Schmohz Brewery -- Ladies Ale Society Beer Tasting Event

Nearly 35 women packed into the brewing facility at Schmohz Brewing Company in Grand Rapids, MI on November 6th.  Around picnic tables and folding chairs, they chatted and nibbled from appetizer and cheese plates as servers poured 15 different samples of the beers available at the pub.

Chas Thompson

"Swirl it around, smell it, and then take the first sip," Chas Thompson, the brewer and leader of the evening's tasting event instructed us.

Yet another wine tasting?  Hardly. The participants were sampling the first delicious brew of the evening: the golden and sweet Valley City Cream Ale. That's right -- beer tasting.  And it was just for us women.

(These two photos courtesy of The Great American Brew Trail)

It should not come as a surprise when I say women are a growing presence in the beer industry, in everything from brewing it to judging it to simply drinking it.  In July, a Gallup poll found that 27 percent of women prefer beer over wine or liquor, up 7 percentage points from 2007.  And while many women have always enjoyed beer, until recent years, they weren't really coming together to talk about it.  Maybe it's because there tends to be a stigma with beer that you have to be manly and drive a big truck in order to drink it, but events like this bring women together and prevent them from feeling inhibited by their boyfriends or husbands.  

Since we're on the subject of women and beer...as the beverage has gained in popularity among women, many have gotten into brewing, helping to bring even more flavors and combinations to the table. Beer is now scented with coriander or cardamom, tastes like white chocolate, or has notes of vanilla, raspberry, or pumpkin.  It helps that women's palates are supposedly more advanced; a recent Wall Street Journal article about studies done at British beer producer SABMiller found that women are more sensitive to the flavors in beer.  Their research shows that women are the superior sex when it comes to detecting such undesirable chemicals as 3-methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, which makes beer taste "skunky."    Because of this, the company's number of female advanced-level tasters has quadrupled in 10 years, now comprising 30 percent of their 1,000 advanced beer tasters, even though men account for 72.8 percent of the world's beer sales.  Tasters also help brewers decide how long their beers will stay fresh on store shelves, and what new products to introduce.  

While beer tasting events can be found at other breweries and brewpubs, making the meetings the exclusive domain of women does much to change the dynamic of what would otherwise be a male-dominated topic.  The most obvious difference?  There was a lot less ego.  Sorry guys, but women aren’t as comfortable asking questions with you around, and at this event, we could ask questions and get our curiosities satisfied without feeling frowned upon. The evening's topics drilled down into specific styles, ingredients, and techniques used in brewing beer.  Whether pairing three versions of a given style of beer or talking about what different varieties of hops bring to the party, the focus remained on the educational aspect: teaching women about beer, its ingredients, and the vocabulary of the pallet.  Chas even passed around some two-row barley, chocolate malted barley, and hop pellets to smell, touch, and taste.  Mmm...barley.

I will not bore you with my thoughts on each of the 15 beers we sampled that evening (especially since we have yet to write up a brewery experience on Schmohz), but I will highlight the stars of the evening for me:

The Oktoberfest: a wonderful dark harvest ale brewed with chocolate malt, which poured a deep brown with a very bright maltiness coupled nicely with a rich wheatiness in the nose.  The flavor was a perfect mix of both its inherent malt body and the semi-sweet wheatiness of the style -- a crisp nuttiness that matched the deep malts perfectly.  Pairing this with food seems like a given, since it practically tastes like you could (and should!) turn it into bread and slather it with butter. Good stuff.

The Zingiberene Ale:  brewed as a gruit using only water, malted barley, ginger root, and yeast.  The color was sort of a cloudy tan-brown color (think cloudy apple cider), with a light body and lots of carbonation.  The aroma was fantastic: ginger (lots of it, as promised), toasted malt, and maybe even a little banana and sour apple.  The taste was absolutely loaded with ginger -- a little tart at first, then reminded me a lot of the pickled ginger you get with sushi, and then finished completely clean, dry, and refreshing.  Very unique and a must-try if you like the taste of ginger.  

The Pickle Tink Ale:  a strawberry wheat ale, perfect for a some light, fun drinking on a warm summer day.  A hazy, yellow body topped with a thin, fizzy white head.  The taste and aroma were light and sweet, with very slight hops and fresh strawberries.  Very sessionable, and a great beer for the beginner or "non-beer drinker".

Last, but certainly not least, the Barley Wine.  Oh, what a way to end the evening.  At 14.5% ABV, this one packs a major punch, and I was glad I had my DD standing by after ending the night with this one.  Very complex hop tones, with hints of citrus and plum flavors.  "Crafted from unbelievable amounts of barley and hops", this is one I can see myself enjoying more of (slowly, and in moderation, of course) while sitting by the fire on a cold winter day.

My lovely drinking companions, Danielle and Jessica

So, whether you're new to the beer drinking scene or you've been a regular at Schmohz since they opened in 2004, the next Ladies Ale Society beer tasting event is something you should be sure not to miss!   Thanks to Chas for keeping it fun, laid back, and informative, and for recognizing the growing interest in an event like this in our area!