Boom in female brewers as beer revolution gathers pace The group has listed 12 examples of brewsters but believes many more are working in the industry. "It is only in modern times that men have overtaken women as the main brewers of beer, as historically it was women who dominated brewing," said Mr Protz. It is fantastic to see more women rejoining the industry and in many cases giving the chaps a run for their money. Among Britain's leading female brewers is Emma Gilleland, head of supply chain at Marston's, the FTSE 250 company behind beers such as Brakspear and Jennings. "The rise in interest in ales by women is because beer is far more interesting these days," she said. Brewers are far more experimental and this has led to lighter beers with new aromas and tastes that are bringing women into the category. Sara Barton was an early convert and set up her own brewery, Brewster's, in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in 1998. She became interested in brewing from a scientific point of view after studying for a degree in biochemistry. She then took a masters degree in brewing at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and worked for the old Courage brewery in Berkshire in the late 1980s. "We [female brewers] were definitely in the minority [back then]," she said. There were about three of us and the site had hundreds of people working there. There obviously were ladies in the offices and some in the labs but on the front line brewing side of things it was a lot more unusual in those days. A lot more women [now] are possibly looking at it as a potential career because it's interesting and it's a specific application of science as well as management. According to A History of Beer and Brewing by Ian Hornsey, early evidence shows that brewing in ancient Egypt was "largely regarded as a domestic chore, and therefore the domain of women, especially the steps of grinding the grain and straining of the mash." The 2014 Good Beer Guide also reveals that the number of breweries in Britain has hit a 70-year high of 1,147, up from 1,009 last year, despite beer sales continuing to fall in the UK. The industry has witnessed a boom in micro-breweries as drinkers search out new, artisan varieties and flavours. The micro-brewery sector has also benefited from tax reliefs, which has helped it to outperform the wider market. Beer sales in Britain have been in decline since 2004, falling from 10.2m pints to 7.8m last year. However, according to the Society of Independent Brewers, local beer sales rose 6.8pc to more than 1.4m pints last year. Beer money: The bright idea that started life in a pub, where else? Tara Mallinson co-founded Mallinsons Brewing Company in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, in 2008. "I was a primary school teacher and I had always been interested in real ale - home brewing that sort of thing," she said. I wanted a career change and had been thinking about a brewery for a while. It really just came from me and my partner [co-founder Elaine Yendall] sitting in a pub and thinking what should we do? My partner had no background in brewing either, we just wanted to get somewhere to work together. I'd been to some brewing courses. We'd saved some money and thought we'll never do it if we don't just jump in. It was a bit scary at first. The guy I got my plant from came and trained me for a day. We brewed together and he said, 'Right, there you go. It was really just a leap of faith. Elaine kept her job while I worked in the brewery but it came to the point where I could brew twice a week but I couldn't have done any more. After about two years Elaine left her teaching job as well. The industry is still male dominated. I think it has worked more to our advantage to be honest. There was probably a bit of novelty value at first but when they tasted the beer they said, 'This is all right, it's good. We probably produce at full production about 130 nine-gallon casks a week. There's 72 pints in each of those casks. We just employed another brewer to help us expand.