There’s a full slate of area beer- and bar-related events happening across southern Wisconsin in March to mark Women’s Month, and the growing Women’s Beer and Spirits Collective is the big reason why.
The group formed in March 2022, when women representatives from five breweries (3 Sheeps, Revolution, Rhinegeist, Indeed and Surly) put together a small schedule of Women’s Month events. Two years later, the group has grown to include Wisconsin-based women who represent 14 breweries and 3 distilleries from around the country. The list of events has grown exponentially as well. It all starts with the Women’s Month Kickoff Event on Friday, March 1 at Izzy Hops Swig & Nosh (1930 E. North Ave.). The full slate of monthly events is happening at nearly three dozen venues throughout the Milwaukee area, Sheboygan and Madison.
“We started meeting in November as a group to plan this year,” said Julianna Pierandozzi, a Milwaukee sales representative for 3 Sheeps Brewing of Sheboygan and the co-founder of the collective. “It was a complete group effort on planning. For this crazy list we definitely needed a divide and conquer mentality, and it worked.”
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
The goal of the organization is to raise awareness of women in the male-dominated craft beer and spirits industry and to raise money to benefit Sojourner Family Peace Center and Safe Harbor Sheboygan – nonprofits addressing domestic violence – and the Pink Boots Society, which supports women in brewing. This year’s target is $10,000.
“It is beyond exciting to see how this has grown in just three years,” added Pierandozzi. “Every year we’ve added new participants and new companies to be involved, which is just casting our net even wider. Our hope is to make this a state-wide initiative to benefit organizations like Sojourner in other parts of the state. The fact that we were able to grow from $2,200 in donations to over $8,000 year one to year two continues to inspire what we can do going forward.”
3 Sheeps Brewing is participating by donating 50 cents of every pint of its new Lady Lupulin IPA sold in its taproom to Safe Harbor of Sheboygan. The featured beer of the month at 3 Sheeps was brewed by cellar team member Kate Thomma in partnership with the Pink Boots Society. A handful of other locations are offering similar monthlong specials and deals to benefit the organization.
The current full list of events can be found on the Women’s Beer and Spirits Collective Facebook page.
Representatives of the Women’s Beer and Spirits Collective:
Morgan Trace, 3 Floyds/WarPigs Brewing
Julianna Pierandozzi, 3 Sheeps Brewing
Clare Twietmeyer, Bell’s Brewery/New Belgium Brewing
Lauren Burghardt, Founders Brewing/Avery Brewing
Breanne Berger, Great Lakes Brewing
Heidi Dalibor, New Barons Brewing Cooperative
Maggie Skinner, Revolution Brewing
Amanda Olson, Surly Brewing
Chelsea Vecchione, Young Blood Beer/Saturday Beer
Kailey Baez, Downeast Cider House
Samantha Chapnick, Tullamore D.E.W.
Molly McCollum, State Line Distillery
Abigail Watters, Brown-Forman
Erica Hanson, Brown-Forman
