The Women's Euro football tournament has kicked off, and the atmosphere in Martigny is electric! The WhiteFrontier Taproom has become an official fan zone in partnership with Martigny Sport. It's the perfect opportunity to celebrate not only the players, but also women in another field often perceived as masculine: beer.

In a special feature in Culture Bière, Carole, co-director of WhiteFrontier, looks back at the forgotten (and fascinating) history of women brewers and the initiatives that are now giving women back their place in the world of brewing. It's an engaging, joyful and, above all, refreshing episode.

Yes, the first brewers were women

If you associate beer with masculinity, think again: the first people to brew beer were women.

In Mesopotamia, more than 4,000 years ago, women made beer in their homes. The goddess of beer, Ninkasi, was female.

In Europe, until the Middle Ages, alewives — often widows or independent women — brewed beer to feed their families and sell in the village. They wore pointed hats to stand out at the market and hung brooms on their doors to signal that beer was for sale. Today, these symbols are associated with witches!

When patriarchy began to ferment

Everything changed in the industrial era. As soon as beer became a business driven by profit and volume, women were gradually excluded from the process.

Brewing became professionalised, women were excluded from guilds and, in some cases, accused of witchcraft for fermenting mixtures in cauldrons. The image of the witch may well have been that of a brewer.

These are not historically proven facts in every case, but the social and economic context makes this hypothesis plausible: independent women were a threat, and it was easier for men to discredit them than to make better beer.

And today? A still very male-dominated world

In 2025, beer remains a predominantly male environment, particularly on the production side:

• Less than 10% of technical positions in Swiss breweries are held by women.
• On the other hand, they are increasingly present in professions such as tasting, sommeliering, communication, sales and beer journalism.

Internationally, inspiring figures are emerging:

• Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery) has launched a scholarship to support black women in the beer industry.
• In France, Élodie Carpentier, founder of Biérocratie, is campaigning for a more inclusive brewing culture.

WhiteFrontier is committed to diversity

In Martigny, the WhiteFrontier brewery is taking concrete action:

• 26% of the team is made up of women, although no technical positions are yet held by women due to a lack of applications.
• In 2023, WhiteFrontier launched a scholarship to train a Swiss female beer sommelier.
• A collaborative beer, Zytho, has been brewed with female entrepreneurs from the Valais region. The name, the recipe and the label were all co-created.

And the clichés quickly fall away: during the Zytho brewing session, some of the participants admitted to preferring bitter West Coast IPAs, contrary to the image of sweet or fruity beers often associated with women.

‘I drink an IPA like I drink an espresso: straight, dry, no frills.’

A quote that sums up the spirit of this generation of women... and brewers.

An inclusive and festive fan zone for the Women's Euro

Throughout July, the Taproom WhiteFrontier will be transformed into an official fan zone to support the Swiss women's team and all the teams taking part.

On the programme:

• Match broadcasts on a giant screen
• Grilled food, burgers, artisan ice cream
• More than 20 beers on tap
• A beer garden with pétanque
• A chill-out area to relax with friends or family

But above all, a strong desire to celebrate women. Those who score goals, lead projects, brew, undertake, taste, train and innovate.

The message we want to send is that beer has no gender. It has taste, culture and history.

And that history also belongs to those who have been forgotten. So let's raise our glasses to Ninkasi, to the alewives, to the brewers of today and to those who will come after them.

📍 See you all in Martigny at the Taproom WhiteFrontier throughout July for a summer of football, beer... and girl power.