Portland’s Black is Beautiful Homebrew project initiative

The original statement of purpose was straightforward: "A collaborative effort to raise awareness for the injustices people of color face daily and raise funds for police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged." The collaborative effort, in this case, was beer. The initiative was kicked off by Weathered Souls Brewing, based in San Antonio, TX. The original statement went on to proclaim: "The Black is Beautiful initiative is a collaborative effort amongst the brewing community and its customers, in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily. Our mission is to bridge the gap that's been around for ages and provide a platform to show that the brewing community is an inclusive place for everyone of any color. We are asking for all breweries and brewers far and wide to raise a glass with us in unison and participate in this collaboration. In the collaboration efforts, we would ask for participating breweries to do the following:

• Donate 100% of the beer's proceeds to local foundations that support police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged

• Choose their own entity to donate to local organizations that support equality and inclusion

• Commit to the long-term work of equality

The Black is Beautiful collaborative effort eventually encompassed the efforts of more than a thousand commercial breweries across the country. At least 30 of them were based in Oregon.

Styles brewed represented a range of darker beers, including Dunkels, stouts, porters, beers appropriate to the initiative. The base recipe created by Weathered Souls was an Imperial stout at 10% ABV, a bold statement consistent with the collaboration's purpose. Across the range of the collaboration, the beers were as good as their widely-acclaimed inspiration.

But commercial brewers are not all breweries and brewers. Commercial breweries, to be sure, are a fundamentally significant part of the brewing community, but another segment had not yet been involved: the widespread enthusiastic community of homebrewers. Commercial brewers, of course, are licensed to off products for sale, and thus receive proceeds to donate. Homebrewers are not commercially licensed to sell beer. So, how would they get involved?

Michele Wonder

Meet Michele Wonder, BJCP Recognized Beer Judge, on the way to becoming a Certified Cicerone®, proud member of the Pink Boots Society, draught systems technician and social media manager for Perfect Pour Services, and, most germane, the founder of the Black is Beautiful Homebrew PDX Brewing Project. Wonder launched the project in July 2020, and tells the story:

"When I first heard about Weathered Souls Brewing Co’s collaboration beer idea, Black is Beautiful, an 8.5% Imperial Stout, I immediately began thinking how local home brewers like myself could make a contribution to this project. I was instantly reminded of the Resilience Beer collab project that was undertaken by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. back in 2018 to raise money after the devastating Camp Fire. It was a phenomenal success and proved to be a wonderful way for folks to give back through camaraderie & community as well as fundraising. "In the summer of 2020 I gathered up a bunch of brewing friends and we each brewed a 5gl batch of the Black Is Beautiful Imperial Stout recipe. Together we assembled these into very unique 12-packs and asked folks to donate to charity in order to receive this 12-pack in return! It was an amazing success and together those forty 12-packs raised $5485 spread across seven different local Oregon charities. It was such a success we all thought, why not do it again!"

The idea is a simple as it is legal, and a well-conceived workaround: Donate to charity and get twelve unique homebrews delivered to your door. Donors could choose to donate to Campaign Zero, Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, Love the Land Foundation, or the Urban League of Portland, and after completing the donation, take a screen shot of the receipt as proof. The reward: a dozen Black is Beautiful beers, brewed by homebrewers and packaged professionally, complete with the themed label that instantly identified a brewer in the Black is Beautiful project. The results: uniformly good, usually better than good, bottled and canned proof that homebrewers can make beers as good as their commercial counterparts.

The brewers: Alex & Maddie Brehm, Chris & Kathleen Freitag, Drew & Jennifer Hohensee, Ryan Holt, Adam Lund, Jenn McPoland & Jeremie Landers, Jimmy Mack, Bill Midkiff, Bruce Morrison, Alex Parise & Scott Nieradka, Jim & Meagan Thompson, Laurel & Michele Wonder, Jeffrey Orr, Verian Wedeking. Beer were released in two rounds, and most of these brewers participated in both. Some are longtime homebrewers, others are newer, all are active in the local homebrewing community, in the Oregon Brew Crew and other clubs, several with BJCP certifications, all of them passionate about their community, their hobby, their beers.

And their thoughts, in their words.

Jimmy Mack

"When I first heard about the Black Is Beautiful project from Weathered Souls Brewing, I knew right away that I was going to brew this and find some way to raise money for local black charities. I€™m a huge stout fan and have brewed many so this seemed like kismet. Within a few days Michelle posted the idea that we do this as an OB collective and I was all in. I polished up my stout recipe a bit and jumped right in. Doing something I love for a cause that is bigger and more important than all of us is the right thing to do. It feels so amazing to be part of something like this that can have a direct impact...and the people supporting this project, by making donations for the beer? Well, it€™s so satisfying to see their faces when I drop off their tasty treats." -- Jimmy Mack

"I brewed this beer because it combined many of the things I hold close to me. Since I have started brewing I found myself loving to share beer with co-workers and friends, that paired with brewing beer and then raising money for local fundraisers was a total no brainer for me. I took part in the BIB round one and two and I'll continue doing each one if the opportunity presents itself. I brewed this Schwarzbier to be a nice crispy dark lager for these winter months." -- Adam Lund.

Old Standby Brewing / Ryan Holt

"... It was an amazingly popular way to raise funds for local charities that promote racial equality and justice in our community. I was already in the process of converting my brand and 25 years of brewing experience into a non-profit when Alex from the group reached out to see if I was interested in participating in the BIB Project. So, I was excited to be involved. My website has been a way for me to give back to my community, since I'm not teaching anymore (I'm a former K-8 teacher). On the site, I sell my swag and accept donations locally for my canned beers, and then give it all back to various local charities. Feel free to take a look if you'd like. For round 2 of our BIB project, I brewed one of my award winning recipes, an Irish Stout, but I added some Jameson Irish Whiskey aged on American Oak to the beer to give it a bit more flavor and character." -- Ryan Holt.

Verian Wedeking

"A fellow Green Dragon (GD) Brewer let me know Michele was looking for one more brewer to participate in Round Two, and I jumped at the opportunity to participate in this homebrew version of Weathered Souls BIB collaboration project. For this project, I brewed a Czech Dark Lager wanting to provide my interpretation of this complex dark lager to help push people's perception and expectation of what can be. Just like the urgent need to recalibrate our perspectives and amplify demands for racial justice and the end to police oppression, this beer is a reflection of that call to action. If you missed out on this dark lager, keep an eye out for the scaled up version once the GD Brewing program resumes after our Pandemic Pause. Prost!" -- Verian Wedeking.

Kathleen Freitag

"I want to go out on a limb and say that my journey in discovering and understanding racial bias became real a little over 1 year ago during some training I took at Portland Community College. At one point I was telling a co-worker of mine that my husband brews beer. She laughed and said, 'Really? Where I come from, Eritrea, that is a woman's craft.' I realized in that moment that 1) I had a lot more to learn about my co-workers African culture and 2) that there was a lot more to brewing than plaid shirts and beards. ;) The black is beautiful project that Michelle put together really blended my desire to become an ally for people of color and my new found realization that homebrewing can be a lot more inclusive. My third batch of beer that I brewed with some wonderful female identified friends won a blue ribbon and best of show at the She Brew festival exactly one year ago. I called it 'Her Way IPA.' This most recent brew for Black is Beautiful was called 'Her Way Black IPA' and just added a touch of midnight wheat to the recipe. My husband, Chris and I have found how to best use each of our talents in crafting recipes, brewing together, and then sharing stories with new friends over a good beer. To be able to do all this while donating to wonderful BIPOC organizations has been an amazing experience. Maybe the next recipe will be from an Eritrean kitchen." -- Kathleen Freitag

"One of the greatest joys of homebrewing is sharing our creations with others. To be able to contribute with our homebrew is an honor!" -- Jen and Drew Hohensee.

"Most of what I have to contribute is included on the [Black Is Beautiful Homebrewers Project] web pages for the project, as I am the one who wrote it. However I will add that this project succeeded beyond my wildest dreams and having (80) 12-packs of homebrew raise over $10K for local black charities further emphasizes for me the true force for change that beer can represent across many different spectrums, platforms and communities." -- Michele Wonder.

None of the homebrewers involved in this #BlackIsBeautiful beer project expected anything more than the accomplishment of having contributed to a worthy cause. They succeeded in the best of ways.