Nick VanCourt, left, co-founder of Barrel + Beam Brewery in Marquette Township, speaks to attendees at Barley’s Angels U.P.’s first event in more than one year last Thursday. Barley’s Angels is an international organization “where women explore beer,” according to its website. Its more than 160 worldwide chapters host beer tasting events at different breweries and craft beer bars throughout the year. (Journal photo by Ryan Spitza)

MARQUETTE TOWNSHIP — What better way to emerge from a pandemic than gathering with some friends and strangers for some fresh local brews?

That’s exactly what a group of 40 women did last Thursday, gathering at Barrel + Beam Brewery in Marquette Township for the first Barley’s Angels U.P. event in over one year.

Barley’s Angels is an international organization “where women explore beer,” according to its website. Its more than 160 worldwide chapters host beer tasting events at different breweries and craft beer bars throughout the year.

“It’s an organization that is all about the appreciation of craft beer,” said Kylie Bunting, founder of Barley’s Angels U.P. “So it’s just a fun way for ladies to get together and learn about craft beer and also support local businesses. This is our first event in a year and a half because of COVID, so we’re really excited to be here. We’ve been planning this for a year and a half and we finally get to have it.”

For the price of admission, attendees received an array of samples, two beers of their choice, listened to a talking tour of the brewery from Barrel + Beam Co-Founder Nick VanCourt, received a floral lesson from Shailah’s Flower Garden, and enjoyed local wood fired pizzas from Smelted.

Kylie Bunting, right, founder of Barley’s Angels U.P., greets attendees at Barrel + Beam Brewery in Marquette Township for the group’s first event in over a year. (Journal photos by Ryan Spitza)

Bunting said the event was a sellout, the type of turnout she was thrilled to see after the hiatus.

“It’s a sold out event,” she said. “We have about 40 ladies coming here and it’s women who know a lot about craft beer and also women who want to learn about craft beer, so this organization is really open to anybody. There’s no membership process to be part of Barley’s Angels, we just host quarterly events in the U.P. We’ve pretty much stayed in Marquette County so far, but hopefully, I’d like to expand that. Anybody is welcome to come.

“Once you come to an event, you’re a Barley’s Angel for life, there’s no membership process or anything like that, you just pay for tickets for each event as it comes along.”

The next event is not yet planned, but Bunting said the group has some ideas in mind.

“We haven’t planned it,” she said. “We have a couple of ideas. Last year, we did a beer battle where we had breweries go head to head and the people voted. I think we’re going to try and do that again, so that’s on the docket. We also just want to make stops at some breweries that we haven’t been able to get to yet now that we can actually host events. The next event will probably be in the new year, I’m thinking January or February.

To find out more about Barley’s Angel’s U.P., visit its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/barleysangelsup or by emailing barleysangelsup@gmail.com.

“I’d be happy to chat with anybody who’s interested in learning more,” Bunting said.

For more information on Barley’s Angel’s international organization, visit www.barleysangels.org or www.facebook.com/barleysangels.org.

Barrel + Beam Brewery is located at 260 Northwoods Road in Marquette Township and is open Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2 to 8 p.m., Fridays from 2 to 10 p.m., Saturdays from noon to 10 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 8 p.m.

For more information about the brewery, visit www.barrelandbeam.com, call 906-273-2559 or find it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/barrelandbeam.

Ryan Spitza can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 248. His email address is rspitza@miningjournal.net.