakewood when she decided to change career paths.
"As I was going through nursing school, I applied to Texas Woman's University three times with a 3.8 [GPA] and didn't get in. So it kinda broke my spirit a little bit," she says. At the encouragement of her mother, she decided to pivot and combine her passions for both beer and science. "Now I'm studying for chemistry, so my long-term goals are to eventually end up helping with quality assurance, quality analysis."
Wideman, who is one of a handful of women at DEBC, believes it's important to celebrate females in the profession so more of them will join the ranks.
Pinks Boots member Andrea Gillum agrees. In addition to managing the finances and marketing for Thirsty Growler, the beer bar she owns in The Colony with her husband, Gillum has three kids, two dogs and a full-time job in the IT industry. She's used to being the only woman in her professional environment, but she finds Pink Boots to be a uniquely cathartic network.
"It's really like three jobs, with my full-time job, my kids are another job and then the Thirsty Growler's another job. And then dealing with the home stuff too," she says. "Women tend to take on a lot of burden ... if we talk to other women, we know we're not alone. We're all in the same boat and we got to work together."
For all these reasons, Solis was adamant about creating a recipe that shattered the "girly beer" stereotype for Pink Boots Collaboration Brew Day, opting for one that's approachable no matter your gender.
"It's not going to be a beer made for women," Solis says. "It's just made by women and everyone is going to drink it."
Pinky Boots American pale ale will be available on draft at Oak Highlands Brewery starting March 24, as well as a select number of bars in Dallas-Fort Worth.
CORRECTION, 2:15 p.m., March 21, 2018: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Deep Ellum Brewing Co. had three female employees.
