Women’s beer guild partners with bar on brew

Women’s beer guild partners with bar on brew

HopCat in downtown Grand Rapids ranks as one of the top beer bars in both the world and nation. Photo by Adam Bird

A women’s beer group will come together to brew a batch of beer this weekend at a local brewpub.

Red ale on tap

The PussyCat Beer Guild of HopCat Grand Rapids will brew a Unite Red Ale in celebration of International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day on Sunday.

The day is organized by the Pink Boots Society in Portland, Ore., an international association of women in the brewing industry. 

Each group across the globe will use the same recipe for the red ale.

Sunday’s brew day begins at 10 a.m., with viewing opportunities beginning at 11 a.m.

HopCat brewer Ernie Richards will join the PussyCat Beer Guild to make the recipe unique to the Grand Rapids bar.

The beer will be on tap at HopCat once it’s completed, and a portion of the sales will be donated to Women’s Resource Center of Grand Rapids and Pink Boots Society.

Previous brew

S’more Sassiness was brewed recently by the group with Richards and featured at the 10th-annual Winter Beer Fest in February.

The beer was the seventh-most checked-in beer on the mobile phone app Untappd out of more than 1,000.

The guild

HopCat started the PussyCat Beer Guild in 2008, and it’s the third-oldest continuously running women’s beer group in the country.

It’s open to all women 21 and older who are interested in beer and meets the third Tuesday of each month in the loft at HopCat.

Meetings begin at 6 p.m. and include the discussion of beer, planning events and drinking beer.