Buffalo Beer Goddesses: a hymn to beer enjoyment

The Buffalo Beer Goddesses, photo courtesy of Sara Rosenberry

Middle-aged men with facial hair: that’s how many would describe Buffalo’s beer community. Whether it’s the casual consumption or celebration of brewing techniques, beer clubs locally and throughout the nation tend to feature only men as the beer-lovers and brewers. But one Western New York group plans to change that.

“Beer events can be really male-dominated, and it’s not on purpose,” said Sara Rosenberry, a Buffalo Beer Goddesses’ member.

The Buffalo Beer Goddesses were formed locally by Julia Burke, and associate editor of “Buffalo Spree,” and have since grown to over 170 women who meet regularly to enjoy and discuss beer. Their mission since conception has been to reclaim women’s lost place in the beer world.

“Women were the original brewers,” said Beer Goddess member Parrish Gibbons. “It was a very domestic chore if you think about it and made sense.”

Beginning at least since the 5th millennium BC, beer was brewed by women and recorded in the written histories of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. The first recorded beer recipe was a poem titled, “A hymn to Ninkasi,” which described a Sumerian process of combining bread with malted grains and fermenting the resulting liquid. Ninkasi was significant for being the ancient Sumerian goddess of beer, and she’s also the source of the Buffalo Beer Goddesses’ name.

“[Beer brewing] happened at home; it happened with cooking and was invented before bread,” said Gibbons.

The Beer Goddesses’ members range from casual beer drinkers to veteran brewers, with taste as unique as the women that drink them.

“We have really serious hop-heads that love serious IPA’s,” said Rosenberry. “But other people that are getting more into it start on the lighter side, like fruit flavored beers.”

Although the Goddesses are primarily a women’s only group, they do allow men to many of the social events. Planning meetings and some special events are the only times the Goddess’ maintain their spirit and remain only for women.

“We had an event at Nickel City Cheese, a fondue tasting,” Rosenberry said. “It was just for women and our boyfriends and husbands were really upset. They were really jealous.”

If you’re interested in supporting the Buffalo Beer Goddesses, joining is an easy process. Just join their Facebook group or follow them on twitter and start showing up to posted events. Any women with a love for beer or home brewing experience are welcome.

“Come and meet us,” said Rosenberry. “We’re really welcoming!”

From water to beer: a homebrewing guide

Many of the modern luxuries we experience on a daily basis were developed with a sole purpose in mind: convenience. The television brought movies home, the treadmill brought running indoors; so why not beer?

Home brewing can be a fun and fulfilling hobby that is delicious to enjoy. Although it may seem like a complex science made only possible with equipment and ingredients on a large scale, most of the beers featured in bars and big time breweries can be made at home in smaller, 5-gallon batches.

“My parents bought me a home brew kit when I was young…I made browns, some lagers, lots of ambers,” said Community Beer Works founder Greg Tanski, a 15-year homebrewing veteran.

A batch of beer wort fermenting, photo courtesy of Seth Rios

Since becoming federally legalized in 1978, homebrewing has become the leading method for amateur beer lovers to create fresh, personally-made brews. It also allows homebrewers a chance to experiment with flavors and apply their own outside knowledge to brew a blend pleasing to their palate.

“My best friend bought me my first kit as a wedding present,” said Seth Rios, a chemical engineer graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with more than three years of homebrewing experience. “His reasoning was that I’m a chemical engineer, and this is engineering.”

Homebrewing is a relatively easy hobby to enjoy. To get going, many experienced brewers recommend buying a kit. These start at around $80 and include all of the necessary equipment and ingredients to brew beer at home.

“It’s probably the easiest way to go,” said Tanksi. "Start off with the malt extracts, like most people start off with. Moving into full grain allows you to experiment more."

Each batch of beer will cost about $25 to $45 in ingredients per 5 gallons, depending on the style being brewed. When finished, this will typically yield about 48 bottles of 12-ounce beers.

Rios warns that mistakes are bound to happen.

“I was brewing a bourbon vanilla stout when the fermentation lock blew off while it was fermenting,” said Rios. “This introduced bacteria into the brew, which skunked it. What made it worse was that the wort (the beer liquid before fermentation) tasted awesome and it would have been a great batch.”

Throwing away 16 hours of work and over four 4 weeks of patience may be tough to overcome, but experienced brewers recommend to avoid focusing just on the end product.

“You have to like the process of it, not just the beer,” said Rios.

As long as you have the patience, a love of beer and the determination, homebrewing can be a unique experience that yields a delicious result.

"Read up online or any of the books out there about it," said Tanski. "Learn to be a tinkerer, build your own brewing kit, join a local group; everyone's out there to help each other."