Say Hi To Charlotte

What do you get when you cross a girl from Newcastle with craft beer, weird otter knowledge, a love of cats and a healthy dose of sarcasm? The answer - our junior brewer, Charlotte.

Believe it or not, Charlotte hasn't always liked beer. In fact, until the age of 20, she actually boasted an active dislike of the stuff. Thankfully today, Charlotte is a full blown craft beer convert. So much so, she decided to sack off the day job and become a brewer instead.

So how do you go from being completely disinterested in beer to working for one of the world’s most kickass breweries in a matter of months? Charlotte explains…
“I tried my first craft beer whilst on holiday in Denmark. It completely blew me away and from then on I made it my mission to try all the cool beers I could find whilst learning about beer and brewing.

“I’d found something that I loved and I decided I wanted a career in brewing, rather than following my degree which was in EU law. I haven’t looked back since.”

Working as a junior brewer, Charlotte’s job is to oversee the Brewhouse, cellaring and operating the separator; as well as balancing out the fun stuff with plenty of cleaning and making sure the brew team is well fueled with copious cups of tea.
Charlotte is one of many craft beer-lovin’ ladies who work at BrewDog but an imbalance between the number of men and women working in the industry still exists. Charlotte explains why this might be:“Being a brewer is mentally and physically demanding...the gun show at BrewDog is quite impressive to say the least. This combination of having to be a scientist, who can lift weights, fix leaky plumbing and watch computer programs like a hawk seems to be off putting to some women, but if you've got the skills and the passion for it, there is no reason why women can't be as influential as men in the brewing world." 

“In fact, there's a growing number of amazing female brewers out there. I’d recommend that people look up the Pink Boots Society in the US and Project Venus here in the UK. Melissa Cole and Marverine Cole also do a great job of making beer less blokey (AKA ‘taking the beard out of beer’), and Two Birds Brewing in Australia is an all-female brewery, which is really exciting!”

So when Charlotte’s not cleaning, or making cups of tea or spreading the otter gospel (they’re her favourite animal don’t you know!), she can be found devising new types of awesome beer…

“I love brewing new types of beer. We’ve recently started dabbling with different yeast strains. I also really like making beers with weird spices and hops; just to see how they turn out.

“We get to do loads of experimentation here at BrewDog. The only thing that’s limiting the craft beer movement as a whole is the imagination of the brewers. Luckily we’re a pretty creative bunch and the beer is only going to get better!”

For those of you who attended our AGM, you may have already had the chance to meet Charlotte in person. Charlotte was one of the crew manning the pilot brew station where we brewed an IPA live at the AGM...
“The AGM was a great day to talk to people about why they became interested in what we do, and it’s amazing to meet people with such genuine enthusiasm for your work. People had come from all over the world, and that commitment is mind blowing.

“More people should invest in Equity for Punks III because we have so many amazing plans for the next few years and, if they like what we’ve done up until now, then securing their place in that future should be a no-brainer. Plus you get to own a little bit of one of the most exciting breweries in Europe, come to the AGM and get a beer education from those on the front lines!”

You heard Charlotte – become a shareholder and get to hang out with our brew team!

So, before we go, how would Charlotte describe herself when she’s not brewing:

“Erm, probably that 'crazy cat lady'!”

You can chat otters, cats and beer with Charlotte by email – charlotte[@]brewdog[.]com. Make sure to look out for #BrewPix on our Facebook and Twitter page for more pics of our brew team too.