February 15, 2022
Four Black-Owned Breweries Release Four-Pack Beer Celebrating Pioneers In Black History
Four Black-owned breweries in California have joined forces to create a commemorative limited edition release with label art honoring heroes of Black history.
On February 1, a four-pack was released as part of the Second Edition Peoples Beer special.
Each different style of Hazy India Pale Ale has been crafted and brewed by Full Circle Brewing Co., Hella Coastal Brewing Co., Hunters Point Brewery, and Oak Park Brewing Co. (OPB), according to East Bay Times. The mixed beer, made with different formulas of yeast and hops, will be available at retailers throughout Northern California.
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The label art, created by Milton Bowens, celebrates several Black historical pioneers, including Bessie Coleman, the first female African-American pilot; Mary Ellen Pleasant, a self-made millionaire in Gold Rush San Francisco who was instrumental in expanding the Underground Railroad; and Robert Abbott, publisher and founder of the Chicago Defender, which was the most widely distributed Black newspaper in its time.
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Sacramento’s Oak Park Brewing Co. brought new life to the Peoples Beer brand in 2020 to honor the legacy of Theodore Mack Sr. With a dream of launching America’s first Black brewery, Mack and a group of investors successfully purchased The Peoples Brewing Company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, making the venture the first African American ownership of a major brewery in the country.
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Rodg Little, co-owner of OBP, decided then that he wanted to celebrate Black History Month in a new way.
“We reached out to three other Black-owned breweries–we wanted to be Black brewery-focused or -forward—and we just wanted to do something different. I don’t think anybody had done that before at the time. It was just like, ‘Let’s share the love.’”
OBP, alongside the other three breweries, is committed to movements that support inclusion, diversity, and equity in the craft beer industry.
“Across the nation, we’re less than 1 percent, and that’s including brewers, brewery owners, distributors, and people of color in the industry altogether,” Little said. “For Sacramento, it’s definitely a rarity–we only have two Black-owned breweries, so that’s iconic in itself.”
In efforts to grow the 1%, these breweries are making history every day all while recognizing those who came before them.