HANOVER, Pa. — According to History, Women's History Month is a celebration of women's contributions to history, culture and society and has been observed annually in March in the United States since 1987.
This month, FOX43 will highlight local businesses that are paving the way in male-dominated fields. Our second stop is Fat Bat Brewing Company, located in Hanover, York County.
Fat Bat Brewing is owned and operated by Cassandra Bialek, but she turned it into a family-run business when she asked her brother, Kevin, to be the brewer. The name Fat Bat came from their four-legged friend, Lady Gaga, who likes to lay on her back like a fruit bat, watching Kevin brew.
“So when I asked him to be the brewer, he had, 'I have one request,' he said. 'And what's that?' He said, 'can we call it Fat Bat Brewing?' I said 'sure, we can call it whatever we want,'” Bialek recalled.
Fat Bat opened in May of 2021, the same week the governor lifted all COVID-19 restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, Bialek said they spent time prepping for their grand opening.
“We finally got to open, and we opened as soon as we could, and everybody just flooded the place,” said Bialek. “We were packed, which was nice, and we've done well since then.”
In 2021, the Brewers Association put together a demographic audit of breweries in the U.S. It found that 23% of brewery owners were women, and just 2% of all breweries were fully women-owned. Bialek didn’t know she was part of the small percentage of women who made up breweries but said that she’s faced many issues with being women-owned.
“I didn’t know that until after I was in business and thought, ‘Oh so I’m doing something different.’ Yeah it was just, I’m just doing what I wanted to do--if it’s something you want to do, just go do it, don’t let anybody tell you you shouldn’t be doing it or assume differently,” said Bialek.
She was pushed to accomplish her goal after being diagnosed with uterine cancer in 2018 and breast cancer in 2022. Like the warrior she is, she was able to beat the disease, but the eye-opening moment made her realize she had to reach for her dreams. Her brother Kevin brewed a beer in honor of her and her sister-in-law, who also beat cancer.
“So both of us had surgery right about the same time he brewed a beer for us, called the Comeback Queen, and a dollar per pint always goes to the American Cancer Society,” said Bialek. "And then we have bright pink T-shirts that have the Comeback Queen logo on them. So it's yeah, it's been a goal for us to raise funds for cancer research."
For more details and more information on Fat Bat Brewing Company, click here.