South Australia’s West End Brewery has hired its first female brewery manager in its 160-year history, Astrid Eerens.
West End produces West End Draught, Southwark and a range of Lion beer brands including Hahn, Toohey’s and Little Creatures.
Lion’s three cider brands — James Squire Orchard Crush, 5 Seeds and Kirin — are also made at the brewery.
Eerens was most recently packaging manager at AB-InBev, but has spent more than a decade in the Australian beverage industry.
“I think for me personally, the goal is to continue to produce highly consistent beer and cider and continuing to lead a great team,” she told Adelaide Now.
“There is no doubt the brewing industry has changed a lot since West End started making South Australia’s favourite drop nearly 160 years ago, and I am really excited to be leading the brewery into this momentous era.”
She said the brewery’s leadership team included eight other women.
“In 2019, it is great to see the gender balance improving in breweries — big and small,” Eerens added.
Eerens is in good company, with breweries including XXXX (Irene Bell) and Cascade (Anita Holdsworth) also having female leaders.
