6 Questions With Micaela...
Each week we get to know someone better who is working in the B.C. craft beer industry.
1. Who are you?
Hey, I’m Micaela, my pronouns are she/her, I am a Black queer woman working in the world of beer! I like to consider myself a fifty-fifty blend of arts and science. I have an undergraduate in Medical Biochemistry from UBC as well as certificate in Brewing from SFU. Well at the same time I am also an artist. I am contemporary dancer and have been dancing all my life.
2. What do you do?
I am the Laboratory Manager of Twin Sails Brewing, where I have worked for over three years now. I started within production, mostly in the cellar and sometimes helping out with the brews. I pushed to open a lab to create better quantitative control of our product and created a role for myself over time. Now running two separate labs, a clean and a wild, I focus on yeast propagation, quality control and harvesting local cultures.
3. What is your biggest pet peeve about the industry?
Sometimes we forget that beer is an art, and therefor subjective to interpretation.
4. What do you love most about working in the industry?
Working within the beer industry has offered me to use both sides of my brain. I love that there is structure and reason to its creation but tones of room for creativity.
5. What is your favourite beer right now?
I like to rock some Four Winds La Maison.
6. What local charity should we be paying attention to?
A local non-profit organization I would love to shed some light on is The Hogan’s Alley Society. They advocate for Black Vancouverites who have endured the legacies of urban renewal and their erasure from the official historical narrative. They hope to build the capacity of racialized and marginalized communities to participate in city building.
You can find resources, donate, sign their petition to take immediate action at https://www.hogansalleysociety.org/
Black lives still matter.
You can follow Micaela on Instagram at @mahalomalone.