Brave Noise is a worldwide brewing collaboration project that aims to bring attention to the treatment of women within the beer industry as well as raise funds for relevant charitable or non-profit organizations. It spun out of last year’s explosive revelations of sexism in the industry when Notch Brewing’s then-production manager Brienne Allan shone a light on it all via her Instagram account.

But rather than my clumsy recap, here’s relevant info about that and the Brave Noise project:

What started out as a simple question on Brienne Allan’s Instagram story:

“Have you ever experienced sexism in the beer industry?”

quickly became the inquiry that sent shockwaves throughout craft beer, subsequently inspiring a BEVOLUTION. To keep the momentum going; to honor those who have spoken out about their gender discrimination, racism, sexual assault, and harassment; and to bring further awareness to the issues that women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ individuals face in craft beer, we invite you to join us in a collaborative brew titled “Brave Noise.”

Brave Noise is a global collaborative effort to provide inclusive and safe environments for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA+ throughout the beer industry. By brewing this beer, your brewery is standing in solidarity with those who shared their stories about mistreatment and who are survivors of gender discrimination, racism, sexual assault, and harassment within the industry. By standing with us now, you are part of the movement for change that is long overdue in beer.

Breweries around the world are participating with Brave Noise Pale Ale, and as of this writing, the website says 257 breweries have registered their participation. Over the last few months I’ve been seeing some of these beers arrive on the shelves here in Bend, so I decided to post my reviews on the five that I’ve had so far.

Each of these cans have a scannable QR code on them that links to the breweries’ own code of conduct pages that expresses their support for an inclusive environment (for employees and customers alike) and what they are doing to provide resources and assistance supporting these policies. In each of the reviews below I’m including links to the breweries’ code of conduct pages.

If you see a Brave Noise available, pick it up! Your dollars are helping to raise funds for good causes.

And one more thing before we get to the reviews—homebrewers can participate too! It’s a great way to raise awareness of these issues and if you belong to a homebrew club, you should encourage the club to also participate.

Heater Allen Brewing

Heater Allen Brewing of McMinnville, Oregon, released its Brave Noise Pale Ale last fall, and wrote about it on its blog:

This Friday we will canning our annual collab with Visit McMinnville, Harvest Lager, and Brave Noise, a pale ale (yes, you read that right) that is a nation wide collab to bring attention to the different treatment of women within the beer industry. 100% of the profit from Brave Noise will be going to the Henderson House here in McMinnville, this organization provides housing and counseling to women that have suffered from abuse, sexual assault, and/or human trafficking. We received generous donations of yeast from Imperial Yeast and hops from Crosby Hops for the Brave Noise beer, a big thanks to them!

This pale ale is 4.5% ABV and the link to Heater Allen’s code of conduct page is here.

Appearance: Unfiltered glowing gold color, with a white head that fell to a ring and a skiff.

Smell: Pungent with a bit of sweaty greens, passion fruit, citrus peel zest, then some nice graininess and light toast come through, followed by a spritz of lemon.

Taste: Solid earthy bitterness right up front, herbal and bracing, which extends all the way through the sip and lingers at the back. Clover, echinacea, mustard greens all exhibited in the hop flavors. There’s toasted wheat, and a gently grainy malt. Dry finish, clean, though bitter.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied, good attenuation to finish dry, with a lingering earthy/herbal bitterness.

Overall: Decent flavors, good malts, though a higher level of bitterness than I’d expect or look for.

Fort George Brewery

Fort George Brewery of Astoria, Oregon, released its version which is 5.5% ABV and brewed as a hazy pale ale. The brewery wrote about the beer and this mission on its blog; here’s a snippet (go read the whole post):

Being on the road, making continuous strides toward a better brewing industry and a better service industry, is one huge reason why Fort George is proud to be joining almost 200 other breweries in taking a stand against racism, harassment, assault, and discrimination in our industries by brewing a batch of our finest brew for BRAVE NOISE.

BRAVE NOISE
This beer is dedicated to and in honor of those who have spoken out about their gender discrimination, racism, sexual assault, and harassment in the craft beer industry. Profits from our beer will go directly to The Harbor, our amazing local resource for survivors of domestic violence, abuse and harassment.

Fort George’s values page is here.

Appearance: Pale yellow, almost straw colored, translucently hazy. White head was crisp and full at first.

Smell: Fruity and sweaty, dank, a light bit of scallion greens and grassy herbal notes. Fruitiness abates and leaves more savory aromas of stone fruit skins, green berries, and wheatgrass.

Taste: Spicy herbs with an ephemeral bitterness and a lightly toasted oat that’s really tasty and almost granola-like. Wheaty, lightly citrusy if I look for it, minty-herbal.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light body, a touch creamy, soft, clean finish.

Overall: A soft, herbal hazy pale; it reminds me of Fort George’s City of Dreams. Quite easy drinking.

Our Mutual Friend Brewing

Our Mutual Friend is located in Denver, and while there is not a lot of information about its rendition of Brave Noise online, the proceeds from this 4.8% ABV pale ale benefit The Blue Bench. The link to Our Mutual Friend’s code of conduct page is here.

Appearance: Honey colored, pale orange/copper, not hazy but not clear. White head that didn’t last long.

Smell: Gentle floral aroma that’s overall really mild, almost muted; light stone fruit, orange zest, black tea. But really, really light.

Taste: Black tea bitterness, a bit Earl Grey bergamot and orange peel, with herbal flavors like yarrow, goldenseal maybe, bitter melon. Neutral malt flavors highlighting light wheat.

Mouthfeel: Medium-bodied and well attenuated with a clean, lightly bitter finish.

Overall: It’s perfectly fine, fairly mellow, though there’s nothing that really stands out above anything else.

Alvarado Street Brewery

California’s Alvarado Street released its 4.5% ABV version in December, and posted about it on Facebook:

A few weeks ago we welcomed all employees of Alvarado Street to our production facility to brew this collaborative @bravenoisebeer, a West Coast Pale Ale with Mosaic & Sabro! We’re proud to participate in this cause, which is all about promoting a safe and discrimination-free workplace while cultivating a more transparent, accountable and equitable beer industry. We’ve published our company’s code of conduct on our website (link in bio) which can also be scanned via QR code on the can label.

We’ll be donating 100% of the profit from this beer to the Monterey chapter of the @ywcamc. This organization is very active with serving the LGBTQIA youth and battling human trafficking in our community, and play an integral role in helping women who have experienced domestic violence.

The brewery’s code of conduct is posted here.

Appearance: Honey-gold color with a slight hazy that’s glowy. White head that’s not too dense, a bit fish-eye bubbly.

Smell: Aromatic and bright with tropical notes and warm citrus, and some nice grainy malt (biscuits). It’s a touch dank with a catty-allium green character.

Taste: Herbal-dank-tobacco-citrus hops with a lemon zest twist. Decently bitter (think nettles) with a light cracker-biscuit body that’s well attenuated. Some tomato plant notes, an earthiness.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light to medium body, dry, with a lingering bitterness.

Overall: Nice pale with some interesting hop character here.

Urban Roots Brewing

Also from California, Urban Roots’ edition of Brave Noise is 5% and the brewery wrote:

@BraveNoiseBeer is a Pale Ale featuring Citra, Ekuanot, and Sabro hops. This collaboration has inspired us as an organization to work harder in our efforts to foster the culture and standards at Urban Roots that we want to see across the entire industry.

As part of this collaboration we have made a donation to Weave to support all the important work they do in our community. From supporting survivors of domestic violence to providing our industry with important resources such as the Safe Night Out Program (which our entire team participated in earlier this year).

Urban Roots’ code of conduct page is here.

Appearance: Pale yellow (straw) with a slight haze. Delicate and full white head.

Smell: Bright and herbal, grassy, with a bit of wheat and light malt for an overall mild nose. Makes me think “warm meadow.”

Taste: Somewhat light with a moderate bitterness and a nice crisp pilsner malt flavor that’s clean and crackery. Hops have a subtle spiciness, gotu kola leaf maybe? Nicely drinkable with a good balance and restraint.

Mouthfeel: Medium-light-bodied and a clean finish.

Overall: Pretty good, enjoyable and nicely drinkable. I think it’s a nice restrained take on a modern pale that’s quite nice and well brewed.