One down, 1,036 (as of Friday morning) to go. I hope they are as good as Arches Brewing version of the Black is Beautiful beer.
I will spare you a photo of my hand holding a can, perhaps pouring the beer into a glass. Instead, take a look at two tableaus posted on Instagram to appreciate the joy the beer has inspired.
Other Half Brewing Co. recently wrote that with only 275 of more than 850 participating breweries reporting its All Together beer project has already raised more than $1 million for hospitality workers. As “a collaborative effort to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face daily and raise funds for police brutality reform and legal defense for those who have been wronged” the Black is Beautiful beer has the potential to have even more impact.
I browsed through social media posts from dozens of the participating breweries to see where they will be donating funds raised by selling the beer. It was as scary as you might imagine. I won’t torture you with examples of the comments that sometimes followed, but they come from both sides of the Black Lives Matter divide.
Instead, take a look at where some of money is going. These aren’t any better choices than the local NAACP or ACLU (both popular), but they suggest a thoughtfulness that might make you want to hum a few bars along with Sam Cooke. It appears as if many breweries aren’t going to stop with a one-time donation. A few examples:
• Yazoo Brewing, Nashville: Donation to Gideon’s Army. Its mission is to act collectively, boldly and strategically as a unified force for all children.
• Ghost Train Brewing, Birmingham: Donation to the Equal Justice Initiative, which was founded by Bryan Stevenson. Here’s a timely interview with him.
• ThirstyBear Organic Brewery, San Francisco: Donation to Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Farms to Grow. One of Farms to Grow’s goals is to “improve the access to urban food markets including schools, restaurants, and individual consumers for Black and other underserved farmers.”
• Four Father Brewing, Cambridge, Ontario: Donation to The African Community Wellness, which promotes wellness for African, Caribbean and Black-Identifying Communities.
• Able Baker Brewing, Las Vegas: Each 4-pack “comes with a guest’s choice of book.” Choices: “I Have a Dream,” “Civil Disobedience,” or “Maya Angelou: Poems.”
• Reformation Brewing, Canton, Woodstock and Smyrna, Ga: Donation to Sporty Girls Inc. Their mission is “to cultivate, enrich and challenge young, minority women to participate in swimming, soccer, tennis, golf, and lacrosse while developing and fostering lifestyle & academic skills.”
• Earthbound Brewing, St. Louis: Donation to the Close the Workhouse campaign, which has long been working to close a medium-security prison in St. Louis known as The Workhouse. The prison is often used to house people who have not been convicted of a crime but are unable to make bail. “We wanted to focus on a cause that is very specific, and something that doesn’t draw a lot of mainstream funding,” co-owner Stuart Keating said when plans were announced to make the beer. Since then, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen passed a bill to close the jail.
As I suggested, thoughtful.