One day, Dani Carbery decided to set up a Twitter account.

 

She was fed up of people thinking pubs are still the preserve of men - a rhetoric still pushed by mainstream television journalism - and wanted to show that any, normal woman can be a big fan of beer.

 

“People think if you’re a woman who drinks beer you’re gonna be massive and butch.

 

"I’m not. That’s why I’m the Ale Lady, I like to retain my femininity,” Dani says to me gesturing towards her finely stemmed beer glass.

 

None of her friends or family, male or female, particularly like the stuff so when they’d visit pubs, she’d have no-one to share her enthusiasm with about the local brew.

 

She turned to the internet but became tired of reading overcomplicated reviews of beer from bloggers. All she wanted was to start a few casual conversations with some like-minded people.

 

What she didn’t expect was the number of opportunities her unpaid hobby would land her.

 

A self-confessed non-expert, Dani’s love and knowledge for beer just comes from trying and tasting, not studying.

 

But she’s proved her passion has been more than enough to be offered a place on the judging panel for an upcoming home brew competition, to host a beer-themed poetry slam event and to design a new beer and its branding for local brewers Turner’s.

 

Dani now plans to take her Ale Lady brand onto YouTube, and we discuss how she plans to act out and become her persona.

 

Although Dani is a now an actor and professional screen writer - a common career transition, she tells me, guessing it's because women in either trade have to be a bit "brassy and ballsy" - she’s surprised at how nervous she is about starting her channel and how to make sure people will like it.

 

But then we hit the idea jackpot.

 

“I’ve got a dog,” she tells me.

 

So keep an eye out for a vintage-dressed woman coming to a computer screen near you, with a pint in one hand and a black cockapoo called Ronald in the other.