May 5, 2011-Seattle, WA. Pike's prayers have been answered. Lisa Morrison, "The Beer Goddess," has chosen Pike for the Seattle introduction of her finely crafted new book, Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest. Please join us for a book signing during American Craft Beer Week. Lisa is host and producer of "Beer O'clock!" the Pacific Northwest's only weekly, hour-long, commercial radio show devoted to craft beer. A regular columnist for nationally distributed publications including Beer Advocate, Beer Connoisseur, and Celebrator Beer News, Lisa is the first and only female contributor to "Beer Talk" in the national magazine, All About Beer. 
Until now, there has not been a concise guide to Northwest breweries and brew pubs, how to find them, their history, and which beers the beer lover should try. In 212 pages, Lisa Morrison's Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest covers the map, demonstrating not only Lisa's obvious love of beer, but also her knowledge of how to brew and taste, and her beer writing skills that make one realize that "the beer truth" is stranger than fiction. According to Michael Jackson, in his posthumously published book, Beer, "Portland and Seattle are the top two craft beer markets in the world." There are over 100 breweries in Washington, another 100+ in Oregon, and a further 50 in British Columbia.
Lisa is also the Director of Barley's Angels. Pike Brewing has formed a local chapter to advance beer enjoyment by the female consumer and craft beer enthusiast. As the consumer leg of the Pink Boots Societyâ, committed to involving women in the enjoyment of craft beer, Barley's
Angels is not just a social, beer-drinking club for women; it is about beer education. This will also be the first official "meet up" of Pike Brewing's Barley's Angels Chapter. Join us to learn more!
What: Book signing with Lisa Morrison
What else: First meeting of the Pike Chapter of Barley's Angels
Where: Museum Room at the Pike Pub
When: Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Time: 5:00 - 8:00 pm
So, back off boys! Barley's Angles are moving this way...
Finally, a brave group of women who love beer and are not afraid to show it are teaming up as Barley's Angles. Barley's Angels, is a type of slow food convivium, devoted primarily to re-introducing women to the sensory pleasure of beer and brewing. According to Lisa Morrison, "Beer is often thought of as a man's drink," in large part because of prohibition, and post-prohibition advertising, targeting men and leaving the "little lady" at home without a beer. The fact is: beer has been a woman's tipple for most of the last 9,000 years of brewing. Lisa is not the first Beer Goddess; the first people to brew beer were the priestesses in the temples of Mesopotamia. Early people regarded beer as "heaven sent," a gift of the goddesses, not the gods. It was so great a creation that during religious ceremonies the women drank it from golden straws that we now know acted as a kind of filter for a drink, heavy with sediment, which made it as much like bread as it was beer. Brewing beer in Egypt for nearly 5,000 years gave women a thorough understanding of the brewing process. The Crusaders introduced both barley and beer to the monasteries in the West. The beer became famous and successful. While the Monk's got the credit, the nuns did the work! As populations moved to cities during The Middle Ages, Ale Wives took over brewing and created the public house or pub. It was of course, a brew pub run by women. Even after the Industrial Revolution, with larger breweries manned mostly by men, women continued brewing a vast majority of the beer that was consumed at home.
When women obtained the right to vote in 1919, encouraged by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, by the following year, no one could brew or drink a beer. After 13 years of Prohibition, women, tired of hypocrisy, organized crime, and their inability to have a good beer, rallied for its repeal. The role models for brewers in those days were decidedly men; most of them criminals. Prohibition's Repeal brought us fewer breweries and blander beer (not to the taste of women who loved beer.) From repeal until the craft brewing renaissance, American beers were brewed and marketed by and for men. Sports radio advertising, sponsored by breweries, started in the 1940s, and beer became a major advertised product on television a decade later. In many states, women were discriminated against in regard to their beer drinking habits. In some states a woman was not allowed to sit at a bar; in others, women could not stand while drinking. It was so egregious that the fourth largest brewery was repeatedly sued by female employees over their own company's sexist advertising.
That was then and this is now; the craft beer renaissance brought women to roles in brewing, marketing, and writing about beer, that previously only men held. The Pike Brewery has a female brewer, a female bottler, two women in sales, and a female co-owner.
We all welcome Barley's Angels and their affiliated professional group, The Pink Boots Society®. Founded by Brewster (female brewer) Teri Fahrendorf, there are now over 600 members nationally.
Please join Lisa and the women of Pike to learn about Barley's Angels www.barleysangels.com. Come share a beer and a story or two. And while men are absolutely invited, only women can join Barley's Angels. What goes around comes around!
