Cheers to you going for your dreams | Learnings and next steps from The Bevolution
Did you know less than 3 percent of breweries are owned solely by women?
Hello and thank you for subscribing to The Bevolution. It’s Ash here. I want to be transparent with all of you and share some insight into how Women of the Bevolution came to be and my journey within the industry/alcohol space.
In 2019, I started WOTB as a way to bring other women & non-binary folks within the beverage industry together to share a passion for beer, spirits, wine, cider etc., and learn more about the craft. In the summer of 2018, I left my 10-year career in the music industry in hopes of transitioning into the craft beer and hospitality world. I had always felt a connection to the hospitality industry. Throughout my career journey in music, I had also produced food festivals and hosted events at bars and venues throughout Southern California. I knew leaving a career I had worked so hard to establish myself in wouldn’t be easy. I knew it was a huge risk. But if I didn’t pursue it, if I didn’t change directions and challenge myself then I would forever be frozen in a time and place...and that’s not me. Here I am now six years later. I had worked in music since I was 22, and my interest started when I was 20 while majoring in journalism and working for a magazine publisher. I later switched majors to communications / public relations. I never thought I’d work in any other industry at the time but I knew I had to keep progressing, learning, and doing what was right for me. Though self-advocating was something I learned more about in my 30s, I did always go with my gut when things felt off, and I knew I had to speak up and switch gears when I had the opportunity to do so. That’s the mindset I had when I launched Women of the Bevolution. While I was still trying to navigate the craft beer world especially locally to my home of Los Angeles, I was still working freelance projects in other industries while trying to pay the bills and I felt “in-between.” I didn’t really know where I belonged at the time. I engaged with the Pink Boots Society later on when I had more beer-related projects I was working on since previously I didn’t fit the criteria at the time to apply to be a member (since then the criteria has changed btw) and because of this I started to look to the local homebrew community and that is ultimately where I found so many folks who were passionate and super knowledgeable about craft beer.
I launched WOTB in the summer of 2019. Later that year, I met homebrewer Sarah Flora also known as Flora Brewing on YouTube and Instagram. And I knew from then on exactly where I fit in…helping to uplift women and non-binary creators within the beer & beverage space… and shortly after, mashing the patriarchy. I started chatting more with Sarah about her goals and I knew my digital marketing and PR experience with musicians and the network I was building within the alcohol space could help her accomplish those goals. At the time, she had just launched her YouTube channel and had reached 1,000 subscribers, and her goal was to start monetizing the channel. Through my experience and network, I offered to help, and soon after her channel was approved to start monetizing. From there we developed a partnership where I’d focus on growth marketing, PR, and help with any odds and ends items like expanding to other platforms and brand partnerships. Sarah’s homebrewing tutorials have now amassed millions of views and her channel has over 28K subscribers. Her Instagram has over 40K followers. Since she’s launched a Patreon, TikTok, Newsletter and the Brewing After Hours Podcast, which received an award from the North American Guild of Beer Writers. All of this work has been recognized by outlets like Good Beer Hunting, Vinepair, Thrillist, NY Times, Forbes, Fuse TV, and many others. In February 2020 the goal was to transition from homebrewer to commercial brewer. Collectively we were going to go commercial. Then the pandemic hit in March 2020. We had to pause. We focused on content and launching the podcast. Then in 2022, we launched commercially through Pilot Project Brewing, an incubator brewery in Chicago and Milwaukee. I had been introduced to the co-founder Dan Abel a year prior through a mutual contact. I was actually trying to launch an incubator for women and non-binary creators within the brewing space - the Bevolution Creators Network. I immediately connected with Dan, and Pilot Project’s vision for creating an outlet and production facility in Chicago for underrepresented brewers/creators within the beer and hard kombucha space. It’s exactly the type of dream setup I’d love to have for women in the beer industry. We kept in contact. And later when Brienne Allan and I launched the Brave Noise initiative the brewery came on board instantly. I felt very aligned with their values and model. I decided that Pilot Project would be a great space to launch Flora Brewing commercially, and Sarah agreed. We started by doing two beer collaborations in May of 2022, and from there after a positive response, we decided to plan for a 2023 launch of going commercial with four beers. This was such a long time coming. I couldn’t believe this was actually becoming a reality. The last time we had sat down to pursue this right before the pandemic hit everything had taken a pause, and I felt like we may have missed our window of opportunity. But we carried on. Though it would be a few years later, we fucking went for it.
Less than three percent of breweries are owned solely by women. Flora Brewing was part of that three percent trying to make this happen. I knew there would be challenges like with any startup, especially a business within the alcohol industry. I knew there would be sacrifice, especially on my own personal level of juggling a freelance career and my nonprofit work through advocacy projects. But I never had a doubt in my mind about pursuing this path. Throughout my career, I’ve been faced with challenges where I had to do what was best for me, my values, my health and my career. I would make the pivot. I may have worked at record labels and whatever assumption you may have about the industry you’re probably right but there were people who did care deeply for the artists and especially the up-and-comers that tended to get pushed to the sidelines when a more well-established artist stepped into the spotlight. I was always for those up-and-comers or underrepresented artists.
So going back to the Flora Brewing launch. It’s release week in Chicago and we kicked it off with a tour around the city. That very week of release, Flora received a cease and desist stating to stop using the name Flora Brewing as well as stop all commercial production with that name. What a way to celebrate our first week of going commercial, and the beers were available in two markets, both in Chicago and Milwaukee. As we got legal counsel and weighed our options, we decided we would change the name over the next few months and plan for a relaunch in August with the new name. The beers had already started hitting retail and were on tap at bars. The Pilot Project team had set up a massive launch to where Flora was all over Illinois and Wisconsin. The response was incredible. Folks wanted more Flora beer. We also had interest from a major grocery store and a restaurant franchise. Over the next 4-6 weeks we would try to sort out a new name for the brewery. As we went over hundreds of name ideas… I came to realize that there was no way I could pick the brewery name, I could only offer suggestions and guidance, and also I didn’t want to pick the name because this was all Sarah, her recipes and her work. This decision was not going to be easy. It had been stressful for both of us. And on top of that and just the balance of life, trying to raise the funding, continue our day jobs, manage and grow the current Flora digital platforms, and you know launching an alcohol startup, it is understandably a huge undertaking. While I had hoped we could find solutions to best move forward, unfortunately, that wasn’t in the cards at this time. Out of respect to Sarah, I will not share any information on why there won’t be any more commercial beers in production at this time. But you can imagine it’s an enormous undertaking, not to mention the lack of funding and resources for woman-owned businesses especially within the brewing space. What we accomplished in such a short time is tremendous. I’ve personally learned a ton from this entire experience and will take all that I learned to help other women in bev through Women of the Bevolution and the Bevolution Creators Network. It has been a roller coaster the last few months but I am so grateful to have embarked on this journey and taken the chance.
Over the next two months, my goal is to relaunch the Women of the Bevolution website (thanks to the help of designer Jacque Irizarry), and create more opportunities for creators in bev through content, grants, mentorship, events and collaborations. I want to continue creating space and opportunities for women and non-binary creators in bev… and who knows maybe one day the Bevolution will launch an incubator brewery of our own. While focusing on all the above, I was also inspired by the advocacy work with Brave Noise and working with nonprofits like SAFE Bar Network and GrowGood farm, that I’ve launched a social impact agency, Everyday Noise.
I know this was a long read so thank you for taking the time. For those of you out there trying to pursue your dreams and take risks, remember whatever happens at least you tried and went for it, which is the ultimate accomplishment.
-Ash Eliot
Founder, Women of the Bevolution
Co-Founder, Brave Noise
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Really great read Ash! Thanks so much for taking the time to share but more importantly for the incredible work you do to uplift and support so many in the industry we love! Also, very excited for the day I can belly up to the bar and order at the Brewery Formally Known As....