Pink Boots Society Records, 2007-2019

The Pink Boots Society Records document the creation, growth, administration, and members of a professional organization that supports women in the brewing industries. Included are operational documents, marketing materials, legal and financial records, membership and volunteer management records, correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, governance materials, scholarship programs information, presentations, events materials, photographs and videos, documents related to chapter management, the organization's website, and records related to the Barley's Angels. The Pink Boots Society Records is primarily an electronic collection and consists of born-digital materials (.mp3, video, documents, website); however, merchandise and ephemera from events are also included.

The Pink Boots Society was inspired by a 2007 cross-country trip taken by Teri Fahrendorf. When the trip was finished, Fahrendorf had collected contact information for nearly 60 women who wanted to create and participate in a supportive professional community. In 2012, the Pink Boots Society became a non-profit organization, which allowed them to raise funds and expand their educational scholarships, including support for women to attend brewing schools and travel abroad.

This collection is primarily composed of digital folders that are available upon request. The website is archived and available online.

Scope and Content Notes

The Pink Boots Society Records document the creation, growth, administration, and members of a professional organization that supports women in the brewing industries. As the Pink Boots Society grew, there was a greater need for organization for its administration and in local chapters; over time, templates, forms, and operational procedures were created to allow the society to function effectively. The collection covers a range of topics and includes a variety of formats. Of special note are materials related to changes in the governance of the organization, volunteer and committee leader position descriptions, meeting minutes, correspondence, regional chapter administration and activity, various educational projects and scholarships, beer industry events, photographs and videos, and the organization's website.

This collection is primarily composed of digital folders that are available upon request. The website is archived and available online.

The Administrative functions of the organization are documented through operational documents, marketing materials, legal and financial records, membership and volunteer management records, correspondence, meeting agendas and minutes, and governance materials.

Given the strong emphasis on mentoring and education, the Education Projects series includes materials pertaining to educational programs, project, and scholarships offered by the Pink Boots Society. This includes financial details for the scholarship programs, records of past scholarship winners and sponsors, program descriptions, seminar presentations and handouts, and plans for future educational opportunities. Of special note are materials related to the Inclusion Education Project, which looks at the representation and diversity within the organization, and the Germany Professional Study tours.

The community involvement and member outreach activities are documented in the Events series, which shows the ways the Pink Boots Society and its members participate in a variety of local, national, and international brewing events. These include events that focus on women in the industry (Big Boots Brew, Collaboration Brew Day in honor of International Women's Day, Bring Mom Out for a Beer, Bière de Femme in North Carolina) and those that focus on the industry more broadly (Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers Conference, World Brewing Conference). The Photographs series primarily includes pictures and videos from these events; however, photographs of people, events, merchandise, and logos are found in other series as well.

As a regional, chapter-based organization, the Chapters series specifically documents chapter management, including chapter guidelines, budget planning, funding proposals, and specific requirements for U.S. and international chapters. Also included are chapter kits with marketing materials and presentation templates.

The Barley's Angels series contains records related to this facet of the Pink Boots Society. Barley’s Angels was created by the Pink Boots Society for consumers who wanted educational opportunities to learn about beer. When the Pink Boots Society became a non-profit mentoring and educational organization for female brewing industry professionals, Barley’s Angels became its own organization. This series includes information pertaining to the separation of the two organizations such as a signed notice of separation and changes to the logo.

The majority of this collection is in electronic format. However, the Ephemera series contains Teri Fahrendorf's original pink boots; items like shirts, cans, souvenirs, stickers, and patches' and a print version of the 2017 Tenth Anniversary conference guide, office files, promotional brochure, business cards, and publications with information about women in brewing.

Physical and electronic records are available for use in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center reading room.

Biographical / Historical Notes

The Pink Boots Society was inspired by a 2007 cross-country trip taken by Teri Fahrendorf, which she documented on her blog “The Road Brewer.” Fahrendorf had recently left her position as head brewer at Steelhead in Eugene, Oregon, and wanted to connect with new people and learn about differences in regional brewing techniques. Armed with a pair of pink rubber boots, Fahrendorf set off for California in June 2007. Her purpose shifted as she met more women brewers, including Laura Ulrich and Carol Stoudt, who expressed interest in connecting with other women. When the trip was finished, Fahrendorf had collected contact information for nearly 60 women who wanted to create and participate in a supportive professional community.

In 2008, Fahrendorf and some of these women met at the Craft Brewers Conference, where they decided to organize into an official organization. As a nod to those original pink boots, they called it the Pink Boots Society. The mission was to provide education and mentoring to women, as well as to raise awareness of gender issues in the industry. The Pink Boots Society and its members have been involved in many major beer events, including the Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers’ Conference, and World Brewing Conference. The Pink Boots Society has also developed their own annual events, such as International Collaboration Brew Day, Big Boots Brew, Bring Mom Out for a Beer, and the North Carolina chapters’ Biere de Femme Festival.

As the organization grew, its identity as a professional organization and needs of professional members excluded consumers. However, recognizing that an educated female consumer base was valuable in overcoming gender stereotypes about taste and preference, in 2011 members created Barley’s Angels, a branch of the organization that served as an educational and social community for female beer enthusiasts.

In 2012, the Pink Boots Society became a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, which allowed them to raise funds and expand their educational scholarships, including supporting women attending brewing schools and traveling abroad. However, when they were granted non-profit status, they were required to split operations from the Barley’s Angels, which supported for-profit businesses through its consumer education programs. Now both organizations run independently.

Emily Engdahl became the Executive Director in 2013, a position she held until 2018. Fahrendorf was President until 2016, when Laura Ulrich took over. Fahrendorf continued to be involved with the organization with the title “President Emeritus.”

Teri Fahrendorf grew up in a German-American family in Wisconsin. She has a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire and earned a certificate in Brewing Technology from the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. She worked as the Brewmaster at Berkeley's Golden Gate Brewing Company in 1989 before becoming the Head Brewer at Triple Rock Brewing Company (1989-1990). She moved to Eugene to become the Brewmaster at the Steelhead Brewing Company (1990-2007) and worked as a brewing consultant before becoming a Territory Sales Manager for Country Malt/Great Western Malting (2009-2015). In September 2015, she became the Malt Innovation Center Manager at Great Western Malting. She founded the Pink Boots Society in 2007.

Laura Ulrich was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. After getting her Bachelors of Arts in English from Linwood University, she moved to Colorado and worked as a bartender in Fort Collins. Her brother’s homebrewing led her to think about beer as a career. In 2002, she took a job on the bottling line for Odell Brewing Company. She worked there until 2004, when she moved to San Diego work at Stone Brewing Company; she has held a variety of positions and is currently the Small Batch Brewer. Ulrich met Fahrendorf in 2007, at Stone Brewing Company, and was integral in the early discussions of the organization. Ulrich has held a number of key positions in the organization, including Scholarship Committee Coordinator and the SoCal/San Diego Chapter Leader. She became President of the Pink Boots Society in 2016.

Emily Engdahl was the Executive Director of the Pink Boots Society from 2013 to 2018. She grew up in Portland, Oregon. After graduating from Grant High School in 1994, she went to Southern Oregon University for a year. She returned to Portland in the late 1990s, and in 2003 graduated from Marylhurst University with a degree in Communications and a certificate in Conflict Resolution. She began home brewing in 2010, and fermentation soon became core to her work. In addition to working as a freelance graphic designer, Engdahl was the co-founder of #pdxbeergeeks, a community-based beer blog, worked as an event development coordinator for Women Enjoying Beer, was a beer blogger for "1859: Oregon's Magazine," and was the creator and owner of Oregon Beer Country.

Lisa Morrison was an early Pink Boots Society board member and founder of the Barley's Angels. She co-owns Belmont Station, a bottle shop and pub in Portland. Morrison grew up in Oklahoma and attended Colorado State University, graduating with a degree in Technical Journalism. After graduation she worked as a television news reporter and anchor, a career she continued after moving to Portland in 1989, where she worked for KOIN TV. It was at CSU that her interest in imported and local microbrews was sparked. She began home brewing with her husband and joined the Oregon Brew Crew, a large home brew club in Portland, where he met well-known brewers, journalists, and people interested in making their own beer. Her personal interest turned into a career when she offered beer education classes and wrote about beer for local and national publications. She released the book Craft Beers of the Pacific Northwest in 2011. In 2008, she started Beer O'Clock, a weekly commercial radio show on KXL, where she interviewed people from all facets of the brewing community; the show ran through 2015. In 2013, Morrison became the majority owner of Belmont Station.

Christine Jump is the Director of the Barley's Angels. She was born and raised in Covington, Kentucky, but moved between Southern California and Kentucky as a child until settling in Oregon six months before her high school graduation. Though she was “surrounded by beer culture” when she was younger, she didn’t develop an appreciation for beer until Glen Falconer, brewer at the Wild Duck in Eugene, introduced her to a style she liked. Jump was one of the original members of the Pink Boots Society and became the Barley’s Angels Director when the organizations split. During her career in the beer industry, she worked for Rogue Ales as the Portland pub manager and as the Executive Assistant to founder Jack Joyce. She also runs Craft Brew Cast, the podcast she started in 2007.

Author: Tiah Edmunson-Morton

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 7,431 files, including approximately 3,000 digital images, 145 digital video/audio files, 2 cubic feet (3 boxes)

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research

Acquisition Note: These materials were donated to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center by Teri Fahrendorf, Emily Engdahl, and Laura Ulrich in 2018.

Related Materials:

The Pink Boots Society Records are complemented by the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives Oral History Collection (OH 35), which includes interviews with women in the Pink Boots Society, as well as other industry professionals, journalists, and community members.

The Brewing and Fermentation Collection (MSS BFRC) consists of materials collected by the OSU Special Collections and Archives Research Center pertaining to the history, growth, and culture of the Pacific Northwest brewing industry, including regional hops and barley farming, commercial craft and home brewing, and craft cider and mead.

Further information regarding the values, logistics, and goals of the burgeoning regional brewing community can be found in organizational collections like the Heart of the Valley Homebrewers Records (MSS HOTV), McMenamins Brewery Collection (MSS McMenamins), and the Ninkasi Brewing Company Collection, 2012-2014 (MSS Ninkasi). The personal research collections of Fred Eckhardt (MSS Eckhardt), Pete Dunlop (MSS Dunlop), Denny Conn (MSS Conn), Fred Bowman (MSS Bowman), and Robert Daly (MSS Daly) contain additional information regarding the beer writing process and beer culture.

Collections linked to Oregon State University research, as well as other manuscript collections are described on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives research guide. More information pertaining to the history of hop growing and brewing in Oregon can be found on the Oregon Hops and Brewing Archives website.

Preferred Citation: Pink Boots Society Records (MSS PinkBoots), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Pink Boots Society Records, 2007-2019

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Administrative Information

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