GPO, Nashville has liftoff.

June is awesome. A lot of you know that already. I’m lucky to have been married to her for 17 years. She’s freakin’ awesome, actually. Tomorrow she’s running her first 1/2 marathon, not bad for someone who just started running in May. And even cooler than that, Wednesday night she kicked off the Nashville chapter of Girls’ Pint out.

 

Girls’ Pint Out is a great group of ladies in chapters all across this beautiful country. I got to meet the founder at the Beer Bloggers Conference in Indy and got June connected with her. June was excited to get a GPO chapter started in Nashville. Now it’s official. I counted 26 ladies at the kickoff event, although I stayed way back in the shadows. Ladies, that creepy guy taking picture in the background was just me, so no worries. The event was at Fat Bottom, Nashville’s newest brewery in the hip East side of Nashville. My good friend Ben Bredesen opened the brewery in August after years of planning and hard work. Great beer, good food and the best biergarten in Tennessee.

She prepared a few words before hand, here’s what she had to say…  Hi and welcome to the first gathering of the Nashville chapter of Girls’ Pint Out! My name is June Joseph, I’m a native Nashvillian and I’m married to a homebrewer. I am not a beer expert by any means but within the last few years I’ve been expanding my tastes and have really enjoyed meeting other craft beer lovers. 

I found the Girls’ Pint Out website earlier this year and was intrigued by the concept of a national craft beer organization specifically for women. Then Kendall, my husband, met one of the organization’s founders at the Beer Blogger’s Conference in Indianapolis and since there wasn’t already a Nashville chapter, I volunteered to start one.

 

You may have already checked out the website, but if you haven’t – Girls’ Pint Out was formed in Indianapolis in 2010 to bring together women who are interested in craft beer and there are now multiple chapters across the country. Women involved with Girls’ Pint Out connect through events like this and online collaboration. 

But the great part is how we want our chapter to operate is up to us. I’m here to facilitate the group but I’d love to hear ideas from you guys as to what you’d like to do. And based on this great turnout, I’ll probably need some help in the near future to keep things organized! Groups usually plan monthly events such as brewery tours, tastings, beer fests, etc. and connect with each other through the Facebook page and Twitter. I’ve got cards with my Girls’ Pint Out email, the link to the FB page, and my Twitter handle so you have plenty of options to keep in touch with what’s going on. Lastly, there are no requirements to be a member of this group besides the desire to meet new friends and drink good beer!

So proud of her. June’s an introvert, so public speaking kinda freaks her out. I’m the extroverted weirdo in the family that oddly enjoys public speaking. June is really excited about where Nashville GPO can go. Several ladies are on board to help with planning and events. I’m excited for them all. I love seeing more women involved in the Nashville craft beer scene. Good beer has mostly been a boy’s club here in middle Tennessee. Change is coming.