'Black is beautiful,' some Maine brewers say with new line of beer

A dozen of Maine’s 130-plus craft beer producers have signed onto an international industry campaign to combat racial injustice, as the industry itself tries to address claims of bias rooted in the color of people’s skin.

Allagash Brewing Co., of Portland, is one of the Maine breweries participating in Black Is Beautiful, a grassroots initiative launched earlier this month by San Antonio-based Weathered Souls Brewing. So far, over 800 beer makers, from every U.S. state and 14 countries, have also joined.

Inspired by the May 25 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Weathered Souls co-founder Marcus Baskerville decided to create a beer whose sale proceeds would support police reform and help for those wronged by racial injustice. He then asked fellow brewers to do the same. He even offered an open-source recipe, name and logo for his new imperial stout.

“As someone who has personally dealt with abuse of power by the police, this recent turmoil the country is facing has hit home for me,” Baskerville, who is black, wrote on Facebook June 1. He said the initiative is about “understanding, inclusion and supporting people of color.”

The appeal went viral. Within a day, over 80 breweries had agreed to participate, Forbes magazine reported on June 5. Within two days, the number was 226. A marketing firm and suppliers made in-kind donations.

On Friday, Allagash said it plans to brew Black Is Beautiful stout this fall and donate all of the sale proceeds to Maine organizations fighting for racial justice and equality. “This beer is a great representation of the efforts that will need to take place across all communities to succeed in the long-term work of equality,” the brewery said in a Facebook post.

Other Maine breweries that have announced their participation include Atlantic Brewing Co., in Bar Harbor; Austin Street Brewery, of Portland; Bissell Brothers, Portland; Blaze Brewing, Biddeford; Definitive Brewing, Portland; Fogtown Brewing Co., Ellsworth; Marsh Island Brewing, Orono; Mast Landing Brewing Co., Westbrook; Orono Brewing Co., Orono; Sebago Brewing Co., Gorham; and Woodland Farms Brewery, Kittery.

Portland-based Shipyard Brewing Co., the state's second-largest craft producer, is also planning to get involved, although it’s figuring out details. Spokesman Robert Cochran on Tuesday told Mainebiz, “We are just learning of the Black Is Beautiful beer project from Weathered Souls Brewery. We’re excited to participate … We are still talking through where and how we will have the most impact.”

Shipyard will brew the recipe in Portland in the coming weeks and offer the stout in its tasting room, Cochran added.

Courtesy / Weathered Souls Brewing

A mock-up of a can of Black Is Beautiful, the imperial stout breweries such as Allagash plan to produce.

Details of other breweries’ plans, including the organizations that will receive support, are still in the works. Baskerville is encouraging each participant to donate the proceeds to an organization of its choosing. (Weathered Souls is contributing its funding to Know Your Rights Camps, an advocacy organization founded by Colin Kaepernick.)

But the past three weeks haven’t always been a smooth pour for Black Is Beautiful.

The name and logo initially appeared with quotation marks: “Black” Is Beautiful. But that style received criticism, and Baskerville changed the punctuation.

The name also refers to the historical celebration of black culture that arose during the 1960s, a movement that may seem distant from today’s 21st-century response to racially driven police brutality.

Meanwhile, small breweries in Maine and elsewhere are struggling to change a perception that they’re the domain of young, white men.

The Brewers Association, a national trade group for the industry, said last year that its research showed that “similar to craft consumers, brewery employees are disproportionately white relative to both the general U.S. population and where breweries are located.”

In fact, the association found, craft brewery production employees in the U.S. were 76.2% white, while the ratio was 89% among brewers.

Last July, the Boston Globe reported that “the craft beer industry has a diversity problem,” and cited research indicating white consumers made up 77% of craft beer drinkers. Black consumers numbered only 5.4%.

The Brewers Association in 2016 launched a campaign to promote diversity within its ranks. Commenting on last year's research, Program Director Julia Herz recently wrote, "With the 2019 data now available, anyone scanning it will conclude there is work to be done, and we as a craft beer community can do better."