There's still a little bit of time to support the Seed&Spark campaign for This Belongs To Us, a new documentary film that aims to decolonize the beer industry. From the campaign page:
If one were to distill white American masculinity into a single beverage, it's hard not to imagine a silver can plucked from an ice-thick cooler, beads of condensation glistening down its length — or a sturdy, frosted mug, brimming with an amber draught whose foamy head streams golden down its side. When it comes to embodying white, male, American identity, as far as beverages go, beer has set the bar. But the practice of brewing beer is as old as human civilization. And while a look at the modern craft brewing industry in the U.S. wouldn't suggest it, brewing beer began with women, who originated the practice in the parts of the world we now refer to as Africa and the East.
Director Atinuke Akintola Diver adds:
In my work as a Community Organizer in Durham, NC, I grew to recognize breweries as reliable canaries in the coal mine of gentrification. Many breweries are located in, or in close proximity to, historically Black and Brown communities experiencing rapid growth and economic exclusion. And they attract a customer base that looks very different from their surrounding community. So I began to wonder: "How did this happen? This tradition is so Black…how did it get so white? And why do Black folks have to fight for recognition and legitiamcy in a space that's been theirs all along?"
This Belongs To Us will tell the history of Black women in beer through the lens of Briana Brake, CEO of Spaceway Brewing in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
I only recently learned about Rhythm Brewing in New Haven, which is the first brewery owned by a Black woman in Connecticut. Porch Drinking has a list of some more Black- (though not necessarily women-)-owned breweries across the country — which, according to some estimates, make up a depressing 1 percent of the entire industry. Hop Culture has recommendations for about 40 women-owned breweries
This Belongs To Us [Atinuke Akintola Diver / Seed & Spark]
