Teri Fahrendorf

Calling all brewsters (female brewers)

Pink bootsIf you’ve been following Teri Fahrendorf’s brewery trip across America (and if not, why not?) you know she’s assembling a list of woman brewers.

Her focus is the United States, but the news that a woman has become the only head brewer in the north of England seems relevant.

Michelle Bright has been promoted to the position of head brewer at Wentworth Brewery in South Yorkshire at the age of 26. She is an ex-army chef who has served in Kosovo.

There is only one other female head brewer in the country – Sara Barton in Grantham. That doesn’t mean it was always the same. Women brewed and consumed most of the ale consumed in medieval England, but after 1350 men slowly took over the trade by 1600. The book Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England explains how brewing ceased to be women’s work. (Good book.)

Back to America and the Road Brewer blog. Fahrendorf has asked for help building out her list. You can e-mail her (start here – I’m not going to post the address and add to her spam headache). And I’m going to go drop her a line about two New Mexico brewsters now.

For the love of yeast

Steelhead Brewing Company brewmaster Teri Fahrendorf has wandered into the blogging world as she begins work on the “GOOD BREAD GUIDE – Beer Lover’s Bread Book.”

A few of the basics:

What makes me want to write this book? I love yeast, and I love to experiment with the breads I bake. I love “pushing the envelope” with my breads, and with my professionally-made beers. (As long as the beer isn’t too far-out for our customers at Steelhead.)

There appears to be plenty of consumer guides for people searching for a good beer, but few consumer guides to good bread. I am interested in the smallest artisanal producers of both. And because I don’t think anybody’s put this slant on it before, I want to approach bread from a brewer’s perspective.

Anyway, the blog is subtitled “A brewmaster searches for the best local artisan breads and bakeries, and the best local pint of beer, with help from brewers and bakers all over the country.”

How’s that for a call to action?