Dock Street Brewing celebrating sisterhood, breaking barriers with Philadelphia-made beers
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Philadelphia is home to one of the country's first craft breweries, and it's led by a woman breaking barriers in an industry often dominated by men.
"I've been a sole owner, no investors, no proprietors for 25 years now," Rosemarie Certo, the owner of Dock Street Brewing, said.
The brewery opened in 1985.
"When we started craft brewing 39 years ago, there was no such thing as a good American beer," Certo said. "To get a good beer, you had to buy an import. We wanted to be in charge of our destiny so we thought about buying local and making local."
Right now, they're about as local as they can get.
At one point, they were distributing beer nationally, but the production has been scaled back.
Dock Street's main location is at 22nd Street and Washington Avenue in Point Breeze. They have another location in Fishtown on Front Street. They boast that most of their beers are drank or canned within 65 feet of where they're brewed.
To other women looking into male-dominated industries, Certo said don't give up.
"I think you have to believe that you can do it, do what you want to do and be successful at it," Certo said, "and there's no reason any woman, even if it's harder, we already know how that works, just do it."
One of their more popular beers celebrates that sisterhood. It's a hazy IPA called Citrahood. The label art is a nod to the female role models she had, and the role model she hopes to be for other women in the industry.
"This is our wonderful Citrahood," Certo said. "Dock Street beer and its need to celebrate all these wonderful women who stood for specific people and all the hard work and fun women know how to have."
