Category: New York

Women in the Beer Industry: Part Two

The panel discussion on Tuesday was very engaging and went past two hours. Each of the speakers provided details about how they got into the industry. Carol Stout was an educator but got interested in beer through her husband who loved good beer. They travelled to Germany. On their return, Carol wondered why they could not have the same quality of beer at their restaurant in Adamstown, PA. She does not feel that being a woman hindered her career in brewing and credits two men, Karl Strauss and Greg Noonan, with helping her.

Carol, along with the other panelists, felt that it was mainly a myth that woman do not like beer as much as men and that they liked to drink “fruity” beers more often. She blamed much of this perception on marketing and media. Carol also believes that women brewing beer has long historical roots and that there are now many places in the world where women are returning to this practice. In particular, she mentioned Ethiopia.

Jennifer Schwertman, the bartender, felt it was a matter of educating women about beer and having better bartenders to help with this process. She believes it is a partnership between brewers and the community palate. Jen loves the community around craft brewing as much as she loves the beer.

Sarah Beach is from Belgium and has worked for Duvel Moorgat/Ommegang for four years. She is in sales and said when she goes into a retail establishment for the first time they often asked her if she is old enough to drink beer. I thought it was interesting that she was included on the panel since Ommegang is a craft brewery that a larger company owns.

Susan Greene, from Global Brewers Guild, is involved in sales and marketing and has worked for the company for over six years. Prior to her working in the beer industry, she was involved with restaurants. Susan feels that although New York has numerous excellent restaurants, the establishments often have poor beer lists.  In this area, she feels other cities are better.

A common theme among many of the panelists was that the craft beer scene is more vibrant in other parts of the country, particularly the Pacific Northwest. All are committed to making craft beers a thriving presence in New York City.

Debbie Boening stated that her family company had been involved, along with the Van Munching’s in importing and distributing Heineken in America. When Heineken took back distribution, it left a big gap in  Boening’s portfolio. It as at this point that she started looking at craft beers.

In the early 1980s, Jin Koch (Boston Beer) had to make several repeat visits before she would agree to sell Sam Adams. One of her sales reps was in the audience and told of going to various stores and bars saying, “I have Stoudt’s for you.” The other person would reply, “We have Guinness.” Sales Rep:  “It’s Carol Stoudt.” “You want me to buy a woman’s beer?” However, the distinctiveness of a woman making Stoudt’s did provide entry. Debbie said that, despite having many excellent craft beers in her portfolio, Colt 45 was still her top seller.

None of the panelists really felt that being a woman in the beer industry had made their path more difficult. All felt that the craft beer industry is very welcoming and supportive. The audience was overwhelmingly female so there may be a completely new group of women anxious to enter the industry.

Women in the Beer Industry:Part One

Last night I went to the French Culinary Institute, heard a panel discussion about women in the beer industry, and sampled beer, bread and cheese. All of the beers related in some way to the speakers. There were beers from Stoudt’s, Ommegang and Dogfish Head.

I had a Stoudt’s Pils which was very refreshing and had a good  taste and color, unlike the Heineken I had a few days ago. My husband had a Stoudt’s Scarlet Lady ESB which he liked very much. We both tried the Dogfish Head Punkin which, for me, was surprisingly good, not too sweet and just a hint of pumpkin taste.  My favorite was the Ommegang Abbey Ale which was delicious, a beautiful ruby brown color, and very smooth. It is 7% abv. It would go well at any meal at which you would consider serving wine.

Two nights ago we went to the Blind Tiger Ale House which is a very well-known beer bar with an overwhelmingly selection of both draft and bottled beers. It reminded me of a smaller Moan and Dove (my local bar) with more beers, food but no peanuts. We had Blue Point Cask IPA which I did not like. It was very still and tasted like a stout. I liked the Cigar City Maduro Oatmeal Brown Ale though.

The women on the panel represented various aspects of the brewing industry, from production to retail. Maggie Fuller, founder of Beer  Ethos moderated the discussion. Maggie has a degree in brewing science from UCDavis and founded Beer Ethos to promote” the appreciation and enjoyment of beer through drinking and discourse.”* She plans on opening a beer store in the near future.

The women on the panel were: Carol Stoudt, President and Brewmaster, Stoudt’s Brewery. Carol was the first American woman to “oversee the design and development of a craft brewery from start to finish.”

Susan Greene, General Sales Manager Global Brewers Guild,”which represents a dozen domestic and imported beers throughout the East Coast.” (I couldn’t find a website)

Jennifer Schwertman, a bartender at the Blind Tiger.

Sarah Lescrauwart Beach, Ommegang Brewery, Market Manager. Duvel Moortgat, a publicly owned and traded Belgium company that brews Duvel, owns Ommegang.

Debbie Boening, Oak Beverages, President and Chief Executive Officer. Oak Beverage is  a “leading New York Metropolitan are beer wholesale distributor and part of the 107 -year old, fourth generation Boeing beer distribution group.” She is the only woman.

Tomorrow: Part Two: What they said.

* All the text in quotes is from the handout at the talk.

Quick Note

We had a full day, running along the river, a country fair with a petting zoo at Riverside Park and a  New York Liberty game. We wound up having a late dinner. One great thing about New York is how many places are open all night. The hamburgers were great but the beer choices were not. I settled on a Heineken on tap which I have decided is no better than Bud, just more expensive and slightly alcoholic.

Urban Experiences

My husband and I wanted to spend this time in New York to have a more urban experience. Today had several elements that are common to urban life.

1. Frustration: We had a tremendous amount of trouble getting the metrocard  machine to accept either of our debit cards. In the end we had to use a credit card.  The man at what used to be called the token both and I guess now is the metrocard booth understandably only takes cash.

2. Spectacle: We were going to a gallery opening (more on that later)  and happened upon the Labor Day Parade on Fifth Avenue. It was really long and very interesting. One of the pictures is of  a group  holding a banner, “Non-Traditional; Employment for Women,” which I thought was very cool. The other picture is of the Teamsters who had a really big contingent.* Union membership has really declined since the Reagan years and I think a strong labor movement could help with many of our problems.  More viable labor organizations would also help President Obama in his reform efforts on health care and other matters.

Women Workers
Women Workers
Teamsters
Teamsters

3. Class: We went to an opening at the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery. The exhibit was Tim Davis’s collection of photographs, The New Antiquity. Tim’s stepdad works at Hampshire.  Many of the galleries on 57th  Street are not at street level. That means you have to know both the gallery and the exhibit exist.

After Tim’s show we went to the PaceWildstein gallery. This gallery is also not on street level, but once you are in the building there are four different floors of exhibits. Each of the galleries has a  slightly different name but all are Pace.

PaceWildenstein had Sol LeWitt: Forms Derived from a Cube. Some of the paintings were  wall drawings (on the wall) and were for sale. I asked the receptionists  about how one would actually purchase a wall drawing. She explained that Sol LeWitt was dead (I thought that was kind of funny) and that the purchaser gets a certificate and then a draftsman comes to your house, prepares the wall, and paints the drawing. Sol LeWitt did in 2007 so the paintings in PaceWildenstein exhibit were done in the above methods.

This all seems a bit strange. I maybe could see paying $12,00 if the artist came to my house and painted it on the walls but a draftsman?

Another one of the Pace galleries was Pace Primitive. It was African masks, Filipino religious items, and small statues. Some were from the 19th and early twentieth centuries. I have problems with the use of the word “primitive” and I wonder about the methods used to obtain the art.

*In the nineteenth and early twentieth century  the Teamsters Union fought many jurisdictional battles with the United Brewery Workers.

September 11 – Eight Years Later

Today is the eighth anniversary of the terrible events of September 11 2001. This is a particularly poignant day because we are in New York. Eight years ago, I had been in New York the day before, September 10, and woke up, at home. on the morning of the 11th to hear my husband’s voice on the answering machine, ” I don’t know if you have heard what happened in New York but my parents are okay.” As everyone knows, September11 2001 was a picture perfect New York fall day and the 10th was as well. I felt very steeped in my New York roots because I had spent the evening of the 9th reading about the  pending city elections while I waited for my friend who I was visiting to come home.

Today, September 11, 2009, is not a beautiful day. The weather is  very bad, with high winds and heavy downpours. Because of these bad conditions, we have been unable to attend any commemorative event. Many of them were outdoors.

Despite that, since 2001, I have felt that this day should not be like every other day.  Apparently President  Obama and Congress agree with me. In March the federal government designated September 11th as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.  I really hope that this takes root and becomes how  people commemorate September 11th in future years.

My thoughts are with all the people who suffered a loss on that fateful day and it is my sincerest wish that nothing like that will ever happen to any person or country again.

How Not to Go On Sabbatical Using Craigslist

Today is the first of thirty days that my husband and I will be spending in New York City. It is my intention to try to blog every day that we are here. My husband is on sabbatical after having served for eleven year as vice-president and Dean of Faculty of Hampshire College. Our original intention was to try and swap our house with someone in either Boston or New York. That really didn’t work out and I would not recommend using craigslist to try to pursue either a swap or rental. One person, who seemed like  he was  anxious to rent to us, was not home when we arrived at the designated time to see the apartment.  Another couple  told us they would not be deciding for a couple of weeks; we got back to them in two days. They then said they had rented the apartment to someone else the same day we saw it. To make matters worse their  craigslist listing  reappeared three weeks later. I always checked that I didn’t not want any realtor listings but we wound up with a very unpleasant real estate agent in Cambridge. The final bad result from craigslist was a nice apartment in Boston. We went to see it but the man already had a couple from an agency who also wanted it and he was contractually obligated to give to them. Why did he have us come and look at the apartment then? I have concluded that craigslist is very prone to scams and unreliable listers. My friend owns the place we are renting in New York so that has worked out fine.

I didn’t set out to rant about craigslist but it was very frustrating. As far as sabbaticals go I feel a bit like I am on one too since I will not have my usual responsibilities during this month. I hope to post about interesting things we do in the city, both beer related and other, and include pictures. I also plan to work on my new book which I will talk more about later in another post.

A Day in New York City

Yesterday I had to go to New York City for the day. After my appointment I had about four hours to kill before my train left. First I went to the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum which until 2000 was the Abigail Adams Smith House. I had chosen to go there because I thought it was the headquarters of the Colonial Dames of America. colonial-barbie

The CDA does manage the Museum but their offices and presumably archives are in the building next door. This was built in 1977 to look old. Oddly enough, this building looks worse than the museum, which was built in 1799 as a carriage house for the planned mansion of Abigail Adams Smith, John Adams daughter, and her husband. The museum does not have any artifacts pertaining to the Smiths which may be one reason they changed their mission.In 1826 Joseph Hart purchased the carriage house and turned it into a day resort, equivalent to a spa today.  Hart operated this business for seven years until 1833.

The museum only has a few things that are actually from the hotel. The rest of the artifacts are “of the period.”  This is often the case with small museums. No one was in at the CDA so I couldn’t talk to them.

After the 30 minute tour of the museum I ate lunch and then I went to Bloomingdales. I haven’t been in Bloomies in a very long time. The display windows  are full of Barbie doll mannequins because Barbie is 50 and Bloomingdales is celebrating her birthday. According to the New York Times the store is “leaning on Barbie to salvage its quarterly bottom line.”

On the third floor there must have been over one hundred Barbies from different years dressed as different careers including doctor and stewardess. There were also Barbies as different celebrity figures. Apparently the first one of these was Twiggy in the 70s but there is also one of Beyonce. Most of the dolls are from the 90s. The 1959 Barbie is a replica.I confess I still have my Barbie which dates from that time.

On the second floor the store is selling Barbie purses and replica dolls. There is also a display of life size mannequins in designer clothes. Although I didn’t plan on it, the day turned out to have a theme, Both the  Colonial Dames and Barbie represent American womanhood and ideals of femininity. Now I just have to figure out how they are connected.

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