Oskar Blues Debuts Female-Powered Beer: SHE’Boogie Bop

Lyons, CO – On the heels of tomorrow’s International Women’s Day, Oskar Blues Brewery is pumped to announce the debut of SHE’Boogie Bop, a limited-release lavender vanilla cream ale. Brewed by women, it will be available at Colorado taproom and restaurant locations starting March 13. 

Cream ale is a distinctly American style ale known for being light, crisp and balanced. The lady brew crew used a grain bill including corn, wheat and pilsner malt; then they got weird with it – adding real vanilla beans and lavender after fermentation. The music of Prince played while they worked, for added inspiration and style points.

Brewer Diana Locatelli said, “It’s pretty obvious that the production-side of brewing is male-dominated. I think ladies-only day was a rad way to celebrate being brew chicks. We had a lot of fun making SHE’Boogie Bop.” Using their collective beer prowess to rock the Lyons brewbarn, they created a beer that’s crisp and slightly sweet, with herbal notes from the lavender. 

Along with Locatelli, the team included Cellar workers Kristin Hubbard and Sara Laurienti, and Brewers’ Assistant Lauren Laquerre. All four women started out as homebrewers who have now translated their passion for great craft beer into jobs in the industry. Laurienti has been with the Oskar Blues family since she was 16 years old, Locatelli and Hubbard are both coming up on their two-year anniversary milestones with the company, and Laquerre recently joined Longmont production. The project was hosted by Head Brewer Juice Drapeau at the original Lyons brewpub.

The four Colorado production workers are usually scheduled for different shifts and rarely get to work together, so a ladies-only brew day was an unprecedented chance for them to chill. From brainstorming to recipe-building and execution, they collaborated to bring SHE’Boogie Bop to life. “I just wanted to hang out with my girls,” said Hubbard. “We’re constantly surrounded by dudes and I thought it’d be cool to bring us together for the learning experience.”

Following the sage advice of Prince in the song “Cream,” and coincidentally an unofficial mission statement of Oskar Blues Brewery, they made the rules then broke ‘em all. Try a funky and refreshing pint of SHE’Boogie Bop starting March 13 at one of Oskar Blues’ Colorado locations including the Tasty Weasel Taproom, Homemade Liquids & Solids, Lyons’ Grill & Brew, Chuburger, Chuburger RiNo and Cyclhops Bike CANtina.—

Special CANnouncement: Calling all female brewers: present your ID (AHA card, business card, or something else official-looking) to get one pint of SHE’Boogie Bop FREE at the Longmont Tasty Weasel Taproom while supplies last.