Eugene weekly., June 29, 2017, Page 43, Image 43

Garves says of sexist beer labels, “I have that ability
now that I could turn away clients and say, ‘I don’t really
like that beer you make where you are telling me to take
my top off.’ That’s not the kind of beer I want to drink.
That’s not the kind of beer I want to represent me.”
Eugene Weekly: So you were a UO student. How
did you transition to where you are now?
Dana Garves: I spent four really incredible years at
Ninkasi. We sent yeast into space. Somewhere around
year three and a half or so, I started to realize how many
people were bringing beer samples to the Ninkasi lab to
be tested. These are professional commercial brewers
who felt they didn’t have any place to turn for their anal-
ysis, except for this lab that would do it for free. It got to
the point where a growler made its way across the nation
just to get tested. And that’s sort of this really big epipha-
ny that there’s something missing in this industry that is
needed, and that is something I can provide.
So leaving the benefits and the family, leaving all of
that was very terrifying, but this is what I want. This is
what drives me in the morning. I didn’t know at the time,
but Ninkasi was that springboard for me.
What services does your beer lab offer?
Now I only focus on commercial brewers, because
they are the ones who want to have their beers tested and
have to have their beers tested to follow federal and state
regulation. I do pretty much the all analysis that is for
your final product. You can send in your final beer prod-
uct with the same bottle you are going to ship out or the
same keg you are going to put on draft.
I also do education of commercial brewers and learn-
ing how to create a sensory panel to test your beer in a
way that is analytical and not necessary subjective. I also
do consumer education, so people can come in and learn
how to taste a beer professionally and go through steps of
drinking a beer with a critical eye.
In such a male-dominated industry, what
does it mean to you to be a woman in the craft
beer industry?
I’m a pretty vocal feminist. I don’t hide that in any
way, and I have never felt in this industry I have to hide
it. The issue where my gender comes into play is so
nuanced that it’s difficult to have a conversation with
another woman who is in a male-dominated field that
isn’t beer.
The sexism I face in this industry is label-related ––
what’s on the beer, what it’s called, why that lady is half-
naked? For instance, I have this client who I have been
working with for two or three years, and they handed me
this one sample, and it has a pretty offensive name. The
brewery said, “Hey, this is the working name for this
beer.” But it’s a sexist comment. And I looked at them
and asked, “Is this what you think of me?”
“Well, no, why would you say that?”
“Well, I’m a woman, and this beer is named some-
thing that’s derogatory towards women so, you know, can
you change that?”
They apologized as soon as I pointed it out –– the
working title got thrown out the window, then I got an
apology email from the owner.
I think the sexism issue is going to arise, but my job
as an individual and a female is to calmly point it out,
“Hey, that’s kind of sexist!” “That kind of thing insults
me and everything I do. Sure you don’t want to rethink
this?” And the result is they are very amenable. Brewers
want to learn, they want to change and they don’t want to
be Budweiser. You don’t have to bring down the whole
gender to sell beer, man.
I also face sexism when brewers doubt my results –– I
do have this initial concern that maybe it’s about my gen-
der, that maybe there’s a distrust there because — women
in beer, women in beer science. That’s a big leap for a lot
of people to take, but luckily in this industry, word of
mouth is a very strong bond, and I have so many great
brewers who know me and my work ethic and integrity.
They know that if I mess up, I’ll tell you, and I’ll change
it and make it better. So it’s not the brewers I have to
convince, it’s the casual drinkers.
When I tell people I work in beer, they would assume
I work at a tap house, serve beer or in marketing. I think
the people outside the industry are the biggest barrier
when it comes to my gender. Within the industry, it’s
labels, and it’s a big battle.
Do you see any stereotypes about women in
the industry? How are you fighting them?
It’s interesting because there are not a lot of us
[women]. One of the things that I notice in this industry
is that rumors are very common, but generally negative
rumors happen about women. Something I have noticed
and picked up on is that if you don’t know a female
brewer and you just know of her, it’s possible there are
negative rumors you have heard about her. “She’s a
bitch.” “I heard she slept with this one brewer.” I’ve
never heard that said about a male brewer.
If someone gives me a negative account of anyone,
I’ll say, “Let me find out for myself how I feel about this
person before you give me a spoiler alert.”
We fight it the same way we fight sexism everywhere
else: trusting our fellow females and distrusting the patri-
archy. I have had brewers contact me and say, “I experi-
enced this sexist comment and I didn’t know how to
stand up for that woman. What can I do?”
Those brewers, who know this is wrong but don’t
know what the steps are, are the best –– the fact that they
recognize this is fucked up, that they are able to identify
that something’s wrong. I’ll say, “Just say something,
that’s it. Squash it, right there.”
But understand that these are isolated events that I’ve
accrued in the past seven years –– it’s not prevalent; it’s
not rampant. And those brewers who do make those com-
ments, who are extremely sexist, they don’t stay in favor
very long. I feel like they get outed pretty quick, and peo-
ple don’t want to work with them. I don’t.
BORN AT THE BEACH
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