Brew Talks CBC 2023: The National Black Brewers Association

Justin Kindle [00:15] Welcome back to Brew Talks live in Nashville. I'm Justin Kindle, the editor of Brewbound. Thanks for everybody for coming out today. Y'all having a good time? Please give it up for Zoey and our first panels. They did an excellent job. Also, please give it up for the brewbound team behind the scenes, Josh, Landis, Sarah, Bryce. Everyone that's killing it, allowing us to be up here and to do our thing. So thanks to them. So glad you're all here. Glad we're doing this. We're excited. A big thank you to our presenting sponsors, Dogfish Head and Ollie, a Next Class Company, as well as our additional sponsors, Arrived Distribution, the e-premise Group, Encompass, Malt Europe, Pneumatic Scale Angelis, Reyes Beverage Group, and Strike Visuals. Please give it up for them. So we are all very aware that the craft brewing industry could be a lot more representative than it is. Less than 1% of craft breweries in the US are owned by African Americans. However, there is an organization giving voice to black and brown brewers. The National Black Brewers Association is a member. Membership based nonprofit organization on a mission to increase representation in the craft brewing industry and we have some of the leaders here today here today to discuss. So joining me on stage is Celeste Betty, founder of Harlem Brewing Company in New York City. How you doing, Celeste? Hold your mic up

Speaker 2 [01:58] so our folks doing great.

Justin Kindle [02:01] She's great. So we also have Chris Harris, founder of Black Frog Brewery in Holland, Ohio. Thanks for being here, Chris.

Speaker 3 [02:08] Thank you for having us.

Justin Kindle [02:11] And we're gonna break a little news here because our third panelist is Kevin Asato, the new executive director of the National Black Brewers Association. So welcome, Kevin.

Speaker 4 [02:24] Hello everyone. Extremely happy to be here and appreciate the introduction there. Yeah,

Justin Kindle [02:29] we got some great energy in this room. So Kevin, let's start with the NB2A's mission and vision. Please give us an overview of, of that. What are your goals?

Speaker 4 [02:40] Well, they're definitely not my goals. They're definitely the goals of the organization, right? This. Organization is compounded of the brewers that are in this community today and from that we absolutely want to be the most trusted and respected and impactful organization for black brewers of America, you know, we're gonna highlight the history and the understanding of black brewers and from that history our mission is gonna be driven towards, quite frankly, um. Gosh, you know, addressing the fact that only 1% of ownership is in the black uh black and African American communities there. So we're gonna look to write that and increase that and be a little bit more representative of the demographics of the US I think that's our initial goal, but we're not setting a timeline against that just yet there.

Justin Kindle [03:26] So what are some of the main issues that are facing black brewers today? And I'll throw this to the whole panel. Feel free to chime in, Celeste and Chris.

Speaker 4 [03:36] I don't think there's a main, but there's definitely a few that come to mind as hitting a little harder. Look, getting into ownership, there's a lot of heavy moving parts, right? And there's a lot of tools required. It's, you know, you know, heavy capital resources required, good phenomenal understanding of the brewery process, and quite frankly, the sales and distribution components all become major components, but they're heavy, right? There's a lot that go and gets involved in ownership. You know, not everyone wants to be an owner. Not everyone wants to take on all those responsibilities. And so when you look at the Black Brewers Association, we can, you know, perhaps connect some of the people that may only have a passion and select disciplines and bring a group of those people together to help take on some of the bigger initiatives there. But on top of that, we talked about some of the resources being available. There are some challenges in getting some of those resources and so that's gonna be one of our bigger opportunities to to really tackle and knock down.

Justin Kindle [04:33] So Feel free to chime in, Celeste, if you have something. Well, next question is coming to you anyway. Uh, African Americans make up 13% of the US population. We know that there's less than 1% that's brewery ownership. How do we get there as far as making this a more representative, uh, community, and what are the hurdles to making that progress?

Speaker 2 [04:57] Well, um, Kevin definitely touched on it. We know the big one is capital, certainly know that. I think the other one that I've experienced personally, and when I've talked to other black and brown brewers is making sure that the bankers and the funders actually understand that we are able to have a passion for beer. Helping them understand that, you know, we, we can be brewers and some of the questions I've gotten recently about a project they're working on in Rocky Mountain, it's like, why do you want brew there? I mean, like, it's like odd questions about them seeing us as brewers. I mean, obviously that has its own challenges because there's just not many people that look like us, but some of the responses, I think they've really got to come into the community and see. That we can brew, we can create places and spaces for people to gather and experience beer, and I think that's been a really big hurdle because of the imagery that they've seen, which is good, but we've gotta get them to see us as brewers. We've also gotta get more people in our community through a lot of the. Initiatives that we're talking about to see themselves as brewers to, to, to see that they can do this, they can brew, but I think those two things have to come together. The lending institutions, the funders have to come in and see who we are, where we are, meet us where we are, and take a chance, give us an opportunity, uh, to really be a part of this industry.

Justin Kindle [06:33] Chris, I'd love to hear from you too. Like, what are some of the issues that you're seeing out there that would really help black black brewers?

Speaker 3 [06:42] Um, going along with what Celeste said, um, in, in some of my personal experiences, um, you get people that will come into the tap room, uh, and they're surprised to see, you know, a black owner behind the bar serving them beer, uh. Then when they taste the beer and they're like wow that's really great and, and, and you kind of get the feeling that OK what did they really expect from you know a black brewer or what do they think is it gonna be a malt liquor but but uh so that said I mean we have a wide array of different beers that we brew, um, that could appeal to many different types of audience, and they just need to give us a chance.

Justin Kindle [07:21] Chris, how, I'm gonna stick with you for a second here. How can we build some more awareness for the black brewers who are out there as well as the history?

Speaker 3 [07:32] There needs to be more outreach to. Minority communities for a better understanding of the craft beer community. If, if you look at some of the major players, um, in the beer industry, they really don't. Target minority communities um with craft beer um so that could be a step to where you could start, you know, targeting your product at in minority communities and because minorities make up a big demographic of of consumership that that's gonna purchase beer so that may be another revenue stream that people may not even be considering that if I target this minority. I might increase my revenue shift um whatever beer company they have.

Justin Kindle [08:24] Let's, let's bring you back in, Kevin. What are some of the initiatives that the NB2A is doing to sort of drive that awareness or will be doing, I should say.

Speaker 4 [08:33] You know, one of the first things, there's already existing trade organizations, right? We're a part of a larger community, so some of the challenges that you yourselves are experiencing, we experience precisely the same. So we're keen to meet with the leadership, uh, of all the large, you know, other, uh, trades. Organizations there and make sure that we essentially pick up where they leave off right? we know they're doing a lot of good work we're not looking to do duplicative work we don't wanna but we can absolutely add on and build on and augment to what they're doing there so that'll be one of the first things meeting with that leadership group there, um, you know, and. We'll constantly be evolving what the priorities are and what our initiatives will be, right? I mean, as time passes, we recognize that our board is living, breathing some of the challenges firsthand, so we're constantly gonna be updating what we're gonna be working on and what resources and individuals we pull together to help knock down those obstacles.

Justin Kindle [09:30] Celeste, you started Harlem Brewing in 2000. And uh you have a wealth of experience in this industry and you can provide a lot of mentorship to the up and coming black brewers, black and brown brewers out there. How, how do you see the NB2A playing a role there in mentorship for the up and coming Brewers?

Speaker 2 [09:54] I think the, the wonderful thing about the formation of the National Black Brewers Association is that you had. Quite a number of people very, very excited about bringing our cause and the opportunities that exist in our communities. To the forefront. But now we have a central place, an organization where all of that energy can be channeled together. We can bring all of that into one space. And actually work together on some of these issues and. And I, I think you know there's, there's been several, uh several organizations that have come together to, to really look at some of the issues that we're facing and this organization represents a broad spectrum of black and brown brewers across the country. You get to talk to some of the people here today. I mean, New York, West Coast, East Coast, all over, a lot of the brewers that you know are part of this organization. So I think it's really an opportunity now for us to bring all of that energy together and look at some of the issues together and to let other people see that there is an organization that represents all of our interests and any of you in this room that wants to be a part of this, you can come to that organization. And that will help us really move things forward in a way where we can begin to see some change and begin to engage people that are supportive of black and brown brewers. So having that organization is really important. You know where to go, you go to the website, you can talk to any of us to find out what some of those needs are. So I think this is pretty revolutionary at this time to form this organization to be able to really focus in on our collective concerns as black and brown brewers.

Justin Kindle [11:42] That's right, Chris, uh, you started Black Frog in 2014. What would it have meant to have, you know, mentors out there to, to lean on at that time or an organization that could sort of pull everything together in one place, be a clearing house really.

Speaker 3 [11:59] It it would have been amazing, um. When I started to, when I started organizing and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the brewery um beforehand and did a lot of researches. Um, of course you ran across legends like Celeste and, and Garrett, um, but there really wasn't any type of, uh, a resource on, OK, you need to do this step, you need to do this step, you need to do this step, um, but what this organization will do is we're gonna get all that information together so when somebody is thinking about it or in the process of opening a brewery. Um, they can come to, it's a one stop shop to where, OK, there's gonna be some type of mentorship to get them from point A to point B, um, without any of the problems that any of us, you know, occurred in our earlier days, and it's just, and, and it's just gonna make it easier path for that newer generation of brewers that's coming up.

Justin Kindle [13:01] Kevin, we talked a little bit earlier and you said, you know, you're just starting your membership drive really and you're starting from square one. There are a lot of folks I'm sure who are in this room who would be supportive. I'm sure there are a lot of folks who are watching at home and who will see this on replay who want to be supportive. How can they be supportive? What can they do to, to back the NBA2A?

Speaker 4 [13:25] You know, Justin, that's a phenomenal question, and the short answer is become a member. That's the first step that we're gonna be asking everybody to do. And when we have our membership drive, um, that's gonna take place in the, in a couple of months there, but that will give you some good insight of not only what we're able to do, but you know, where you can actually lend a helping hand as well, whether it's your experience, your financial, physical resources, your time. All of those resources are absolutely necessary when you hear like the stories of Chris saying, hey, if you're giving us your experience, your ability to be a mentor, we can actually help a fledgling brewer not make the same mistakes and actually, you know, accelerate to success much faster, right? That's a win. That's a massive opportunity for us to be successful, and that comes from this community out here and the community out there that's viewing. And whatnot we benefit from all resources that come through. So becoming a member and providing any sort of resources you have to offer to support, you know, our, our process would be greatly appreciated.

Justin Kindle [14:27] So where they, where can they find out more information? Where should they go? How can they contact you? What should they do?

Speaker 4 [14:34] Uh, MB2A.org. That is our, uh, website that is going to be where we're going to house all of our information. We will have social media presence in Instagram and Facebook, so we will have touch points there as we, as Justin mentioned, we are very much in the start. And as we have our board meeting we're gonna continue to produce content and additional information so we're still um developing all the tools that will be visible and accessible but as of today MB2A.org is the website that you can keep up with the latest and greatest that we have going on.

Justin Kindle [15:07] Well, give it up for Kevin, Celeste, and Chris. Thank you for doing this. Thank you for sharing your vision. We're excited.

Speaker 4 [15:15] Thank you very much, Justin very much.