Pink Boots Society Australia welcomed founder Teri Fahrendorf to its AGM at BrewCon 2018.

Fahrendorf, now of Great Western Malt, praised the Australian Chapter of Pink Boots for being one of the most, if not the most, active Chapter in the world.

Pink Boots was first launched in the US in 2007 and celebrated its 10th anniversary last year.

“The Society stands for three things, women, beer and professionals,” Fahrendorf said.

This is Fahrendorf’s third time in Australia, having ventured over twice before to judge the AIBA awards in 2001 and 2002.

Starting as a road trip in 2007 to visit breweries across the US and lasted 139 days, Pink Boots is now a global organisation of women with 76 Chapters in approximately 40 countries.

Australia now has 300 Pink Boots members, with active Chapters in all States.

Fahrendorf spoke about representing her gender.

Having spent 19 years as a brewmaster, in 2007, Fahrendorf chose to use the boots to showcase that she was still a women, even when she knew the lingo.

“I just felt like rubber boots are a ubiquitous piece of safety equipment that everyone wears in the brewery.”

“But as soon as I open my mouth, I’m one of the boys because I talk beer talk.”

“I just feel like I need something, like pink boots or something.”

After meeting so many female brewers on her tour of the US, Fahrendorf collected names and posted a list on her website at the end of her trip.

This started a conversation, a movement for female beer professionals to rally together.

“I’ve had a lot of firsts in my career, and that’s just because I rallied.”

The AGM celebrated each Chapter’s successes over the past 12 months, highlighting that Australian membership has now doubled and continues to grow.

Following her AGM speech, Radio Brews News had an extensive interview with Fahrendorf, which will be available in the next few weeks.