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Portland’s SheBrew Festival celebrates the women of craft beer

One of Portland’s standout most original brewfests is taking place this Sunday, March 6th, the annual SheBrew festival is a celebration of women and female identified brewers both pro and novice. Part beer fest, part homebrew competition, SheBrew highlights women’s valuable contributions to the craft beer industry while recognizing there is a lot more work to be done in expanding the demographics in the white male dominated beer scene.

SheBrew was last held in February 2020, one of the last beer festivals before the pandemic. After missing one year, the event is back with more than 30 female professional brewers and 6 homebrewers from the Pacific Northwest participating. Shebrew is a family-friendly festival with food, tastings and entertainment, and in 2022 looks to have the most dynamic lineup of beers so far. Presented by Oregon Brew Crew, the 7th annual festival is a non-profit with 100% of proceeds going toThe Human Rights Campaign to fight for Equality.  festivities take place at Castaway Portland from 12-7pm this Sunday 3/6.

Shebrew Festival is a place of empowerment for female-identified Professional and homebrewers where community members come together to network, share their craft beverages, and interact with consumers. More than seven hundred people are expected to gather at the festival to enjoy their favorite beverages, interact with their favorite brewers, meet other brewers from around the United States, and engage with influential beverage makers. A full list of participants can be found on the event website as well as information to attend the festival.

Professional Brewers at SheBrew include: Natalie Baldwin from Breakside, Lisa Allen from Heater Allen, Sonia-Marie Leikam from Leikam Brewing, Anna Buxton & Anne Aviles from Steeplejack, Madeleine McCarthy from Von Ebert, Jen Kent ad Lindsey Repp from McMenamins, Tonya Cornett and Whitney Burnside from 10 Barrel, and more. General admission into the event is twenty five dollars pre sale, thirty dollars at the door and includes a commemorative SheBrew tasting glass, punch card to sample and vote for “People's Choice” homebrew, and an annual HRC membership. Additionally, VIP tickets are available for fifty dollars and provide all of the general admission benefits plus a SheBrew or HRC t-shirt, ten raffle tickets and early admission to the event.

There will be two women owned food carts, On Tots and Salvi PDX as well as a small number of local vendors including PDX Tap Truck. There will also be soda and games to keep the whole family entertained.

Covid precautions:

All volunteers, vendors and guests will be required to show proof of vaccination and masks are required when not actively eating or drinking. We have reduced the number of vendors and reconfigured the space to accomodate more social distancing. Ample hand sanitizer will be available throughout. In the event of any Portland weather there is a large tent covering the outside area for people to spread out comfortably. 

About SheBrew

Shebrew is a beer festival featuring female-identified beer and cider makers, held in Portland, Oregon. This festival will support the Human Rights Campaign and the Oregon Brew Crew and will be held on Sunday, March 6th, 2022 at Castaway Portland from 12pm to 7pm. The Shebrew National Competition for amateur female-identified homebrewers takes place the weekend before the event. The “Best in Show” winner that will have the opportunity to collaborate with Natalie Baldwin at Breakside will be announced at the Shebrew Festival. Additional Information for the Shebrew Festival, competition and found at the festival website www.shebrew.beer

Threshold Brewing & Blending’s Sara Szymanski brewed up Maiden Lace, a tart farmhouse Grisette with honey

A few extra highlights:

  • One of the last Portland beer festivals held before the lockdown

  • Lee Hegemon will be reprising her green glitter gluten free Belgian Triple, "Welcome Back to Oz, Bitches".

  • Anna and Anne from Steeplejack did three collabs for the festival: With Freeland Spirits: a Botanical Sour Blonde w/ gin botanicals. With Landmass Wine: a Hazy Wine Spritzer. And an Oak Fermented Dopplebock with some legendary brewers including Kelsey Cable & Cat Wiest.

  • SheBrew homebrew award winning brewer Katherine Gooding has gone pro and is brewing at Counterbalance Brewing in Seattle and will be bringing her Pink Boots Rice-nocerous, A hoppy rice lager with the Pink Boots hop blend down to Portland for the festival.