As more and more women are joining the craft beer hype train, our representation in the industry has grown too. Teresa Mikulastik, former Beer Princess of Draft Shack @ Whole Foods Domain and current Tap Room Manager of Celis Brewery, shares part of her craft beer journey with us. Teresa opens up about her first craft beer, advice for women looking to join the beer industry, and thoughts about the Austin craft beer climate.

B&B: What was the first craft beer you ever had?

T: Actually, it was Celis White and soon after Celis Grand Cru! Celis came into my life in 1999 when I moved back home to Austin from living in L.A. for a few years. In L.A., I drank Mickey’s – crazy, I know!

B&B: What made you love craft beer enough to make a career out of it?

T: I started working for WFM in 1999 and at first, I was a manager of putting in Juice bars and smoothie bars into Whole Foods all over the south. But although, I learned how to make an amazing smoothie… it didn’t interest me for very long. I started to eye ball the Beer and Wine department at the WFM I worked at. They didn’t have a manager and no one was running the beer department. I had started to buy a different 6pk of beer every week for 6 months to try new kinds of beer.

I had grown up with my dad brewing beer in our garage and the smell that came out of that garage is my most favorite smell! My dad taught me a lot about beer and how it’s made. I always loved to help add ingredients, bottle, cap, & of course try the finished product. My dad mostly made Brown Ales or Ambers when I was growing up. They were ok. Reminded me of New Castle. A little sweet, a little dry, but had that lingering bite on my tongue.

I never thought beer could come in so many forms until Celis White popped up on the shelf at the WFM’s I was working at. That experimental 6pk went home with me again and again. The White was smooth, no bitterness, no harsh flavors, just a light, easy drinking beer with some citrus undertones. I jumped into Belgians. Celis Grand Cru was my first drunk, drunk, drunk… I had one too many of the 6pk, but worth it! That sweet front and dry ending was divine! I started to try Allagash’s White and other Allagash styles (because we sold Allagash back in the day)! I learned about Trappist beers, and tried as many as I could get in Texas: Chimay and Rochefort. I started to visit local breweries, Live Oak, Copper Kettle, Bitterend, & Lovejoys. For my 26th birthday, friends took me to Austin’s Ginger Man bar, and I thought I had gone to draft beer heaven! I went back every weekend for a year! I decided to expand my knowledge by starting home brewing, visiting breweries outside of Austin, and taking several trips to Europe to learn about other countries’ beers. In Belgium, is where I fell in love with Sours and it was an instant soul-mate experience.

B&B: How did you impact the Beer and Wine Department at WFM? 

T: Beer didn’t make much money, so when I got hired running the Beer and Wine department at the WFM, I had to get creative! I didn’t get a big budget, but wine made a lot of money for the store and their budget was huge! I made a claim to do an experiment with raising beer sales and took some of the budget from the wine department, bought 5 new drink coolers, and cleared an area in the store for room temp shelf beers. I quit carrying Lone Star, Coors, Budweiser and other domestic beers because it was cheaper to buy them at the corner gas station than at WF’s. I decided to test the market and only carry craft, local, & imported bottles.

It worked! Other beer-lovers started to come to my tiny store for beer selection! I asked my distributors if there were any limited edition beers that they would sell me. Soon, I started to get allocated cases of limited editions and rare beers from craft breweries. I started to get ‘regulars’ in to see me, asking for me to save them rare beers, and I saw an opportunity to make some ‘regulars’ feel extra special, I started an email log. Anyone who wanted to know when I got in limited beers, I put them on a weekly email update list. My list started with 10 people, but after a few months, I had 200 people. After a year, I had over 700 people! My allocations got bigger for rare beers because I had a demand for it. I talked my store into putting in a 2 keg kegerator and we started to sell draft pints.

My love for beer and learning about beer was mirrored by the beer-lovers I began to meet and know who came into my store. We were all kindred spirits of sorts. We had a common interest and a common love. It was and still is an electric feeling!

B&B: How tough is it to be a woman in the craft beer industry, and how do you feel about the local Austin community?

T: The Austin craft beer community is one of my favorite communities to experience with all it’s support and sharing. The craft beer community in general (15 years ago and more) was not friendly to women. It was a tough career to be accepted in and taken seriously. I felt alone a lot in the beer world in the beginning but my passion pushed me to be better at it and more knowledgable than the average beer buyer and beer retailer in Austin. I had to prove myself constantly – to distributors, to consumers, to my own employer. I have so many stories and examples of being mistreated and not taken seriously but it was all worth it. It made me tough as nails, stronger, & made me work harder to achieve my goals.

B&B: How did the opportunity to work at Celis come about?

T: The opportunity to work with Celis came through just knowing Christine for 10+ years. I met Christine and Pierre when they came through my WF’s to sell Pierre’s small batch bottles he brewed for a short time in Belgium after Celis in Austin was shut down. It was an honor to provide his beers to customers and an honor they chose my small beer department to be a representative for them. Christine and I kept in contact over the years and worked together when she did her Gypsy collaboration brews, as well as her imported Belgian beers she brought to Texas. Christine is one of the most amazing women in the beer community. She is a hero of mine and a even more amazing I can call her a friend.

B&B: Why do you think millennials and people who migrated to Austin recently should care about the Celis hype as much as the born and raised Austintes?

T: The Celis hype is important to ALL! Think about what is happening in the craft beer world lately. InBev and other big business are taking over small craft breweries or craft breweries that built themselves up, selling to bigger business. Celis is a comeback story! Celis is an underdog story! Celis is seeped in history, tradition, & legacy. How many breweries out there are bought – twice – then the previous owner spends every waking minute getting back what was sold, with every intention to be re-born, and re-born back in the city it was birthed!? It’s the greatest come back, underdog story! Even old Austinites, don’t always know the history that came with Celis to Austin, and no matter how many times I tell the story of Celis, I get goosebumps! Every single time!

B&B: As the brand new tap room manager, how would you describe the tap room vibe and what do you want people to get out of their experience visiting Celis?

T: When visiting the Celis Tap Room, I hope that the vibe comes off as historic! That people are sitting and looking at pictures/memorabilia of a great brewer who spent his life dedicated to his craft. Christine envisioned the Tap Room to be a mix of European comfort with a Texas feel. The limestone wall and the burnt family crest in the wood tables reminds me of Texas and the gorgeous copper kettle tank above the circle shaped bar, curtains, and indoor plants gives us the European comfort. There is nothing like it in Austin.

B&B: What advice would you give to women trying to break into careers in the craft beer industry?

T: To women in the craft beer industry and to women who want to be in the craft beer industry – I say to you: Don’t give up! Go after your dream! More and more women every day are entering the craft beer world. I love hearing and reading about women who started in a small position and worked they way up. You know that ANY woman in the craft beer world had to prove themselves and work twice as hard to get to where they are, so that shows guts and talent! There have been amazing leaps and bounds made by women in craft beer in the last 15 years. Another phenomenal feeling is working with the strong women of Celis Brewery! Christine, Daytona, & Tara are all amazing driving forces of dedication, encouraging spirits, stewards of Pierre’s legacy, visionaries of success, vastly knowledgable, & all around Bad Ass Babes in Beer!

Thank you so much to Teresa for chatting with us and giving us her story and insight. Go check out Celis Brewing, open now in North Austin!

**Disclaimer: This interview has been edited for length and clarity.**