2015: A Year In Review

Hello Charlotte Beer Babes & Friends!

Another year is done, another year of enjoying craft beer, local spots, and 42 events with a host of amazing ladies & friends!

Yes, we did 42 events in 2015! We volunteered, learned about beer, explored local spots, road tripped, toured breweries, paired beer with food, brewed beer, drank, and laughed A LOT!

This was a heck of a year Babes!

We had 12 Second Saturday events, visited 14 Breweries, 9 Fundraising/Volunteering events supporting 14 different charities, and did 15 one-off events! Whew!

We had the following count of events per month: January (3); February (3); March (7); April (3); May (6); June (4); August (1); September (1); October (6); November (3); and December (3).

We learned about these styles of beer at the monthly Education Class at The Beer Growler Charlotte: Stouts, Reds & Aphrodisiacs, IPAs, Brown Ales, Saisons, Session Ales, Wheats & Hefeweizens, “Flavored” Beers, Oktoberfest Beers, Pumpkin Ales, and Sours!

We visited these breweries: Sugar Creek Brewing, Barking Duck Brewery, Olde Hickory Brewing, Catawba Brewing Company, Fonta Flora Brewing, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery (new location), Triple C Brewing, Birdsong Brewing (new location), Heist Brewery, Lenny Boy Brewing, Wooden Robot Brewery, Free Range Brewing, Red Clay Ciderworks, and Sycamore Brewing!

We also helped to raise a LOT of money for charities this year – both by helping to volunteer with events that give money to charities, and by doing our own events!
QCBF Volunteering benefiting ACEing Autism: $4000 from raffle
Power Hour for JDRF: $1085 from tips (including from CBBs!)
NC Brewers & Music Festival Volunteering: benefits Rural Hill
SouthEnd Hops Festival: benefited Chronic Illness Relief Fund in 2015!
17th Annual Charlotte Oktoberfest Volunteering: $50,000 donated to Ada Jenkins Center, Beds For Kids, Greater Charlotte SPCA, Operation Homefront-Carolinas
Carolina Raptor Center Jewelry Fundraiser: $135 donated by CBBs!
Funkonia Sour Fest Volunteering: benefiting Arts For Life for 2015!
NoDa Military Fundraiser Wort Share: $400 donated by NoDa Brewing & CBBs to support Patriot Charities & Operation Homefront-Carolinas!
CBB’s 4th Anniversary Party: $200 donated to Safe Alliance & The Butterfly Project

All in all, we helped events that donated or fundraised ourselves a total of over $58,000 this year for these great charities! Aaaamazing working all of these events this year!

Finally, we did 16 one-off events this year! We went on a road trip to Morganton & Hickory; did a Night of Nerdisms and saw a women-centric local play; did a specialized beer cocktail & food pairing brunch; did a Ladies Bar Crawl; saw a hockey game; learned about Beer Photography with Eric; Brewed Beer in teams with Lady HomeBrewers & NoDa Brewing; Showcased the Lemon Drop Hop in the AHA Hop Showcase; went to a lot of beer festivals; did a mixer with another local group; did a Beer & Wine Conversion Class with Mike of Brawley’s Beverages; went to the Renaissance Festival for BrewFest; did a Fullsteam & Fūd at Salud dinner pairing, and had our 4th Anniversary Party including a Yoga & Self-Defense Class as fundraisers!

Whew! That was quite a year ladies (& gents for some of those too)! Thank you all for helping me make this year a continuation of the success of 2014! Thank you to everyone who came out for any of the events, donated to any of the charities/fundraisers, attended any of the local beer festivals, and had fun with us!

I am so proud of everything we did in 2015 and am already planning a plethora of events (repeat and new) for 2016!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again this year, meeting new people this year, and getting a bigger and better showing for 2016 to make it our best year yet!

Slainté,
Bethany

A Beer Babes Year In Review

Hello Charlotte Beer Babes & Friends!

I wanted to summarize everything we’ve done this year, to give everyone an idea of what we’ve accomplished and participated in for 2014!

I have had the extreme pleasure of leading this group for this year, and I look forward to 2015 and expanding & continuing all of these pieces with each of you! So thank you for attending, participating, donating, and giving your feedback! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Charlotte Beer Babes at December 2014 Second Saturday Beer Education class at The Beer Growler Charlotte!

 

Monthly Beer Education:
– Winter Seasonals at World of Beer (January)
– Reds, Ryes & Romance at World of Beer (February)
– Spring Seasonals at World of Beer (March)
– Wild Yeast Saisons at World of Beer (April)
– International Beer Bottle Share at Good Bottle (May)
– Cooked With Beer Food & Bottle Share at Good Bottle (June)
– NC Beers at T.Mac University (July)
– Summer Seasonals at T.Mac University (August)
– Bottle Share at Salud Beer Shop (September)
– Bottle Share at Carolina Beer Temple (November)
– Winter Ales at The Beer Growler (December)

Brewery Visits:
(In Order): Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, Unknown Brewing, NoDa Brewing, Heist Brewery, Triple C Brewing, Birdsong Brewing, Lenny Boy Brewing, Lake Norman Brewing Company, D9 Brewing, Rock Bottom Brewery, Sycamore Brewing

One-Off Education Classes & Other Events:
– Homebrewing Education Series:
****Brewing With Babes 101 at Carolina Beer Temple with Lisa,
****Field Trip to Alternative Beverages SouthEnd (Homebrew Supplies) with Lisa & Alexa,
and
****Brew Day at NoDa Brewing (Partnership with ladies from the Carolina BrewMasters)
– Cicerone Tasting & Off-Flavor Education Class in May at Salud Beer Shop with Ben and Charles
– Beer Photography Class with Eric Gaddy at Good Bottle
– Cicerone Tasting & Off-Flavor Education Class in October at Dilworth Neighborhood Grille with Ben and Charles
– Craft Chicks Hustle Harder Event at Unknown Brewing
– Volunteered and Attended 16th Annual Charlotte Oktoberfest to benefit 3 Local Charities
– Carolina Renaissance Festival BrewFest Weekend

Quarterly Non-Profit Initiative:
Q1 – Children’s Charities
– Volunteered at Queen City Brewer’s Festival (QCBF) for Fundraising with ACEing Autism
– Power Hour Fundraising at Grapevine Wine Shop for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Q2 – Animal Charities
– Fundraising & Adoption Event at Unknown Brewing for Greater Charlotte SPCA
– Fundraising & Item Drive Event at Triple C Brewing for Humane Society of Charlotte
Q3 – Military Charities
– Fundraising & Item Drive at Bulldog Beer & Wine for Operation Homefront of the Carolinas
– Food Drive for Second Harvest Food Bank at Triple C, Lenny Boy, Olde Mecklenburg, Unknown & Rock Bottom Breweries
– Volunteered at D9 Grand Opening Event with Tips split between Operation Homefront & Second Harvest Food Bank
Q4 – Women’s Charities
– Yoga and Self-Defense Classes as Fundraisers during Charlotte Beer Babes’ 3rd Anniversary Party at Sycamore Brewing to benefit Carolina Breast Friends and Safe Alliance charities.
IN SUMMARY: We raised/helped to raise over $6500 in money and goods this year!

After actually writing this all out, now I know why I am happily tired, and was particularly so in May! 😉 This has been a blast to arrange and organize and attend while getting to know all of you and all of these great venues and charities! I hope you’ve all had as much fun with all of these pieces as I have, and I look forward to seeing you (and meeting any newbies) for our great events in 2015!

Charlotte Beer Babes at Unknown Brewing in May 2014 to support Greater Charlotte SPCA!

Updated Group Contacts:
Email
Twitter (Open To All)
Facebook Page (Open To All)
Facebook Group (Prefer Ladies Only)
Meetup Group (Prefer Ladies Only, but Open To All)
Website

Thanks for a Wonderful and Hoppy 2014, and Happy New Year (2015) to all!
Slainté, Prost, Salut, Cheers, and Thanks!
Bethany