Jane aims to raise a glass to the art of brewing

It is 11 in the morning and although I am dying for a cup of coffee it doesn’t seem that is on the menu.

I am sitting in the bar of the Craven Arms in Appletreewick, a favourite haunt of self-confessed beer lover Jane Peyton.

When I tentatively ask for a half I can see the disappointment in her eyes, but I hastily explain I am driving and on those narrow windy roads in the wilds of North Yorkshire you need all your faculties about you.

Jane, originally from Skipton, is making one of her many trips north to visit her sisters and, of course, taste some local ale.

“I just love this pub,” she says with true affection of the Craven Arms.

“It has everything a good country pub should have – picturesque, stone flags, fire, high backed settles, great beer, excellent food. And a wonderful view. It’s heaven really!”

And Jane should know. She is principal of the School of Booze, the business she founded to educate people about beer and cider.

And she is on a personal crusade to get more women drinking and brewing beer.

“Beer was traditionally brewed by women in the home and I would love to see more women doing it today.

“Beer is seen as a man’s drink both by those who consume it and also by many who brew it.”

Jane first fell in love with beer when she was quite young.

“I was born and bred in Skipton and the first beer I tasted was Tetley Mild and I loved it – not just the way it tasted but the whole performance; the hand-pulling, the way it look in the glass, the colour, the head, everything.”

But Jane’s friends didn’t share her love of beer.

“When we used to go out my friends would be drinking cider and black, or cider and CherryB and I would have a pint of bitter. Many would think it was a butch thing to do but I just loved it and didn’t really care.” From Tetley’s she moved on the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord and never looked back.

When Jane moved to London, after graduating from Leeds where she studied Geography, she was shocked when she ordered a pint.

“I didn’t realise that they didn’t drink beer with a head down south. It is the same beer but without the sparkler. People in London just don’t want the froth.”

But the real shock to her system came when she moved to America in the 1990s.

“They were drinking fizzy watery stuff. I moved to LA as I wanted to live in the sun and work in television, although I didn’t have a ounce of experience in it.”

But an English accent and a degree in Geography stood her in good stead and she landed a job producing natural history documentaries for National Geographic.

She put up with the beer for nine years and the decided to return home to England.

“I mainly came back because I was planning to write a book.”

And the first thing she did when she landed on British soil was, of course, head to the nearest pub and order a pint of beer. “It was a pint of London Pride and it never tasted so good.”

After writing a number of non-fiction books, Jane decided that she needed a career.

“I decided that I wanted to start my own business. I made a list of things I was good at such as public speaking, socialising, production – and a good sense of humour.

“I did a Venn diagram and in the middle the School of Booze was formed.”

The idea she came up with was to organise corporate events where beer tasting was the central focus.

She embarked on a wine tasting course to hone her skills.

“I realised that the principles of tasting are the same whatever you do – be it wine or beer. I realised that beer was going to be next big thing and there were very few women doing beer presentations and so I saw a gap in the market. Beer tastings are the new wine tastings.

“Also in a recession beer is seen a very honest drink; a drink for everybody.”

Jane also educates people about beer and food.

“People think beer is a bit common and not to be drunk with fine food. There are some amazing beers out there and I like to educate people to know what goes with what – even puddings.”

Jane sources her beers from

a variety of countries.

“There are some great continental beers, it’s just a case of finding them.”

As well as corporate events Jane runs one-to-one beer tasting classes.

She is also really keen to get more women involved in both drinking and brewing beer.

“I also do cider tastings and talks and there just isn’t the gender issue that there is when it comes to beer. Beer is marketed in a very blokey way which puts a lot of women off. It does annoy me a bit, as women were the original brewers 7,000 years ago.”

Jane not only loves the taste and look of beer she is fascinated by its history and just what goes into making it.

“There is evidence in China 9,000 years ago of a drink which could have been beer, using rice, honey and grape which could have been a rice wine or a rice beer.

“Historically it was brewed in the home by women but during medieval times this changed and as beer became a commodity men took over and pubs were introduced.”

Jane is doing her bit for women and had come up with her own recipe and even managed to brew it.

“I called it Brewsters Chocolate Cyn and it went down very well. I definitely want to make some more beer and I would like other women to do the same.”