Breaking P.E.I.'s (beer) glass ceiling

Chelsea Meisner jokes that she's been brewing beer since she was a little kid — she helped her parents, also long-time brewers, stirring and bottling their concoctions. 

Recently, Meisner became the first woman to ever enter the annual Home Brewer's Challenge mounted by The Gahan House in Charlottetown. 

Brewing beer is just a fun, enjoyable activity and I think women are starting to realize that.— Chelsea Meisner

"The beer world and the home-brew world, it's still rather male-oriented," said Meisner, 31, a food scientist and product developer at Canada's Smartest Kitchen.

'What the heck!'

She took home second place for her original recipe smoked black IPA, which she called Bitter Nighttime. 

"I was a little nervous about it but then I just said, what the heck!" Meisner said. She didn't know she was the only woman to enter until she went to the finals, she said.

"And I was like 'Wow, that's pretty awesome,'" she said. "It kind of surprised me, but also didn't, that I was the only female to enter, so I was very excited." 

Meisner came second of four finalists, losing first place by a mere half-point. 

She's part of the all-female home-brew hobbyist group P.E.I. Brew Broads, which gets together every few months to taste and discuss beer. She also offers brew days at her home to "spread the love" of home-brewing. 

"Brewing beer is just a fun, enjoyable activity and I think women are starting to realize that," she said. Seeing other women interested in brewing "just gets me super-pumped," she said. 

'Great to have a female presence'

Meisner is a recent import from nearby Nova Scotia and spent time learning the craft in New England where she apprenticed in a micro-brewery, which was all-male. 

"I waltzed right in there and got to learn everything about small-scale brewing," she laughed. "It was great to have a female presence ... everybody welcomed me in and it wasn't even an issue at all.

"And that's what I want to see more of in the brewing world, is women being able to go in and just do what they do and not worry about the fact that they're women," she said. 

Meisner believes gender stereotypes exist in the brewing industry — she sometimes receives a "surprised reaction" when she approaches brewers to chat about beer, she said. 

But she said "I just march right through that," and those incredulous looks soon disappear. 

"It's becoming much more welcoming," she said, noting that she can talk beer for hours.

Meisner finds the beer community in general a welcoming, sharing group, laughing that "everyone's usually pretty happy!" 

'Get ready for next year'

Meisner calls her home-brew operation Lady Scotia Brewing, and is considering offering classes in home brewing, "helping people getting involved in this pastime that a lot love," she said. 

She plans to enter Gahan's competition again next year and is already scheming for the win — she is already experimenting with several new recipes.

"Get ready for next year boys!" Meisner posted to Instagram. 

She's not at a loss for ideas, she said. 

"I have these crazy ideas that come through my head, and I wonder — 'Ooh I wonder if I could turn that into a beer?' And then I sit down, put together a recipe and see what happens!" she said. 

She usually has one or two batches in progress, she said, but is planning to add more equipment so she can brew three at once. 

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