Drinking pink at home and abroad

The San Diego craft beer community extends beyond brewers to brewery employees and those who aspire to get into the industry. Members of each of these factions recently collaborated on a special beer brewed to raise funds to support the Pink Boots Society (PBS), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing women’s impact and presence in the brewing industry. As so many things do in the craft culture, It all started over a beer.

At a recent beer festival, Kevin Buckley, brewmaster at Vista’s Latitude 33 Brewing Company, was chatting with friend and fellow beer enthusiast Denise Ratfield. In addition to loving beer, Ratfield is the “brewceptionist” at Stone Brewing Co.’s Escondido headquarters and heads social media efforts for PBS. A proponent of the organization, Buckley voiced the desire to help PBS earn money for the educational scholarships it awards to promising female brewers. In an instant, the two determined the perfect way to do so — brewing a beer.

Enter Latitude 33 Worldly Scholar, a hoppy oatmeal pale ale brewed with three varieties of New Zealand hops — Motueka, Nelson, and Southern Cross. Those kiwi hops have significance. In addition to being sold locally, bottles of Worldly Scholar will be shipped to New Zealand to be served at an August beer festival called Beervana where Ratfield, representing PBS, will be in attendance.

While Buckley was the primary instigator lending plenty of elbow grease to this project, other local supporters of PBS pitched in with significant contributions. Glenn Gallagher of The Country Malt Group donated ingredients and was integral in obtaining other items used to brew the beer, and Stone artist Monarose Ryan designed its bottle art. Worldly Scholar is scheduled to go on sale starting in early July.