Every year, around International Women’s Day on March 8, women and non-binary people in the United States and around the world get together to brew a special beer.
The collaborations come under the heels of the Pink Boots Society, whose mission is to encourage, inspire and help women and non-binary people in the brewing industry advance their careers through education and scholarships. Style Weekly wrote about them in this feature from December 2023.
For Richmond’s chapter of the Pink Boots Society, this year’s release is a West Coast-style, cold India Pale Ale (IPA) dubbed Ripple Effect, brewed at Ardent Craft Ales and spearheaded by brewer Tasha Dixon.
She says the name Ripple Effect just came from somewhere in her mind and from her love of both IPAs and Cold IPAs, which are created using lager yeast instead of ale yeast.
“I kind of just wanted to do something a little bit different, a little spin on it,” says Dixon. “That’s kind of where the name came from. I wanted to create a little disturbance from what you thought was a cold IPA.”
Dixon says that her twist was to make a West Coast-style, cold IPA using a variety of classic hops like cascade, chinook and centennial. The result is a light, refreshing and lightly colored beer with a 5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and 40 international bitterness units (IBU).
Helping with the beer were about 10 brewers from Väsen Brewing Company, Precarious Beer Project in Williamsburg, The Veil Brewing Company and Buskey Cider.
For every pint sold, a dollar will be donated to the Pink Boots Richmond Chapter, Dixon says. “We get to use that for our own funds. We’re actually planning a trip to Philadelphia for the Pink Boots conference,” says Dixon, adding that other proceeds will go toward future educational programs.
Ripple Effect is on tap and sold in a four-pack of 16oz cans at Ardent Craft Ales until supplies run out. 5oz Taster is $4 16oz Pint is $7
