Stone Brewing

Brave Noise: Brewing up something special at Stone.

“At Second Chance, we believe it’s important to do, not just talk. Brave Noise resonated with us because it’s not just about brewing a beer and donating money. Requiring breweries to publish a code of conduct and commit to making their spaces safer and more inclusive aligns with our values, especially as a female-owned brewery,” explains Virginia Morrison, co-founder, CEO, and Chief Legal Officer at Second Chance Brewing.

The sentiment is common among the women at San Diego breweries who have crafted concoctions aimed at helping to make the world of craft beer better for all employees. Brave Noise beers are a direct response to the bombshell revelations of misconduct and harassment that were shared after Brienne Allan (a brewer at Notch Brewing in Salem, MA) posed the question, “Have you ever experienced sexism in the beer industry?” on her Instagram account back in May.

Accusations rocked the craft beer world from Vermont, where Hill Farmstead founder Shaun Hill was accused of inappropriate comments, to here in San Diego where Modern Times saw the resignation of founder and CEO Jacob McKean and the dismissal of League of Partygoers and Elegant People coordinator Derek Freese after several allegations of fomenting a toxic work environment. A consolidated list of all allegations mentioned on Allan’s Instagram went viral, prompting the Brave Noise collaboration.

A Second Chance for equality.

Second Chance Brewing

Second Chance’s Brave Noise Pale Ale will feature Mosaic, Idaho, and Sabro 7 hops, along with crystal, wheat, and 2-row malts — all of which will provide a fruity, 5.3% ABV brew with notes of tangerine zest, herbal tea, and tropical fruit. The brew will hit taps in early December.

Meanwhile, other breweries, including Pure Project, Athletic Brewing, and Stone have already released their version of Brave Noise Pale Ale; those beers can be found in tasting rooms and bars around the county. Homebrewers can also get in on the collaboration by filling out a form on Brave Noise’s site and receiving a homebrew recipe courtesy of SoCal Cerveceros, a Latino-based homebrew club serving all of Southern California.

Pure Project's pint for parity.

Pure Project

Pure Project’s Brave Noise will please beer drinkers with a taste for the bitter. The brewery’s Education Program Manager and Advanced Cicerone, Chris Leguizamon explains, “Built on an elegant base of pilsner malt and white wheat, we debuted our new hand-selected Nelson Sauvin from Freestyle Hops in New Zealand and hand-selected Mosaic from Loftus Ranch in Washington State. Big notes of dry white wine, blueberry, and lemon zest jump out of the glass with an approachable bitter finish.”

Local non-alcoholic brewer Athletic Brewing released its Brave Noise on October 24. This one, the collaboration’s first non-alcoholic option, was brewed by Cara Wilson, and is a dry-hopped pale ale that offers a whiff of peaches along with citrus and stone fruit notes.

Released in mid-October, Stone’s Brave Noise is a 5.0% ABV hazy pale ale brewed with dragon fruit. Laura Ulrich, Stone’s Small Batch Brewer, used Amarillo, Mosaic, Sabro, and Pink Boots 2020 hops, along with the dragon fruit, to give her brew a pinkish-red haze and notes of berries, tropical fruit, red apples, and citrus.

In addition to agreeing to publicly posting their code of conduct and making a long-term commitment to inclusiveness, participating breweries must donate some of their Brave Noise beer’s profits to nonprofits that help with sexual harassment and diversity training. Says Stone’s Ulrich, “Things won’t get fixed overnight, but showing our team as well as our community that we are putting in the work from the top down is a step in the right direction.”