March 8 is International Women’s Day, and Eugene-Springfield has a few related beer events to boost.

Bre Goulette (Head Brewer at Plank Town, also my employer) and Toby Schock ([only] Brewer at The Wheel Apizza Pub) collaborated to create one of Plank’s most unique brews to date: Roller Girl, a hazy IPA fermented with thiolized yeast and heavily hopped with the Pink Boots hop blend from Yakima Chief Hops and HBC 586 (a hop at the end of its experimental phase – it’ll have a name soon). Roller Girl will be on tap at Plank Town and The Wheel on Wednesday, and I recommend you get some in your face quickly.

The 7.3% brew doesn’t do small talk; it hugs your face with guava, grapefruit, passionfruit aromas – largely from the yeast! You might feel it in your eyeballs. Once it hits your lips (it tastes so good), then the hops start talking, speaking truth to herbal depth and dank bitterness. It’s an IPA, ya know. The skates stay on.

Starting Wednesday, Beergarden and PublicHouse host the first “Muse: A Celebration of Women, Vol. 1.” Its goal is to “amplify and acknowledge the inspirational women in our lives, behind our pubs, creating our beer and performing on our stage.” The event runs through March 12, and will feature draught beer and live music by women. Featured beers include an official Pink Boots Society collaboration with Block 15 Brewing, plus ladybrewer* beer from Great Notion, Wayfinder, 10 Barrel and more.

Alesong Brewing & Blending is also supporting Pink Boots Society by donating 25% of sales of Pink Froots (a foeder aged blond fermented on Oregon cranberries) and bottles of Touch of Brett all month long.

The Pink Boots Society “aims to assist, inspire and encourage women and non-binary individuals in the fermented/alcoholic beverage industry to advance their careers through education.” It’s a national nonprofit that’s been around for somewhere around 20 years, and was started by former Eugene brewer Teri Fahrendorf. Sales of the Pink Boots hop blend help fund scholarships to a variety of educational outlets.

International Women’s Day’s mission is to “celebrate women’s achievement, raise awareness about discrimination, and take action to drive gender parity.” Here in Beerland, a substantial social media push by New England-based brewer Brienne Allan (@ratmagnet) in 2021 tore the roof off of the beer industry by exposing individuals and businesses that perpetrated and ignored sexual assault and harassment in the industry. Her work, and the rapid response by many breweries and individuals in the community, marked a tectonic shift and raised the bar for community standards and awareness.

Eugene has a decent number of women involved in the beer industry, from the brewery and cellar to the lab, office, and bar. Big ups to the women in my local homebrew club, the Cascade Brewers Society. We have our first female president, and a lot of the support and enthusiasm that drives the club is provided by the ladybrewers – not to mention the award winning homebrew.

*As far as I know, ladybrewer (or #ladybrewer) was invented for the internet by women brewers. I use the term with admiration.