Women of WoT
KELLY SIDGWICK
GOOD CHEMISTRY BRISTOL
“Everyone is welcome at our pub all the time”
Tell us a bit about yourself and your role in the beer world?
My name is Kelly and I run Good Chemistry Brewing in Bristol, with my partner Bob. We started our 10BBL brewery in 2015 with the aim of creating good chemistry in its broadest sense, not just in the quality of the beer we brew but using that to celebrate community and relationships across things like science, the arts, music, food and social experiences, as well as beer and brewing. We’re now a team of ten at the brewery, with our onsite taproom in East Bristol open over the summer, and also our pub, The Good Measure, up in north Bristol.
What inspired you to start Good Chemistry?
I was running a festival-based elderflower drinks business and Bob was looking to get out of boring temp work after graduating in Environmental Science. He was home-brewing, and we both wanted to do something more with our degrees, skills, experiences and interests.
Tell us a little about “She Drinks Beer”, and why you set it up?
I’ve run ‘Women In Beer’ events at our pub The Good Measure and our taproom for years,including for International Women’s Day every year.As I’m not a brewer I don’t feel able to run an IWCBD brewday, but what I can do is welcome people to ourspaces to share in these events. But I’d wanted toset up a regular evening at the pub for women whoenjoy beer for ages, so once the pub was open againafter the lockdowns I just thought “right, I’m doing it!”and got on with it! It’s the only event of its kind inBristol, if not more widely, and it’s just about regularly welcoming people to a pub space where you can look around and see mostly other women! No one is unwelcome on these evenings of course, which run one Tuesday a month every month, so you will see men in the pub too, but to have a place women can come and know other women will make up the majority of the other drinkers is fab. We also serve majority women-brewed or women-owned breweries’ beers that night as well, although it’s a common theme at all times generally. It’s a great opportunity to meet other women who enjoy beer, women working in the beer and brewing industry, or just to come and hang out with your own women friends and have a few drinks! The next one is Tues 10th May, and dates and more details can be found on our website: https://goodchemistrybrewing.co.uk/events-2/
'I’d wanted to set up a regular evening at the pub for women who enjoy beerfor ages, so once the pub was open again after the lockdowns I just thought;
“Right, I’m doing it!”'
What is your favourite thing about hosting these events and have you faced any challenges?
I just love being in my pub, and looking across and seeing our amazing Beth behind the bar and mostly women sitting and chatting, drinking beer, having a lovely time, enjoying our She Drinks Beer playlist (check it out if you like! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4uQW4cbGsvqWdaHurXlp4F?si=c9703867cf6e4daf) and being in a pub with other women.
Challenges: We have had a few times where men have (sometimes jokingly, sometimes seriously as they don’t want to intrude) asked if they can come to the pub on SDB evenings. We always say of course you are – everyone is welcome at our pub all times, and SDB is no exception. Other than that it’s just been about getting the word out, but these things take time to build, and it is growing, which is great. The main thing about it being every month is that it doesn’t matter if you miss one – you can always come to future ones!
Tell us about someone in the industry that inspires you, or just deserves a shout out?
Both Bob and I really admire the way Mark Tranter has run Burning Sky (one of our favourite breweries -https://www.burningskybeer.com) over the last nine years. He seems a really principled man with strong ideas about how to conduct his business and ensure a positive work environment for his team.They also make amazing beer across keg and cask, and now can, and produce a really interesting range of special bottles too.
Most important question.
What is your favourite beer you’ve made so far and what's your favourite beer to drink right now (yours or someone else's)?
Wow, this is a tough question! Not only have we brewed a lot of beers over the last six and a half years, but it’s hard to choose a favourite! I think I’d probably go for my favourite of ours as being Pure Optimism, our 4.2% pithy session-strength IPA, hopped with Mosaic, Citra and Cascade. We first brewed it in Oct 2020when we got our canning line and it was designed to give a bit of positivity to a pretty rubbish time. Part ofthe design on our cans are tongue-in-cheek pairings, and the ones for Pure Optimism are ‘Hopefulness’, ‘Thankfulness’ and ‘Resilience’, and we really feel this sums up our journey, not only through covid, but throughthe last seven years.
So I reckon I’d choose to drink Pure Optimism, and live by its message, right now – Cheers!
Buy Good Chemistry Brewing’s beers direct here: https://shop.goodchemistrybrewing.co.uk
Good Chemistry Brewing’s website: : https://goodchemistrybrewing.co.uk/
The Good Measure can be found on social media
She Drinks Beer can be found on Good Chemistry Brewing’s website and on Facebook
