Q & A with Ting Su, founder of the Women’s Beer Forum at Eagle Rock Brewery

Mar 20, 2013

Tonight, Ting Su, co-owner of Eagle Rock Brewery is celebrating the two-year anniversary of the Women’s Beer Forum with a new line of special beer glasses. A forum that started out recognizing a need to educate women about craft beer, has grown a loyal following among avid beer drinkers and those merely “beer-curious”.

Ting wanted to take advantage of this special anniversary to help raise money for a great cause. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales tonight and from the beer glasses sales will be given to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Also, those in attendance this evening will get to take the specially designed glass home for keeps.

As the only women’s beer group of this caliber in the City of Los Angeles, I wanted to speak with Ting about what achieving the two-year mark means to her and what she foresees for the future of the Women’s Forum.

Read on for the full interview after the jump:

What was your original intention when you started the Women’s Beer forum back in 2011?

When we first started, it was something I wanted to do to recognize a need to educate women about beer and encourage women to try more types of beers. When I was representing the brewery at events, people would see me walk up to the bar and almost assume (because I was a woman) that I didn’t know what I wanted to drink or that I didn’t know anything about beer. I had this idea to educate women, it was always something that I wanted to do.

Why do you think it has grown to become so popular?

I think that women are drawn to the fact that the event is unique and also genuine. It was designed specifically for the ladies by a lady. It is not contrived in that sense. I think the authenticity behind it means a lot because it is both educational and fun. Like other women, when I am having a shitty week or month and I just want to decompress, I just want to hang out with my girlfriends. Maybe it’s because I am in the beer industry and I am surrounded by a bunch of dudes all the time, but I think ultimately there is a draw to this type of experience with other women. You can learn something, you can try some new beers and it’s just a really fun, relaxed environment.

Have you had to turn anyone away?

I have to turn guys away all the time! Particularly the way that that I structure the flights and the types of beers that I curate for it, I get a lot of guys who ask if they can cross dress to join the crowd. It’s silly, it’s really funny. But I hold firm, it’s just for the ladies, guys.

How do you choose topics for each event?

When I’m curating, I look specifically for beers that are incredibly drinkable, unique, well-made beers. Beers that fit the theme well and are quite balanced and have really good taking points. They might be interesting beers that you can discuss not just on their merits but also with fun stories. I try to get some special beers that you really couldn’t get otherwise. For example, this week we are going to be focusing on beers from Pizza Port in Solana Beach. They don’t distribute their beers, so you don’t generally see their beers outside of San Diego. Having a relationship with Devon Randall, the head brewer, being able to go down there, talk about the beers and decide which ones are going to be included in the flight… there’s a lot of thoughtfulness and planning that goes into each of the flights – I think that’s the draw.

Do you have mostly regulars or new faces?

Both. It’s pretty evenly spread. We get everyone from newbies to female home brewers coming out to the events. We have our consistent regulars and there are always a handful of new faces for each one. We are pushing 70 RSVPs on this one tonight. We take over the entire brew house sometimes.

You’ve done some interesting themes and you haven’t repeated a single one yet. What has been your favorite event to host thus far?

There are so many! I like the pairing ones a lot because they are fun to set up. We had a beer and cheese-pairing event where we teamed up with Hot Knives, they are vegan chefs and cookbook authors. Also, we did a sort of “How To” on pairing – how to identify flavors and how to determine which beers would go with certain foods. For me that was really entertaining. I teamed up with Jessica Christensen over at Rush Street and City Tavern in Culver City. That one was a lot of fun. Each theme is so meaningful to me, it’s like choosing a favorite kid. It’s hard to choose.

Why did you pick the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition as your charity partner?

We have been really fortunate with the amount of support we have had for the Forum and I wanted to tie in something that would be beneficial to women. I wanted to work with an organization that focuses on women’s health.

You have a background in healthcare?

I used to be a physical therapist and I have a doctorate degree in physical therapy. I have always been really involved with patients who have medical needs. I wanted to raise awareness for something that is not very well funded, not very well recognized and supported, you know, not on such a large scale as the pink ribbons that you recognize with breast cancer awareness. It is just something that I really wanted to do.

What are some plans for the future of the Women’s Beer Forum?

I think it would be fun to do a roving beer class for my home girls that are always traveling over up from the Orange County or the Westside… Also, one of the things that I have been wanting to do, and it might be totally insane, but I think it would be a lot of fun to take a group of ladies on a field trip Belgium and explore the brewing processes and visit the different breweries as an insider.

That would be rad! I think a lot of ladies would be down with this idea!

I would probably go insane figuring out the logistics and I don’t know if it will actually ever come to fruition, but it’s an idea that’s been bouncing around in the back of my head and I think that would be a really fun and unique experience.

Well, the Women’s Beer Forum started out as just an idea and look how much it has grown. You never know…

Thanks for sharing your story with us, Ting!