14 of the finest female brewers are collaborating with Heriot-Watt students and lecturers to brew a kettle sour beer that will showcase the very best in brewing.

The project is spearheaded by Jenn Merrick, formerly head brewer at Beavertown Brewery and founder of community-based brewery Earth Station.

The collaboration will be hosted by Katie McCain, brewer at London’s Pressure Drop Brewing and welcomes brewers from Truman’s Brewery, Cloudwater, Wiper & True, Fuller’s and Burnt Mill among others.

These brewers will work with the next generation of female brewers from Heriot-Watt University to combine the seasonal fruits, herbs and botanicals to produce the beer.

Those present on the day will be working in partnership to decide its flavour profile, final recipe, and name.

Commenting on the collaboration, Heriot-Watt assistant brewing professor Rachel Sutherland said:

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our female students to collaborate with some of the leading female figures within the craft beer industry.

“Beer has, throughout history, been crafted by women. Our students are proudly upholding this tradition, showing the next generation what they can look forward to.

“There’s a real community in craft beer and our kettle sour collaboration is testament to that – and definitely not one to be missed at any of the craft beer festivals happening across the UK.”

Greg Wells, founder of We Are Beer, the company behind the London, Edinburgh and Bristol Craft Beer Festivals, who commissioned the project, commented: “We identified that 35% of our festival attendees were female and this is growing year on year.

“We believe most people still perceive ‘beer’ as quite masculine, but in actuality, that is changing dramatically, which is good for this fast-growing sector and something we’re striving to push forward.

“We want to profile the incredible female talent and influence on modern brewing by creating a collaborative beer with past, present and future female brewers from across the industry.”

The beer will be available at each of the craft beer festivals being hosted in Edinburgh (25^th-28th May 2018), London (3^rd-5^th August 2018), and Bristol (14^th-16^th September 2018) and will be released in limited edition small pack.

 The full brewing team on the project is:

·     Jenn Merrick – Earth Station – Founder

·       Katie McCain – Pressure Drop – Brewer

·       Sophie de Ronde – Burnt Mill – Brewer

·       Kath Stratford – Howling Hops – Brewer

·       Alix Shaw – The Five Points – Lead Packaging Manager

·       Charlotte Cook – Truman’s Brewery – Co-lead Brewer

·       Jaega Wise – Wild Card Brewery – Head Brewer

·       Robyn Bell – Cloudwater – Cellar Manager

·       Hayley Marlor – Fuller’s – Brewer

·       Riina Laats – Signature Brew – Head Brewer

·       Flo Orford – Wiper & True – Brewer

·       Cynthia Toulouse – Wiper & True – Assistant Brewer

·       Sue Fisher – Ramsgate Brewers – Brewer

·       Marta Van der Vyver – Husk Brewery – Founder

·       Hester Boyce – Wild Beer Co. – Production

The Heriot-Watt team:

·       Rachel Sutherland – Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt. (Formerly Sensory & Quality Manager of Innis & Gunn)

·       Margaux Huismann – Heriot-Watt Alumni and current PHD student at the International Centre for Brewing and Distilling studying the role of dry hopping on the flavour, aroma, and haze characteristics on Scottish craft beers

·       Dr Dawn Maskell – Head of International Centre for Brewing & Distilling (ICBD) at Heriot-Watt

·       Seven Heriot-Watt students on the undergraduate and master’s degree courses