A good brewery is a beautiful thing. When passion drives the brewing process and intentionality directs the curation of a welcoming environment, a good brewery is poetic. A gathering place for both connected and wandering souls, cultivating nostalgia and inspiring joy, a brewery is a comforting haven. Eclectically welcoming and synonymous with community, a good brewery is a representation of culture and a reflection of vibe. A good brewery is a happy place to be.

Emma Dutch, Mackenzie Eickoff, Holly Trujillo at Base Camp Beer Works

There are two such spots in Grand Junction, where weekly live music brings you to your feet and monthly pet adoptions bring you to your knees. Where littles run around as happily as they do on a playground while grown-ups savor award-winning, ever-flowing, crisp lagers and creamy stouts. At the helm and heart of each of these are women brewers. According to craftbeer.com, nationally, only about 7.5% of brewers are women and three of them happen to call the Western Slope home. Holly Trujillo of Base Camp Beer Works and Emma Dutch and Mackenzie Eickoff of Trail Life Brewing are doing what they love — creating space and tastes, balancing life and flavors with equal measures of heart and hops.

Before Base Camp Beer Works, Trujillo began her journey five years ago after receiving a brew kit for Christmas from her wife, Aimee. She described the first beers she made as “drinkable” but insisted the process instantly became a labor of love, melding hands-on, hard work with detail-driven discovery. What she produces now is multiple time award-winning brews which marry complex ingredients, resulting in mind-blowing, satiating experiences. Just recently, she and her crew took home seven medals at the 2024 Denver International Beer Competition, garnering gold medals for their Base Camp IPA and Knocked Out Kold IPA. The latter of which uses Citra and Idaho 7 hops, accompanied by a mission-driven/produced hops blend from Yakima Chief, called Pink Boots, where, according to their website, their mission is “to provide career development and educational opportunities for women and non-binary individuals in the fermented and alcoholic beverage industry.”

Having recently completed a brewing program at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, by way of an awarded scholarship, Trujillo humbly insists she has more to learn and is continually aiming to improve her craft, while holding true to her intention of letting the hard work speak for itself. “I put everything into making the beer the best it can be,” she shares. Of all of the accolades she’s received thus far and will continue to attain, her most coveted recognition is “the reward of walking out and seeing people enjoying your product.” Her dream, which is in development, is to open a brewery with her wife, where she’ll continue to hone her brewing knowledge, while offering an environment of inclusivity and joy, punctuated by an adjoining off-lease dog park.

The roots for Trail Life Brewing are deep in Dutch’s childhood, growing up on a farm in West Virginia, admiring her mom’s baking abilities and benefiting from watching her dad experiment with occasional wine making and hard cider fermenting using their home-grown produce. While studying engineering at Virginia Tech and trying to figure out which direction to take, an interest in brewing beer was ignited after receiving a home-brew book from her brother. That introduction influenced her to recognize the congruence of her farming background, where she learned to utilize and create with the surrounding bounty, and her specific interest in fermentation, resulting in the epiphany to “take the science and love of making things and in the end, bottle some beer.”

While on a grad school scouting trip in Colorado, she toured various breweries, the experience of which, she passionately recalls, changed her life. “The culture and creativity were inspiring.” From that pivotal moment, her goal was to make beer in Colorado, and after graduation she drove across the country to crash in a friend’s spare room in Grand Junction, where on her first day in town, she dropped off a resume to Kannah Creek Brewing Company and was hired. She would go on to learn the ins and outs of brewing from owner Jim Jeffreys, establishing bonds and friendships so reciprocally impacting that on her final day of work, she received a standing ovation from the crew. Although life at that point had redirected her to other pursuits, she remembers that moment as a defining one which would eventually lead her back to brewing.

After spending time to focus on building a family and teaching high school math for a number of years, the opportunity to get back to her roots of brewing presented itself in a dream space on Main Street, adjoined to The Gear Junction. With a shared commitment to service and a love of the Colorado outdoors, in August of 2022, Dutch and her husband Ryan opened Trail Life Brewing, where their mission “aims to create a comfortable and inspiring experience that helps move Grand Junction toward valuing and protecting the outdoors and building compassion for the community.” And to make really good beer.

From the moment the doors opened, at Dutch’s sidekick in the beer-making endeavor has been assistant brewer Eickoff. A native of Saint Louis, Missouri where she took school field trips to Anheuser-Busch, she had an ingrained interest in the process, and after graduating with a degree in biology from Colorado Mesa University, she jumped at the opportunity to be mentored by Dutch. Aside from the inherent coolness attained in being one of two chicks in Carhartt bibs and muck boots who can be seen in a glass-walled brewing room in the heart of the space, Eickoff stated the experience is simply “empowering.” She recalls moments when bar patrons have inquired about the head brewer, referring to such as “he or him,” and the pride she has in correcting those assumptions. When asked if she hopes to one day be at the helm of her own place, Eickoff lovingly shared her intentions to stay for as long as Dutch will have her, where she can continue to learn and grow in the industry and the community.

Although the beer industry rapidly grew to be male-dominated, history reminds us that the original brewers, dating as far back as the earliest developments in Mesopotamia to the settlements of colonial America, were women. In modernity, we tend to equate beer making and consumption as a male pastime and interest. However, women have been there for its entirety, as creators, purveyors, consumers and brewers. Women brewers like Trujillo, Dutch and Eickoff are quietly and skillfully ensuring we’re reminded of their importance, and, as Trujillo attests, their aim “to contribute to the evolution in women’s brewing.”

Visit each incredible spot to learn more about all of the amazing things these women and breweries are doing. From teaming up with a Malibu brewery to raise funds to support California wildfire victims, to honoring lost beloved pups, cats, hamsters and parakeets in a Dead Pet Series of brews, the intentions of the collaborating owners and brewers are not only to create tasty thirst quenchers, but to instill an appreciation of the beauty, fragility and privilege of life. As eloquently expressed on Trail Life’s website, “Through intentionality, simplicity and passion we will create good beer, good food and an atmosphere where customers can enjoy the company of friends and family.” A happy place to be.

Originally published in the Spring 2025 issue of Spoke+Blossom.

Women Brewers Cultivating Happy Places With Hops