SIBA PARTNER WITH GLOBAL WOMEN’S DAY BREWING EVENT SET TO RETURN IN 2025
Women On Tap CIC is the new organiser of International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day (IWCBD) and after a year off, the global initiative will make a comeback in 2025 with the theme UNITE SOCIETY.
The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) is the campaign’s headline partner, with WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) onboard as an Education Partner, and additional sponsorship pledged from Simpsons Malt.
Originally founded in 2014 by Burnt Mill Head Brewer, Sophie de Ronde, the campaign encourages women in the beer industry, those brewing at home, and local communities to come together and create new beers to mark International Women’s Day.
From 2014 to 2023, IWCBD provided a central theme and platform on which to bring together all the IWD brew day projects onto one map. While a number of International Women’s Day brewing events happened in 2024, there was no central IWCBD campaign to bring them all together.
Women On Tap CIC will take on the coordination and publicity of IWCBD for 2025 as an independent delivery lead with a few small adjustments.
Taking inspiration from the Brave Noise campaign, commercial breweries are now encouraged to commit to a donation to a non-profit women’s organisation or group at sign-up stage. The suggested minimum donation is £100, or the brewery can instead donate a percentage of profits from the IWD beer sales over and above the minimum amount.
Women On Tap Founder, Rachel Auty, says it’s important these initiatives have a lasting positive impact beyond the event itself:
“IWCBD is a brilliant project, and there’s an opportunity to capitalise on its legacy, by driving tangible support for the causes and campaigns that work hard to make the beer industry more diverse and inclusive, and in turn, commercially resilient. With the main theme for International Women’s Day 2025 being #AccelerateAction, with a call-to-action for all IWD 2025 events to include an element of women-focused fundraising, we believe we can help generate thousands of pounds to enable more of this vital work.”
Participating breweries are welcome to choose a cause that is local, known, or personally important to them, as long as it is a relevant non-profit women’s cause with a beer diversity mission. A suggested list of such groups will also be provided for those who would like guidance on this, and a sign-up form has been launched inviting nominations for this list.
The IWCBD campaign will champion all the participating organisations alongside the causes that are supported.
IWCBD founder, Sophie, who chose the IWCBD theme for 2025, says the campaign is in safe hands:
“After a year off planning and organising IWCBD, I am delighted to have been in discussions with Rachel at Women On Tap, who is now leading the coordination of the long established event. IWCBD has been a passion project and achieved all that it was set up to achieve, it was and always will be an autonomous event encouraging women and other minorities to get involved with beer. WOT has achieved great things since its establishment in 2017 and I am thrilled that they want to continue with the initiative and take it to the next level.”
Neil Walker, SIBA Head of Comms & Marketing, added:
“SIBA are proud to be partnering with Women On Tap to support the International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day, bringing people together to brew a diverse range of world-class beers. Our own industry research released in 2024 shows the shortcomings of the beer industry in attracting and promoting more women to join the brewing industry, particularly in senior brewing and leadership roles, and we hope this collaboration will be the start of a long future working together to improve the beer industry for everyone.”
The main campaign will launch in early January. For more, go to www.iwcbd.org
To get involved in the activities email rachel@womenontap.co.uk
About IWCBD
Founded in 2013 by Sophie de Ronde, Head Brewer at Burnt Mill Brewery, Suffolk, UK, International Women’s Collaboration Brew Day is a worldwide annual event that takes place on and around March 8th every year in conjunction with International Women’s Day.
Brewery teams and home brewers come together with their communities and local groups to celebrate women in the beer industry, and to create and release collaboration beers, raising funds for women’s causes.
The brew days generally take place on the 8th March, but some happen at other times around this date.
For ten years (2014-2023) IWCBD provided a central theme and platform to bring together all the IWD brew day projects onto one map, under one brand, and into one marketing campaign.
In 2024, the campaign was taken on by Women On Tap CIC.
About Women On Tap CIC
Founded in 2017, Women On Tap CIC is on a gender equality mission with a focus on the UK beer industry.
They are pioneers of initiatives that champion women through a programme of activism including events, campaigns, and arts commissions with one clear message – women belong in beer.
Women On Tap CIC is a registered trademark, certified social enterprise and not-for-profit and to date has delivered more than 100 events and 7 festivals.
About SIBA
SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates, was established in 1980 to represent the interests of the growing number of independent breweries in Britain.
SIBA currently represents over one thousand independent breweries, supplier companies, associate brewing members and Homebrewers
Most recently they launched the Indie Beer campaign, which makes it easier for beer drinkers to discover truly independent breweries across the UK.
About WSET
WSET (Wine & Spirit Education Trust) is the global leader in drinks education. Founded in 1969, and recognised by the awarding body Ofqual, they have awarded over 1.5 million people with a qualification since inception.
The courses are open to both industry professionals and interested enthusiasts who can take them across four levels, from one-day beginner to expert level diploma. Available in more than 15 languages and in over 70 countries, WSET qualifications have a strong reputation worldwide as the industry standard for knowledge. In the last academic year (2023/24) 134,000 candidates sat for a WSET qualification. Follow WSET on Instagram and LinkedIn
About Simpsons Malt
Simpsons Malt, a fifth-generation family business founded in 1862, specialises in producing premium-quality malt for the brewing and distilling industries. The company operates two state-of-the-art maltings in Berwick-upon-Tweed and Norfolk, collectively producing over 250,000 tonnes of malt annually.
Their malts are made from high-quality UK-grown barley and are known for their exceptional flavour and consistency.
Committed to sustainability and innovation, Simpsons Malt maintains full traceability of its products and collaborates with renowned global whisky and beer brands. Their dedication to quality has earned them a reputation as leaders in the malting industry.
Contact rachel@womenontap.co.uk
