Craft Beer in the African American Community

When you think of the typical beer enthusiast, usually a caucasian bearded man comes to mind (looks like I fit the bill). Rarely would a member of the black community be the first to come to mind. Why is that?

There are various explanations that have been given. Very few are more than speculation but the question has been raised including on online beer forums and message boards (Madison Beer Review for example). Searching online will also, unfortunately, bring up viewpoints that only reinforce stereo-types.

Does it have cultural connections? Europe has a long history of beer brewing. Is it due to advertising and beer being marketed to white people? Most macro beer commercials consist of a large group of smiling people with one or two designated people of color. Even worse... when they DO feature black people as the main character they make them look ridiculous:

So are there positive examples of African American people in the beer community? Of course there are!

Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster for Brooklyn Brewing Co., Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Companion to Beer, author of several books, and world-renowned beer expert.

Whether you are Democrat, Republican, or Independent... if you are a beer enthusiast you have to appreciate Barack Obama's open love for beer. At his Super-Bowl party he requested craft beers be on hand included a Honey Ale brewed by a White House chef.

So remember...this is not an accurate portrayal of all craft-beer drinkers...

And this is not an accurate portrayal of African-American people consuming alcoholic beverages:

Advice from Greg Koch (Stone)

Greg Koch, CEO of Stone Brewing, recently made an appearance as the keynote speaker at the Cuayamaca Community College graduation ceremony. Here is some of the advice he gave as reported from the college's blog...

1) Do good things - It does matter. Everything you do in this world counts. It counts for the worse, or it counts for the better.

2) Be a conscious consumer - In the grocery store, in the shopping mall, or online, don't buy what the man on the TV tells you to buy. Refuse to be led by the nose with the idea that you need to buy, buy, buy and spend, spend, spend.
3) Follow the passionate path, and have fun - Do things that matter to you. Follow your heart. Follow your passion. Do things that you enjoy.
4) Ignore everyone - This is key is you're to follow the passionate path. You'll need to realize that you cannot listen to other voices than your own. It's difficult enough to overcome the doubt, fear and negativity of our own internal voice. Don't allow any external voices to add to it.

5) Fail - "Don't be afraid to fail" is what many people will tell you. I want to amp that up a bit. I want to urge you to stretch, push and risk so much that you DO fail. Make mistakes. Maybe try and avoid huge ones, but you can recover from nearly all of the medium-sized mistakes, and definitely all of the small ones. 

You can find the full summary of what he had to say at the college's blog HERE.

Beer bands (part 2)

I have previously posted about the crossover between the independent music scene and craft brewing from the angle of collaboration beers.

As a continuation on the subject, I wanted to talk about BRAINOIL and THE PAIN RELIEVAZ.

Vinny from Russian River w/ Nate Smith

BRAINOIL is an excellent heavy metal band from Oakland, CA. How is this relevant to beer? The guitarist, Nathan Smith, is a homebrewing celebrity who is known for making award winning DIPAs and other styles. I first heard of the band after watching the BrewingTV episode featuring Nate and his homebrew setup.

Considered one of the top brewers in the Bay Area, Nate continues to keep his beer on a homebrew level and an equal amount of focus into his music.

THE PAIN RELIEVAZ is a two piece hip-hop group featuring Sam Calagione from Dogfish Head. Sam has said he uses the group as a creative outlet that is not directly related to DFH, but with songs such as "I got busy with an A-B Sales Girl"... it is safe to say that the subject matter is not a big leap in content from his day job.

Tasting Beer (Mosher)

Considered by many as the definitive book on sensory evaluation and guide for food and beer pairing, Randy Mosher has written a brilliant work. With information on style guidelines, history, proper glassware, etc., it is a must buy.

For those studying to take the Certified Cicerone Exam... Tasting Beer is on the list of suggested reading.

Mosher is a member of the American Homebrewers Association, Chicago Beer Society, author of several books (including Radical Brewing), award winning brewer, and lecturer.