Mountain Tap Brewery will start offering a strong blonde ale this week that has a special meaning for all the women on staff who created the brew for International Women’s Day.

“I think that it was on brand for what we were kind of going for,” said Izzy Siemon-Carome, who has worked as a server and bartender at Mountain Tap since August. “I think the women who work at Mountain Tap are all very independent, super empowered, and they wanted something that was going to show that we are also in the beer industry, and it’s not just a man thing. So strong blonde ale really stuck out to us as an option.”

Employees Caitlyn Deter, Mary Elise Handermann, Jessica Hearns, Alaina Stevenson, Natalie Teer joined Siemon-Carome at the brewery at 6:45 a.m. Feb. 15 to assist Mountain Tap’s brewing team to create the actual beer. Additionally, Maria Almendarez, Jenni Gerard, Kelly Huemmer, Drea Mabie, Tory Palattao and Wendy Tucciarone were also instrumental in the process.

“It was great,” said Rich Tucciarone, who owns and co-founded Mountain Tap Brewery with his wife, Wendy Tucciarone “I mean it’s great to get the input and the participation. … A lot of them are working multiple jobs and the fact that they made the time to reply to emails or text, and show up before their day job or after their day job and just to be part of the process was really great to see.”

In anticipation of International Women’s Day on March 8, The brewing staff at Mountain Tap Brewery and the women on staff joined in a nationwide collaborative brew with the Pink Boots Society. The Pink Boots Society is an international nonprofit organization that assists, inspires and encourages women in the fermentable beverage industry.

While Mountain Tap Brewery’s two-person brewing staff is all male, the company’s overall demographic is 41% women. The brewing staff worked with the women of Mountain Tap to determine a beer style, concoct the recipe and brew the beer, which is expected to be tapped on Friday and available this weekend. Rich Tucciarone said the name has not been selected.

“I think a really cool part of it was we did not have to be there. It was an optional thing. It was cool to know that people were willing to wake up at 6:45 a.m. — I had to go to work after and then work at Mountain Tap until 10 o’clock that night — so it was definitely a long day,” Siemon-Carome said. “But we all made the effort because it was important to us. It was just a fun thing to get involved in, and we had a blast.”

Rich Tucciarone said that the supplier that provided the hops for this beer donates a portion of the sale of those hops to the Pink Boots Society, an international nonprofit that assists inspires and encourages women in fermented beverage industry.

Last year, Mountain Tap created Fem Ale, a New England style IPA that was crafted by the women at Mountain Tap. This year, Rich Tucciarone said his team collaborated to create a strong blonde ale, which is a spin-off of an India pale ale with a little bit higher alcohol content. He said it’s not too bitter, and bursting with the citrusy, hoppy aromatics.

“We’ve been just getting more involved with Pink Boots Society, and we’ve got a bunch of great women on our staff,” Rich Tucciarone said. “It’s a great way to collaborate and raise some funds to help to advance women in the beverage industry.”