Stories by Dylan Hochstedler & Emily Hutto

On International Women’s Day, Thirst Colorado would like to honor a few women who have made a difference in Colorado’s crafty scene. These short features were excerpted from early Thirst Colorado Magazines and provide great examples of women making a positive difference!

Billie Keithley, Liquid Chef

If it’s edible, Billie Keithley says she can create a delectable cocktail with it. The liquid chef at Breckenridge Distillery is constantly challenging herself to push the envelope with her cocktail infusions.

Keithley moved from Illinois to Breckenridge when she was 21. After stints as a lift operator and ski tech, Keithley plunged into the service industry and hasn’t looked back.

Her attitude and approach to bartending changed, she said, after attending a bartending seminar in Vail hosted by world-famous mixologist Francesco Lafranconi. She realized she wanted to demonstrate to guests that creating great cocktails was an important journey. “My passion from then has been to create cocktails and spread smiles,” she says. “It’s the best job in the universe.”

Aly Hartwig, Brewer

After moving to Colorado from small-town Nebraska, Aly Hartwig’s interests were sparked in the craft brewing industry when she met a brewer from Avery Brewing Co. at a beer fest.

“I found the small-town community I was looking for in the beer industry,” she explained.

From there, she started a women’s brewing group, Brewers Broads, and was able to score a job brewing at Pikes Peak Brewing Co. After a couple years at Pikes Peak, she took an internship in Illinois with Goose Island and then moved back to Colorado and got a job brewing with Dry Dock Brewing Co.

“The thing that excites me about my career is that I’m constantly learning more. There is always so much to learn and I love going to conferences and furthering my beer education,” Hartwig said.

She was granted the perfect opportunity to further her education when she won the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation Scholarship at Siebel Institute of Technology. In mid-July, Hartwig started a six-week course at the Siebel Institute in Illinois before she was transported to Munich, Germany, for another six-week beer education program, all part of the Falconer Scholarship she earned.

Jess Fierro, Brewer*

Jess Fierro is a full-time cosmetologist, barber and makeup artist. When she’s not displaying her creativity through cosmetology, she displays her creativity through homebrewing.

In early June, Fierro was crowned the winner of a homebrew competition put on by VICE News and California-based Golden Road Brewing. As a result, she was invited to Golden Road Brewing for a brew day, where she produced 250 barrels of her award-winning beer, Doña Neta, which was canned and nationally distributed.

“From beginning to end has been an absolute whirlwind,” Fierro explained shortly after she found out she had won the final round of the competition.

The fact that there is no cap on innovation in both brewing and the cosmetology world means everything to her.

“When you color somebody’s hair you can do it completely your own way. It’ll be exclusive to you and bring people back to you,” Fierro said.

She feels the same way about brewing. She loves experimenting with Latin ingredients and flavors, and hopes to be one of the first professional Latina brewers in Colorado.

*Fierro recently purchased Great Storm Brewing in Colorado Springs and plans to brew professionally.

Arline Kellogg, Taproom Manager

Arline Kellogg first met Eric Foster and Phil Kao, founders of STEM Ciders, while managing a homebrew shop. After getting to know Kellogg and growing accustomed to her work ethic, Foster and Kao hired her as the first employee for STEM Ciders when it opened in RiNo in early 2014.

As taproom manager, one of Kellogg’s duties is to plan events at STEM.

“I love that Eric lets me work a lot with the community. We do fundraisers or happy hours with different charities and groups around the area. We want to try and give back to the community as much as possible,” she said.

“My favorite event we do is CiderGrass. We close out the parking lot, have a stage with a band, a kids’ section and trike races. It’s my favorite event because it brings everybody together,” Kellogg said. “Overall, STEM is a good fit for me because we make it feel so much like home. Although Denver is growing, this feels like my safe place. Denver will be OK if we continue to create our communities like this.”

Julia Herz, Brewers Association Craft Beer Program Director

In 1994, Julia Herz won a membership to the American Homebrewers Association that included a subscription to Zymurgy Magazine. She had recently quit her day job at the CNN Washington, D.C., Bureau and driven her Gypsy Jetta cross-country to Boulder.

“Winning that membership from Charlie Papazian, him handing it to me and me shaking his hand, it put me on a path,” Herz said. “I was then convinced I was meant to work at the Association.”

Herz is now the Craft Beer Program Director at the Brewers Association, as well as the author of Beer Pairing: The Essential Guide from the Pairing Pros (Voyageur Press). She’s a modern-day herald for the craft beer industry, and arguably its most motivational speaker.

Lauren Woods Salazar, New Belgium Wood Cellar Director and Blender

In 1999, Lauren Woods Salazar told her boss at New Belgium Brewing that she didn’t think leaving a pitcher of beer on the bar next to a notepad for hours was the most effective way to execute a “taste panel,” as it was called back then.

With the brewery’s support, she studied at UC Davis and received a certificate in sensory science and consumer testing. She then attended brewing school and went on to develop one of the best, if not the best, sensory evaluation programs in the country.

Salazar is now the Wood Cellar Director and Blender at New Belgium. She’s one of the only professional beer blenders on this planet, and we have her to thank for a great deal of high-quality beer produced at craft breweries across the country. And let’s not forget her contributions to the American wood-aged and sour beer categories — both in method and philosophy.

Laura Lodge, Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Director

In 2000, Laura Lodge’s brother, Bill, transitioned his fledgling brewing company, High Point Brewing Corp., into a distribution company, and moved it from Denver up to the Vail Valley. There, Lodge discovered the world of craft beer (then “microbreweries and specialty beers”).

“Over time, I ended up handling the accounting, doing order entry, truck and invoice routing, loading trucks, delivering shorter routes or helping with big days, assisting with management, working with suppliers, or brewers … and coordinating a trade show for his portfolio of suppliers that turned out to be the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival,” she said.

Seventeen years strong, Big Beers is now one of the country’s most coveted beer events, and an industry leader in beer and food pairing education.

Lodge’s distribution experience also led to her authorship of the book Distribution Insight for the Craft Brewer, and speaking slots at conferences, such as the Rocky Mountain Microbrew Symposium, the Craft Brewers Conference, the Craft Beverage Expo, and the New England Craft Brew Summit. Over time, she has also assisted with the Paired event at the Great American Beer Festival and various gatherings at SAVOR. She has been the collaborative author of the Brewers Association’s Beer Server Training for Brewpubs manual, is a preferred service provider for The Craft Beer Attorney and is a Cicerone Certified Beer Server.

Lodge is now working with marketing and food and beverage teams at destination resorts, educating staff, executing events such as the “Gateway to Craft Beer” at Gateway Canyons Resort and consulting on everything from beer and food pairing to distribution for craft breweries through her company, Customized Craft Beer Programs.