Sarah Perez Knows She Is Enough
She's on a quest to change the culture of Alaskan craft beer and beyond.
Of all the interviews I’ve ever done, this is easily the one where I spoke the least amount. That’s meant as a HUGE compliment to Sarah Perez*, who, as the one of the only Black woman brewers in Alaska and lead for the Pink Boots Society’s Alaska chapter, has so much to say and share. What could I possibly add to her story? Absolutely nothing. Here’s Sarah.
Sarah Perez doesn’t shy away from calling herself a female brewer, despite many others renouncing the gender identifier. “I'm so proud that I am a female brewer,” she says. “I know I'm a ‘brewer’, and I know I'm the head brewer. But I still feel like it's valid to me and it's important. On top of that, I’m the only Black female brewer in this whole state. That is huge for me, and I want more.”
Sarah is currently the head brewer at Denali Brewing Company, located in Talkeetna, Alaska (“K'dalkitnu” in Denaʼina, the language spoken by the Alaska Native Athabaskan people), a tiny community of 1,237 people just over 100 miles due north of Anchorage. But her winding journey to The Last Frontier started years ago: first in Southern California, then onto places like Santa Cruz and Las Vegas, where she worked as a medical technician before wandering into the infamous Lee's Discount Liquor store looking for something different than her typical Newcastle Brown Ale. She walked out with an armload of beer and a brand-new passion.
“That was it,” she laughs. “I bought it hook, line, and sinker.”
While in Vegas, she joined a homebrew club and, alongside Cicerone legend Sarah Johnson, helped launch a chapter of Barley’s Angels to continue empowering and educating women in craft beer. Being surrounded by smart, driven women was paradise—one Sarah hoped to leverage into a long-term beer career of her own. But life had other plans.
“I was married at the time, and he was in the military. We got shipped out,” she says. “We got sent up to Alaska [in 2015]. I was devastated. I was losing everything that I knew, my community that I loved and was loved in.”
The move was grueling. Leaving a sunbaked desert to live in a state that regularly drops well below zero degrees Fahrenheit was difficult enough, but the lack of support, connections, or even professional opportunities she’d grown accustomed to took a long time to overcome. “I couldn’t get the time of day from the beer tap guy, other than he wanted my phone number,” she laughs wryly. “It took me a year to get any traction with even just beertending.”
Even though Sarah is now several years into her Alaskan beer career, she describes that same closed-door culture she initially experienced as an ongoing problem, with much of the scene still controlled by men with old-school mentalities. In a hardscrabble land occupied by hardscrabble people, women still have to prove themselves in ways men simply don’t. And without large numbers of women in visible positions within beer, there remains a lack of support systems to help increase opportunities for advancement and perception within professional brewing circles.
“The women that are really hardened go-getters, they’re still homebrewers,” she explains. “None of them want to be in the game… [here], you really have to have some ingenuity and understanding. Everyone has to have a set of thick skin, one that you wear out in public and one that you're going to wear in a brewery. And it’s bullshit. It sucks.”
But the lack of opportunity didn’t stifle Sarah’s drive—it accelerated it. In September 2020, she successfully launched the Alaska chapter of the Pink Boots Society, a global education and networking group for women working professionally in any fermented beverage industry. “I wanted my space, and I didn’t want to have a possible spot at their table. I wanted my own,” she says. At the same time, she moved from her previous assistant brewing role to take over brewing operations at Denali, where she’s “cautiously scared” of the ongoing expansion, which includes an upgraded 120 barrel brew deck to be completed by summer 2022 as well as adding more women to the brewing team. It’s all part of a long-term plan.
“When I leave or retire in 10 years, I want to make enough spaces and enough pathways that other women will be coming right behind me, and right beside me, and not doing this alone.”
Sarah is currently fulfilling a dream she’s nurtured for years: attending the Siebel Institute of Technology’s WBA Concise Course in Brewing Technology, where she hopes to share her expanded knowledge to create “a bigger space for everyone to be a part of, who maybe wasn’t allowed before or in other spaces, but will always be allowed in mine.”
It’s a responsibility she takes extremely seriously. As the one of the only Black female brewers in the state*, Sarah acknowledges the frustration she feels being perceived as “the worst word ever—the ‘token’.” But it’s her desire to ensure no one else feels alone on their journey alongside her that keeps her going, offering this advice. “When someone tells you ‘no,’ or ‘you can’t,’ or ‘this isn’t the space for you,’ you go even harder.”
Earning the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation scholarship to attend Siebel is a dream come true for Sarah. “I worked 22 years as a med tech in the military and in the private sector. I loved every aspect of it,” she says. “I helped deliver babies, I did all of these wonderful things in my life. I've had five glorious children, I'm still a mother, I’m still a sister and a best friend, all of those things. But doing this for myself is the most rewarding thing I've ever done.”
During the interview, Sarah laughs easily and often. But make no mistake—she’s here to conquer the world, one woman in beer at a time. “They’ll never see us coming once we’re in!” she chuckles. “That’s what’s most important to me: continuing to figure out how to create that space for everyone now, and to prove them all wrong… I’m ready to do the work. Whatever it takes, I’m here. Count me in.”
I got an email from Sarah the day after we spoke. In it, she outlined how she felt her ending should go, and I agree.
“2021 has been the year of me, me realizing that I am making a difference. That I am enough. I am going to continue to make strides, make changes and make a difference not just a little, but I’m going to pivot these old ways here in Alaska, create new pathways for all females/female identifying humans to understand their potentials, see their futures and know they are enough too.”
*Correction: This article originally identified Sarah as the only Black female brewer in Alaska. Amanda Sandoval, brewer at HooDoo Brewing Company in Fairbanks, Alaska is a biracial Black, Spanish, and Indigenous woman. Both Sarah and I extend our sincerest apologies for the oversight and appreciate the correction.
Prohibitchin' is made possible by a sponsorship from Hopsbauer, a woman-owned hops brokerage company based in San Diego. Hopsbauer brings the best hops from around the world to craft breweries. Find out more by visiting Hopsbauer.com, and thanks to Liz Bauer for her generous support!
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Do you know of a woman or non-binary person working in beverage alcohol who hasn’t seen the spotlight—and should? Nominate them for a future feature!