This article is written by Lauren Cary of the DC Chapter of the Pink Boots Society.
What happens when you mix a bunch of beer-loving women, a mountain of hops, and major Pink Boots energy? You get pure magic — and this year’s 9th Annual Hop Rub & Blend Selection was just that!
I headed up to Boston for the big event, hosted by the Pink Boots Boston and New Hampshire Chapters at Mighty Squirrel Brewing Company’s Fenway location and let me tell you, it was an unforgettable evening of hop sniffing, blending, laughing, and connecting with some of the best humans in beer.
Normally, the Hop Rub & Blend Selection goes down right before the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. But this year, Pink Boots Society decided to shake things up! Since the Boston and New Hampshire Chapters had the highest number of donations and registrations, they earned the honor of hosting this year’s event. And they crushed it.
The awesome crew from Yakima Chief Hops came through (as always) with an incredible lineup of hops, tables packed with hops ready to rub, sniff, and debate over. The aroma in the room? Chef’s kiss.
Chapters from all over showed up and showed out — Boston, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Maine, Yakima, New York City, and D.C. all came together to make hop history and help select the 2026 Pink Boots Blend, featuring–drumroll, please–Mosaic, HBC 638, Centennial, and Ekuanot!
Our local Pink Boots Society Chapters can’t wait to get their hands on the new blend for our 2026 brews and the ideas are already brewing (pun intended).
But wait, there’s more!
Pink Boots Maryland is hosting a Happy Hour on Monday, November 10th at Max’s Taphouse in Baltimore (5–7 PM).
Pink Boots D.C. is keeping the energy going with our November Meeting + Happy Hour on Monday, November 17th at Henceforth (5 PM).
Stay tuned, there’s plenty more Pink Boots magic coming your way soon.
