Most people in West Michigan know that when it comes to craft beer, we’re pretty lucky. But on the national level, there’s a dark side to the craft boom. Some see the industry as very much a boys’ club, meaning women in craft brewing have to deal with female stereotypes and stigmas every day.
In West Michigan, women are playing a major role at breweries like Boatyard Brewing and Tibbs Brewing Company. West Michigan Beer Tours is highlighting those women today by running a “Women of West Michigan Beer" tour. We caught up with a few of those women to learn more.
We first headed to the small, crowded confines of Tibbs Brewing Company on Burdick Street to chat with Cindee Tibbs. She owns the brewery with her husband, Kevin, and does all of the behind-the-scenes stuff here -- paperwork, payroll, taxes.
When the two launched the brewery a year-and-a-half ago, it was very much a partnership. But Tibbs says getting people in the industry to understand that isn’t so easy.
"If we’re meeting somebody new, they automatically go up to Kevin and they start talking to Kevin about paperwork or how do you do this, what do you use this form for," Tibbs says. "He just gives me that deer in the headlights look and says, ‘Uh, you’d have to talk to my wife.’ And you can see for that split second they’re like, “Oh.” Then they turn to me and they’re like, 'So can you help?'"
There are women brewers out there. They do a phenomenal job. They make amazing beer. And it is not all fruity beer either. -- Cindee Tibbs, Tibbs Brewing
Tibbs says it’s these little things that get on her nerves – the stereotypes. Even though the craft beer industry grew 22 percent just last year, Tibbs says she still gets stuck dealing with the same old assumptions.
"One of the things Kevin and I love doing is go on 'beer-cations,'" she says. "So when we’re traveling, we try to go to breweries to get that experience and see best business practices. And I definitely see more of a stigma when we go to other states."
She continues: "Maybe they don’t have as much of a craft beer industry. But they make those assumptions. A lot of the times they’ll look at me and recite all these fruity beers, and then look at Kevin and start telling him what all the heavier beers, darker beers, higher alcohol beers are going to be. And personally, I like stouts. I like porters. I like dark, robust beers that are higher in alcohol. I just really enjoy them. "
After leaving Tibbs, we head across town to Boatyard Brewing and talk with brewer Amy Waugaman. She has an eerily similar story. It happened at a beer festival in Michigan. She walked in and was immediately confronted by a bartender.
"I walked in, and the man took one look at me and said, 'Let’s get you a raspberry wheat,'" Tibbs explains. "And I took my ticket back from him and said, “If you say it to me again, I’m out of here. Give me your DIPA. I want your double IPA. That’s what I came for.'”
Waugaman is originally from Indiana. When she heads back home, she hears this kind of stuff all the time. But in Michigan, she says, it’s not nearly as bad.
Waugaman isn’t exactly sure why it’s better. She thinks it might just be that the craft beer industry is so much bigger here. But she also points to a group called Fermenta – specifically for women in the Michigan’s craft beverage industry.
"It offers women a chance to talk shop among other women," Waugaman says. "But also, membership is limited to women but events aren’t limited to women. We get a lot of guys who come to events and a lot of guys who will line up for our beer and other beverages at festivals. And I think that it helps with that mutual respect to say we’re here and we make quality things too."
Cindee Tibbs says the best way to earn that respect is to show off those women brewers and look at what they're achieving.
"It’s truly a paradigm shift," she says. "It’s getting everyone to think differently. It’s not just about men in the brewing industry."
That, Tibbs says, is the important thing about something as simple as a “Women of West Michigan” beer tour.
"So it’s not such a stigma. Not such, ‘Oh. You mean there’s women brewers out there?’ Yes, absolutely! There are women brewers out there," she says. "They do a phenomenal job! They make amazing beer. And it’s not all fruity beer either."
In Michigan, Tibbs says, how people look at gender and brewing is changing. And if craft beer keeps growing in other states, it could change how drinkers across the nation see it, too
