It's official! The very first craft beer for menopausal women has been developed and it's from New Hampshire's Portsmouth Brewery. The Portsmouth Brewery is releasing the beer, called Libeeration, on October 5. Co-owner Joanne Francis and her head brewer Matt Gallagher specifically designed this beer for women experiencing menopausal symptoms.
Additionally, they brewed gruit style beer to celebrate the liberating aspects of this stage of life. No longer should this stage be viewed as a negative. As Francis says, "Our goal to reach women who truly know what it means to be hot!"
In a heavily male-dominated industry, this is a breakthrough, says Francis. As she told WMUR, "It's taken years to bring this idea to market. After consulting with women health practitioners and herbalists, our team came up with ingredients believed to relieve symptoms like sleeplessness, hot flashes, and mood swings."
Although new to the market, this beer is not a new idea. In fact, Francis says that she's been pushing for it for the last six years, but that her staff greeted her with nothing short of disgust and horror. However, Francis was finally able to enlist the expertise of Head Brewer Matt Gallagher. Apparently, it seems to have taken him having a daughter of his own to open himself up to the idea of different stages of life for different sexes.
What Kind of Beer is Libeeration?
Libeeration is a gruit style ale that's golden in color and fruity forward with additional spicy and earthy flavors.
But the secret lies in the ingredients that you can't necessarily taste. In each bottle hides a combination that herbalists use to help women dealing with hormone shifts that come with age, including: Motherwort, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Stinging Nettle, Mugwort, Rose, Chickweed, and Damiana.
To finish the brewing Gallagher does a secondary fermentation with Saphir hops that injects a light, tangerine note that not only finishes the taste off crisply but also helps with sleep.
