GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — On this International Women's Day we're highlighting an industry in which women are making their mark right here in West Michigan: craft beer.
It's historically been a male dominated field but that's changing thanks to more and more women in leadership roles.
13 ON YOUR SIDE spoke with Kris Spaulding, the president of Brewery Vivant in East Hills, to learn more.
Kris is the co-founder of Brewery Vivant, along with her husband. She says she has found the industry to be very welcoming.
"I've been celebrated as a woman in craft beer and if I look at our Brewers Association or the MI Brewers Guild, they are so excited to have a lot of women get involved and they encourage that. I think that has always been the case so I've had a pretty positive experience in that regard," explained Kris.
Along with running Vivant's operations, Kris is also in charge of sustainability. She lead the charge to make Brewery Vivant the world's first LEED certified commercial microbrewery. They more recently received B corporation status.
"Our goal is to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in the next 10 years using 2021 as our baseline, and then our energy intensity 25% in the same time period."
If all this has you craving some of Vivant's craft brews, you are in luck. Their Farm Hand weekend begins this Friday, March 11 through Sunday. They will be serving flights of their top Farm Hand Ale variants, looking for feedback to decide what will be launched into the market going forward.
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