Posted By: Stevie Caldarola
It’s back! We’ve had a bit of a hiatus from this interview series, but I am excited to announce its return, due to popular demand!
As the president of Ladies of Craft Beer, I get the pleasure of meeting many amazing women who are a part of the craft beer industry. Each woman has great stories and amazing insight into the world of craft beer. This has inspired me to start a “Women in Beer” interview series. Whether brewing, blogging, selling, marketing, or advocating craft beer, women from all over the industry will answer the following ten questions to share with your their thoughts and experiences with craft beer. I hope that these little glimpses into the minds of these great women will inspire you.
If you know or have heard of a woman in the craft beer community that you think deserves to be highlighted in this series, please send me your suggestion(s).
Cheers!
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Ashley Rose Salvitti is the owner of Brewvana: Portland Brewery Tours in Portland, Oregon.
Ashley at Upright on a tour
1. What was your first beer experience?
I’ve always been spoiled with great beer. In high school my Dad had the fridge stocked with Dogfish Head and growlers from the local brewery. When I was old enough to serve beer, he encouraged me to get a job at the brewery in the neighboring town and so I did. It was then that I began drinking craft beer almost everyday, and my love has grown from there.
2. What do you do in the beer industry?
After serving delicious craft beer for over 10 years, I decided to take my passion for beer to the next level by creating the Ultimate Beer Tour Experience in Portland, Oregon. My title is Beer Lover, and Owner of Brewvana: Portland Brewery Tours. Being a Brewvana Tour Guide is the funnest job ever- I get to hang out with people that are having a great time and talk about beer!!!! It allows me to share what I know and love about beer: the brewing process and the history and culture of the brewing industry in Portland with the world. The business aspect of Brewvana is a different story. I’m learning.
3. If you homebrew, what is your favorite beer to brew and why? What is your favorite beer to drink and why?
Ashley at Louisville Beer Festival in Kentucky
I’ve only brewed beer once during Brewvana’s Fresh HOP Tour. First we went to Goschie Farms and met Gayle Goschie and got a tour of her Hop Farm, and Hop House. She gave us 2 huge bags of hops to take back to Portland to brew with. We stopped for lunch at Seven Brides Brewery, where we got a brewery tour from one of the owners, and then we went back to Portland U Brew to brew our first ever beer. I named it: Brewvana’s Fresh HOP Complete Hoppiness IPA. I had to cater to the NW beer drinkers by brewing a super hoppy beer. We dry hopped it with dried whole flower nugget hops. It was Ah-mazing! I almost didn’t believe that the beer I was tasting was the beer that I brewed. I haven’t brewed since, but I would like to soon!!!
My favorite beer to drink is the one I’ve been waiting a long time for…. like the one I get to drink after work! I’m much better at my job when I’m sober, but after talking about beer all day, I get REALLY thirsty. My favorite beer to drink is after an amazing tour.
4. What is/was your favorite beer event to attend, and why?
Ashley and best friend Liv
The best beer event I’ve attended was the Louisville Beer Festival. The reason it stands out to me is because it was a gift from my best friend Liv, and also because I was there with her, my boyfriend Jason and my Dad. Three people that are very important to me in my life that I don’t spend a lot of time with year round. Add beer to the mix and I’m a SUPER happy girl! PLUS, it was when I discovered pretzel necklaces for the first time! Now I hand make one for each person that comes on my tour!
5. Have you taken any tasting and/or brewing courses? What are your thoughts on such courses?
Nope: but I teach them! On each of my tours I lead a brief Beer 101 where I talk about the ingredients in beer and the brewing process on a very basic level. I pass out Beer Journals that includes
some tasting tips, helpful hints on food and beer pairings, beer terminology and more. I include some words that can be used to describe beer, and remind them that theres NO wrong way to drink beer…. except to spit it out!!!! I make it easy for the novice to understand, and create an environment where they feel comfortable talking about beer. I think educating people is an important component of the Ultimate Beer Tour Experience.
6. What advice do you have for anyone interested in getting into your aspect of the beer industry?
Being a Beer Tour Guide is the FUNNEST job ever. And if you aren’t having fun, you’re doing it wrong! Enjoy every second of it. If you are starting your own brewery tour business, please remember that it is a LOT of
The boys and the hop princess
work. If you have a life that you care about (family, friends, kids), be ready to give them up. This WILL be YOUR newborn baby that you cannot prepare for, or care more about. If you have the passion, then GO for it! Best of luck if you do decide to, keep on keeping on, and call me if you need me. Just don’t do it in Portland.
7. What beer would you want to brew/ want to see brewed?
Hmmm.. Thats a good question. Everyone’s done all the cool stuff before. Burnside just did a Peanut Butter Cup beer that was delicious!! I don’t know. A chick pea beer? Like… hummus beer? That would be weird, but awesome.
8. What has been your hardest challenge in the industry? What has been your greatest success?
The most difficult challenge has been getting people on my bus. I knew when I started Brewvana that I had a great thing going on, and everyone should HOP on the bus because it’s so much fun. But if no one knows about it, no one gets on the bus and you fail. Spreading the word, putting myself out there, and introducing people to Brewvana- marketing has been my biggest challenge. Greatest success: taking what I love to do and making it my job. It’s really cool to be doing something totally fun that you’re really good at as well as to know that you created that job for yourself! I took that idea and I made it a reality. That’s pretty awesome… that’s my biggest success.
Tour group and bus after a successful tour
9. Tell us your most fun beer story.
My most fun beer story is probably on Brewvana’s Inaugural Tour when we hijacked the beer goddess on our 2nd stop. I was happy at first just to run into her on our special day. There she was sitting at the bar when we walked in! I gave her a great big hug and introduced her to the guests on the tour. As we were leaving, we yelled out the window for her to HOP on… and she did!!!! My hero, Lisa Morrisson aka The Beer Goddess rode with us to the Laurelwood where we had lunch, as she read us stories from her book Craft Beer’s of the Pacific Northwest. Shane Watterson put on the HOP hat for the occasion and head brewer Chad Kennedy invited us into the cooler for a special tasting of 3 different super special release beers. I wasn’t even drinking and I was having the time of my life!! The inaugural tour ended in Lisa Morrison’s kitchen, as she poured me a Workhorse IPA off of one of her kitchen taps. I couldn’t be more happy.
10. What is your take on the craft beer industry? What is your favorite thing about it? What could stand improvement?
The craft beer industry is booming and such an amazing thing to be a part of. My favorite thing about the industry are the people. The enthusiasm, the cooperation, the encouragement, creativity, open-mindedness, friendliness, willingness, devotedness and love that goes into the craft makes this industry so much fun to be a part of!
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