Ale was an acquired taste for Astrid Hewitt, one of the UK’s few female brewers. Andy Walker found out more over a pint.

DEPENDING on what shift she’s on, the working day can begin as early as 7am for Astrid Hewitt, the only woman on the Black Sheep Brewery’s close-knit production team.

She joined the Masham business on an industrial placement after leaving university in July 1996, and has never looked back.

In the past 14 years, Ms Hewitt has worked her way up, earning the job title of brewer – her industry’s middle management – earlier this year.

Early starts mean kicking off that day’s brew, which starts with “mashing up”, the process of mixing milled malt with brewing water.

Her other responsibilities include reviewing sales figures and ensuring sufficient levels of stock to meet delivery commitments to traders.

“There are also lab samples to look at,” said Ms Hewitt, clearly someone who relishes the hands-on nature of her job. “We haven’t got a fully equipped laboratory here at Black Sheep. But we’re working on it.”

Ms Hewitt works alongside fellow brewer Phil Douglas, under head brewer Alan Dunn.

Her other close colleagues, all male, include five production brewers, eight fermenting room staff, three engineers and four staff whose joyous job it is to fill the casks full of freshly-brewed Black Sheep beer.

Despite her evident passion for real ale, brewing beer has not been a lifelong calling for Ms Hewitt. She once harboured ambitions to become a doctor, following in her father’s footsteps.

“I was not quite bright enough for medical school”, she admitted, with startling honesty.

She quickly ruled out biochemistry and microbiology as university course subjects, as well as realising with sadness that her next choice, viticulture – the study of “wine science” – was not on offer as a degree course at any UK universities.

A stroke of luck set her off on her path to Black Sheep.

“I wasn’t quite sure what to study at university,” she explained.

“My stepmother suggested viticulture, but it wasn’t available.

“That’s when I found out about the brewing course – it was next in the catalogue of courses I was browsing through.

“I already had the required chemistry and biology background.

So you could say that brewing found me.”

A four-year course in brewing and distilling, at Herriot-Watt University, in Edinburgh, during the mid-1990s, was the result of that fervent cataloguebrowsing.

Those university days prepared Ms Hewitt for her future as one of the few women in a male-dominated environment.

“There were only two girls out of the 12 or 14 of us on the course,” she recalled. “It was a good group, though. Most of us have stayed in brewing.”

Working in a predominantly male workplace has held few, if any, fears for the 35-yearold.

“To be honest,” she confided, “I get on much better with groups of blokes than groups of women.

“Because I started at the bottom and worked my way up, they do not have too many problems being shouted at by me.”

While Black Sheep has quadrupled in size during Ms Hewitt’s 14 years on board – it can brew 1,800 barrels of beer a week at full capacity, compared to just 400 in 1996 – the number of women in the profession has also increased.

“I think that the older generation of brewers has accepted us well and the industry has to change in order to appeal to a broader market,” said Ms Hewitt.

“The staff here are so passionate about their product and every day throws up different challenges.

“I really couldn’t do a regular desk job.”

While brewing beer is an acquired passion for Ms Hewitt, can the same be said for her enjoying a foamy pint or two?

“I guess so,” she admitted. “I was always a wines and spirits girl until I started working in this industry.”

That background belies her obvious learned passion for beer, a subject on which Ms Hewitt could probably talk all day.

When asked to name her favourite beer, her answer could best be described as comprehensive.

“I particularly like Summer Lightning, a summer ale by the Wiltshire-based Hop Back brewery,” she mused, before quickly adding: “And our beers, of course, they are pretty well up there.

“Black Sheep Best Bitter is a good, refreshing session beer, with plenty of flavour.

“And Magus, which is produced by the Durham Brewery; I quite like that too.

“I will drink pretty much anything as long as it doesn’t taste of aniseed.”

Her first taste of beer, as a youngster, came from taking sips of an internationallyrecognised and popular product, which she decried as “mass-produced rubbish”.

But that attitude does not extend to all well-known brands.

“Peroni (an Italian beer) is a good brew and some of the Belgian beers are very good, particularly Duvel.”

The obvious conclusion to draw from all of this is that Ms Hewitt not only knows her industry inside out, but has a keen idea of what she does and does not like.

And what might the future hold for Black Sheep’s ambitious, knowledgeable female brewer?

“I am quite happy where I am for now,” she said. “If they did want to promote me, we would have to see. But that could be a way down the line yet.”

● For more information, call 01765-689227 or visit black sheepbrewery.com.