Queer Brewing: Drink Beer, Do Good!

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I have been wanting to write about the Queer Brewing project for a little while now, having heard little bits and pieces about their work since 2020 when a good friend pointed me in their direction. In a nutshell and taken directly from their own mission statement: 

"THE QUEER BREWING PROJECT WAS SET UP TO PROVIDE VISIBILITY FOR LGBTQ+ PEOPLE IN AND AROUND BEER, AND TO BUILD COMMUNITY, ADVOCATE FOR LGBTQ+ RIGHTS, AND RAISE MONEY FOR VITAL LGBTQ+ CHARITIES. LED BY BEER WRITER, PHOTOGRAPHER, AND CERAMICIST LILY WAITE, THE PROJECT HAS SO FAR BREWED OVER 30 BEERS IN 5 DIFFERENT COUNTRIES AND HAS RAISED THOUSANDS OF POUNDS FOR SOME INCREDIBLE AND IMPORTANT CHARITIES."

The beer industry, much like many other industries (and as you can probably imagine), is heavily dominated by cisgender, heterosexual, male voices. Oh, the surprise! Enter Lily Waite. She is the founder of Queer Brewing and is on a mission to change all that. Up until recently, Queer Brewing as a brand was a solo effort from Lily working particularly in collaboration with other breweries. 

For me personally, it is wonderful to see small businesses like these enter industries that you wouldn't necessarily associate with the LGBTQ+ community. Sure, the LGBTQ+ community drinks beer the same way everyone else does. However, in terms of visibility and that thing I talk about a lot, representation, it is both inspiring and really important that our community has a voice, especially in those industries where LGBTQ+ people have historically been shut out. Quite often, as a result of that visibility and representation, it helps facilitate change even outside of a specific industry.

It could be said that a real "big break" for the Queer Brewing project came in the form of a ground-breaking program from Manchester brewery (and already one of my favourites), Cloudwater. Cloudwater makes fantastic beers themselves and is heavily focused on diversity and inclusion in their business. Owner and Managing Director Paul Jones is very clear on his position, "If our privilege doesn’t create a platform that we can hand over to folk with less privilege than us, I don’t think we’ll sleep easy with ourselves. Certainly not now. Nor in the years to come." The Wayfinder Program is designed to share Cloudwater resources with a new generation of visionaries and affect change both within the craft beer industry and beyond. In order to bring about that change, the program has sought to bring in talent that had previously been shut out. Lily Waite and her Queer Brewing Project are the first participants in this Wayfinder program. If you want to read a little bit more about the program, you can do so HERE. From this program, Lily has been able to double her workforce (to two) and launch the new Queer Brewing 'core range' of beers.

If you follow any of my other social media you will know that I do love a beer and more specifically a good beer. Now, I will say I am in no way an expert on beer but on the flip side of that, since downloading the Untappd app back in September 2016, I have tried just shy of 900 unique beers. That means I have certainly tried enough to know what I like and what I don't. I have also got a bit better at picking out different flavour profiles in beers and so on. I have a long way to go on that front which I hope to rectify at some point this year with some proper beer tasting courses. Nevertheless, with the launch of the Queer Brewing core range, I was pretty adamant about supporting them and trying the beers. I wouldn't class this as a review by any stretch, like I say, I'm not quite at the level of proficiency for that. However, I will share my thoughts through my 'amateur' level beer tasting, which may encourage you to give these a try for yourself. 

Flowers - 4% ABV

I started off with the lowest ABV of the three, a Witbier called Flowers. I quite enjoy a Witbier and being a Belgian style it does always make me think of trips around Europe with friends. Flowers lives up to the 'standards' of a Witbier and was certainly what I was expecting. It had a slightly peppery but flowery smell to me but tasted distinctly like one of those foam bananas from a sweet shop. I also found there was a very slight smokiness to it, which reminded me of one of my favourite beers, Leffe. I particularly enjoyed it and wrote down in my notes "could drink a lot" which basically means I think this could quite easily be 'sessionable'.

Tiny Dots - 4.5% ABV

Next up was the Pilsner, Tiny Dots. A Pilsner is a type of pale lager and I must confess is not my favourite style of beer. I can enjoy them, particularly in the summer months in a beer garden (or my own given the last 12 months) but it wouldn't always be something I seek out. That being said, I actually really enjoyed this. I found that it wasn't too gassy which is very much welcomed as I don't like excessively gassy beers! I found it to be slightly floral, light and very refreshing, again, with a very very slight smokiness. I could absolutely picture myself sitting in the garden with friends, in the heat of the summer with a barbecue on the go drinking a lot of these!

Existence As A Radical Act - 5% ABV

Generally speaking, Pale Ale is generally a go-to for me. It is probably my most frequently tasted style, whether that be an IPA or a more American Pale. The spectrum of Pale Ales is quite wide so it makes sense that I seem to drink quite a lot of them. 'Existence' very much embodies the things that I love about the style, hazy and packed full of flavour. This had a real fruity taste and I could particularly taste the mango and tangerine in it. Much like the previous two, this is another that I could happily drink a lot of, perhaps a little later in the evening after the barbecue is done and the music is getting louder. I would also say this was my favourite of the three. And another thing, completely unrelated to the taste, I love the name of this beer! When being 'out' was previously and perhaps, even now, still is seen as 'radical', this is the perfect beer for standing proud. 

As core ranges go, I would say that Queer Brewing has nailed it in these three beers. In a world where craft beer is very much on-trend and the LGBTQ+ community is frequently used as a marketing tool with products that aren't very good at all, these beers were even better than I could have hoped for. All three are very good examples of their respective styles. In my humble opinion, they have also and most certainly earned a place alongside any of the craft breweries that you see wherever you buy your craft beer. I genuinely hope to see them available in at least one of the major supermarkets one day as I would quite readily enjoy all three again (oh and I will be!). For now, though, I will continue to order these from online stores because I now feel like my fridge should always have some queer beer in it! I can't wait to see what the future holds for the Queer Brewing Project. I for one will be supporting them all the way.

If you want to find out more about the Queer Brewing Project you can head over to their website HERE and I also recommend showing them your support by following over on their socials: Instagram and Twitter

I purchased the beers (no, they were not gifted!) from the Cloudwater website HERE but there is also a list of stockists HERE. Honestly, I really recommend you go give them a try.

Thanks for stopping by and reading x



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