Sunday 13 July 2014

Change is brewing at the pub

Artisan beer is no longer the preserve of men. Jake Wallis Simons meets a new generation of female "brewsters"

Members of Project Venus show off their beer Photo: Project Venus, The Prospect Brewery

The weather is glorious when I step off the two-carriage train at Caersws in the heart of rural Wales. It has been along journey, and I am in need of a drink. John Martin, a 45-yearold procurement consultant, has driven to the station to collect me. He is wearing a Tshirt with a "Waen Brewery" logo, but the brewery is not his business. It belongs to his wife, Sue Hayward.

The Waen Brewery is an astonishing story of success. Sue, a hobbyist beer maker, founded it in 2009, and within three years it had tripled in size in terms of output, turnover and physical space. The brewery occupies 2,000 sq ft and produces 540 gallons of beer per week. As we bounce along country lanes, John explains that this output is still nowhere near enough to meet demand. Sue has just invested £30,000 in new brewing equipment, which will increase the beer production capacity threefold.

In the brewery's large warehouse space there is a bar at one end, and wooden vats bubbling everywhere. Sue is standing behind the bar when we arrive; she catches my eye, and I see that she has already started pulling my pint. Around her are several other women sitting on bar stools, all of whom run breweries up and down the country. I have been allowed to attend a secret meeting of an underground group of female beer brewers - or "brewsters", as they like to be called - which meets every few weeks to share recipes and techniques. The group, organised on social networking sites, is known as Project Venus.

"When we moved to Wales, John complained that the local pubs didn't serve decent ale," says Sue as I sip my welcome pint. "I offered to brew him some at home, but he wanted to go to the pub with the lads. That's where the idea for the brewery came from. When it took off, I started meeting other brewsters. We started getting together so that we can support each other."

It is only then that I notice she has pulled me a rather special porter. It is a self-assured, moody affair, tasty as burnt toast, with the mysterious name of King Cnut. The flavours reach for your throat as if they've been given a dose of steroids, and what I can only describe as a lingering warmth is left in the mouth.

"That'll be the chilli," says Sue breezily. "We don't put in enough to give the beer a weird taste. It just enhances the natural flavours of the hops and malt, and gives it a special heat." I take another sip. I could get used to this.

Cask ale has long been associated with straggly beards, bulging bellies, men playing traditional English instruments, and open-toed sandals. But, as Project Venus attests, the beer industry is changing fast. On the one hand, pubs are closing at a rate of 12 per week, and the population is drinking less than ever. Yet at the same time, microbreweries are experiencing extraordinary growth. According to the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), there are more than 1,000 microbreweries in Britain, a figure which has been unprecedented for 70 years. In the past 12 months alone, 158 breweries opened, which is the highest figure since records began. And this enthusiasm for locally produced, artisan beer is being spearheaded by women.

Four years ago, only 16 per cent of women had tried cask ale. Now that number has doubled. There are 1.3 million British women routinely drinking ale, compared to just 600,000 two years ago. There are even three female beer sommeliers in Britain.

Trendy cask ale pubs such as the Southampton Arms in London and The Craft Beer Company chain have started to offer stemmed glasses rather than the traditional pints, and glasses that hold a third of a pint, both of which are popular with women. Campaign groups such as Dea Latis - named after the Celtic goddess of beer - have made a concerted drive to dispel its anti-feminine image. Let there be no doubt: women have become the darlings of the beer world, both in the drinking and in the brewing.

The astonishing success of Sue's brewery is not an isolated story. Every member of Project Venus, from the veterans to the new starters, is flourishing in terms of awards, sales and increased demand. "We can't brew fast enough," says Sara Barton, who runs the Brewster's Brewing Company in Grantham, and who is one of the founders of Project Venus. "There's lots of competition, so you can't just knock out an average product. But if you're making good-quality beer, you can't lose." The jewel in her crown is a range of beers named after "badly behaved women through history", such as Cruella de Vil and Calamity Jane.

The brewsters all agree that women are taking a fresh approach to making beer. "Men are hidebound by traditional ways of doing things," says Sue, "but women have no preconceptions. We just do things that work - we use flavours that do go together, not those that are supposed to go together. The innovation appeals to people."

Although they do not make overtly flavoured beer, the Project Venus women commonly use a variety of unusual ingredients to give the ale richness, bite, colour or length. The ale they are brewing today, for instance, includes beetroot and cardamom, which will give what Sue calls a "velvety plumpness" to the drink. They will each take a limited-edition cask home to their own breweries, and sell it under the Project Venus moniker. (Local publicans have snapped up the entire batch on pre-order.)

Women have actually been making beer for centuries. In the Middle Ages, when water was contaminated, they would brew it at home using yeast left over from making bread. But after the Industrial Revolution, enterprising Victorian men took over. The Project Venus women, with true creativity and enterprising spirit, are reclaiming an ancient tradition - but in a very modern context.

Find out more about Project Venus, and where to buy the beer, at

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