Just a few event rules and details of operation
(updated 8/31/14)
Please be sure to play by the rules, or we will have to rescind permission to use the Barley’s Angels name for your club, and your listing within barleysangels.org also will be removed.
- Barley’s Angels is an educational beer network; not a drinking club (although fun is definitely encouraged!). There must be some sort of educational element to each meeting, be it food pairings or exploring different examples of a specific beer style. Each meeting is required to state in the promotional materials what the educational element will be. The organizer(s) are then required to provide and present that information and the materials required for the meeting, either themselves or by inviting experts to present the information.
- All Barley’s Angels members and/or chapter meeting attendees must be of legal drinking age in your area.
- All Barley’s Angels members are expected to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner and drink responsibly. Barley’s Angels is not responsible for any legal issues that take place because of overconsumption or illegal drinking at any chapter meeting.
- Barley’s Angels meetings should be open to all female members of the public that can prove they are of legal drinking age. It is recommended you collect contact information from your attendees, such as e-mail addresses, so you can remind your attendees when the next meeting is coming up.
- Your meeting space must be licensed to serve beer according to your local regulations. In addition to the rules detailed in becoming and maintaining a Barley’s Angels chapter, you must also agree to follow any house rules and regulations established by this meeting space or work with the space for mutually agreed-upon special circumstances. It is OK for your chapter to take “field trips” and hold meetings at other locations, such as other breweries, festivals, homebrew clubs or stores, etc., provided that those locations and the “field trip” location still meets all the other Barley’s Angels requirements detailed in this document.
- Always use the Barley’s Angels logo on support materials and to promote your chapter, (i.e. websites, announcements, posters, newsletters, advertisements, menus, sign in sheets). Download the logo from the website. Other than size the logo may not be altered without pre-approval of the Director. It may be used on signs, banners, and advertisements in conjunction with your business logo and/or the host establishment’s logo. Barley’s Angels logo is copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Sales of merchandise bearing the Barley’s Angels logo and/or pre approved modifications of said logo is available solely through https://barleysangels.org. Contact Barley’s Angels Director, Christine Jump for customized products.
- To qualify as a Barley’s Angels chapter and use the Barley’s Angels name, the meetings must be regularly scheduled and ongoing. To be a Barley’s Angels chapter, a minimum of four meetings must be held annually (monthly, bi-monthly or other more regular meeting frequencies are encouraged, of course!) One-time or random, periodic events cannot use the Barley’s Angel’s name.
- A nominal fee of some kind must be charged of the attendees/members at each meeting. Meetings cannot be free to attendees/members. You may charge enough to cover your costs, or make a profit, or even choose to hold meetings at a loss, but at least a nominal fee must be charged. This encourages members to take their meetings seriously and responsibly. Some chapters contribute profits to Pink Boots Society’s scholarship fund. It’s all up to you.
- Even if the focus of the meeting is not centered on food, each meeting must provide food that pairs well with the beers being presented, to help attendees pace their beer consumption. The food should be either prepared at the meeting site or catered and should be ample enough to accommodate all attendees throughout the course of the meeting. Food-and-beer pairings are encouraged as a way to persuade women to embrace and explore how good beer enhances the pleasures of food. Beer serving sizes should be small, and the pace of beer service should not exceed 16 ounces per person per hour. Chapter organizers and/or the establishment’s representatives are responsible for refusing to further serve visibly intoxicated people.
- You must serve at least one sample of another brewery’s beers at 50 percent of your meetings — if allowed by law. More variety is encouraged. This rule applies to breweries of every size, or contract beer producers, or if your pub/restaurant is owned by or associated with a brewery. Not every meeting can be all about your own beer. This requirement makes sure that members are actually presented with a viable education about beer and not a class designed to market a specific beer or brewery. Without this rule, the objective of education about beers and beer styles could quickly fall away.
- Chapter and meeting organizers are encouraged to keep a record of what is served, both beer and food. Not only is this handy to have as a historical record of what you’ve done in the past, and what worked, but you may need it to prove a point to us. If a complaint is made that you served beer without food, or you never served any of your competitors’ beers, we have the right to solicit a copy of your chapter’s meeting records, and you will need to prove that you followed the rules. If you can’t prove it to us, we have the right to revoke your chapter’s registration.
- No Men Allowed, except as information presenters or servers. Barley’s Angels is a women’s educational beer group. Men can attend to present information, but they cannot be members of your chapter nor attend your meetings as participants.
- If any part of these rules seems discouraging, daunting, or confusing, please let us know so we can clarify them for you, and rewrite them so we don’t confuse anyone else. Thanks! Send an e-mail with your fuzzy thoughts to christine[at]barleysangels.org
Details and suggestions for Activities
- After you’ve identified the woman that will sponsor your Barley’s Angels Chapter, go to Barley’s Angels sign up page, submit your online application with the $25 annual fee.
- When your application has been approved, check the Members section of the website for suggestions on what works for the first meeting and some tips and pointers for what you will need for that first meeting. You can also contact Director Christine Jump with questions and further assistance.
- Your meeting space must be licensed to serve beer according to your local regulations, so your Barley’s Angels chapter will typically meet in a brewery tasting room, a brewpub, a pub, tap house, or restaurant. In addition to the regulations detailed in becoming and maintaining a Barley’s Angels chapter, you must also agree to follow any house rules and regulations established by this meeting space or work with the space for mutually agreed-upon special circumstances. It is okay for your chapter to take “field trips” and hold meetings at other locations, such as other breweries, festivals, home brew clubs or stores, etc., provided that those locations and the “field trip” meeting still meets all the other Barley’s Angels requirements detailed in this document.
- In addition to being listed on the Barley’s Angels website, you should publicize your Barley’s Angels chapter several ways: List your meetings under Events on barleysangels.org, your own website, and/or that of the establishment that hosts your chapter. Send details about the meetings in your newsletters and/or the host establishment’s Ask the venue to put up flyers or table tent – whatever they would normally do to promote their in-house events. You provide the flyers/materials. Mention how to join on the host establishment’s menus, table tents, bulletin boards, and other means of communication within and surrounding the host establishment. You will also want to consider social media, such as your host establishment’s Facebook or Twitter page, or set up one specifically for your Barley’s Angels chapter. The host establishment can also link to the Barley’s Angels website (and your listing) from its website. Ultimately we’ll be adding a calendar to this website that will allow chapter sponsors to add events and participants to add the info to their own calendars with one click. Other forms of communication might include beer-related blogs, Craig’s List, newspaper or “brewspaper” ads, and any other way you publicize the event.
- Host your first Barley’s Angels event. We will be creating some online information with tips and tricks for a successful meeting. And you can always share your experiences and read the details of other Barley’s Angels meetings online as well. Be sure to take photos! We’d love to post some on the website.
- Please plan on holding at least four regular meetings a year at your chapter’s “home” location. More meetings are encouraged, of course, and those can be held in other locations. If you are a chapter organizer who isn’t involved (via employment, for example) with just one brewery, and you want to hold Barley’s Angels meetings at different locations, it is wise to have a website we can link to on the Barley’s Angels website listings with all your Barley’s Angels meetings, dates, times and locations.