To raise awareness of the injustices people of color face daily, black-owned San Antonio brewery Weathered Souls has announced the brewing collaboration “‘Black’ is Beautiful.”
Through the initiative, participating breweries will receive the recipe for beer, an Imperial Stout, as well as a unique label design for cans. Weathered Souls will donate part of its proceeds from the brew to the Know Your Rights Campaign. The brewery is encouraging those who participate to donate a portion of their proceeds to local foundations that support legal defense reform and police brutality reform.
The collaboration is about more than raising money. In a statement posted to the company website and Facebook page, Weathered Souls founder and head brewer Marcus J Baskerville writes, “It is our mission to bridge the gap that has 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.”
Baskerville adds: “As I write this, I contemplate how the country can move forward, how we, as people, can create change and what will it take for everyone to move forward with a common respect for one another. For us, we feel that this is our contribution to a step forward. Sometimes that’s all it takes for change.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Baskerville told the San Antonio Current he’d received interest in the collaboration from nearly 80 breweries. The response on social media has also been positive, though some individuals have voiced concern over the intentions of certain participating breweries, including Scofflaw Brewing Co., which received criticism last year for appearing to offer free beer to U.K. Trump supporters as part of its U.K. launch. Scofflaw subsequently denied that it was behind the press release sharing the offer.
The @WeatheredSouls_ crew in TX have launched the “Black” Is Beautiful initiative. The recipe they’ve provided includes Cascade hops. If any of our brewery friends are making this beer & use our Cascade in their version, we’ll donate a portion of the proceeds to the @eji_org pic.twitter.com/ivawxXfufe
— Kansas Hop Company (@KansasHopCo) June 3, 2020
Beer Twitter has finally caught onto “Black” Is Beautiful. Hopefully this boosts the signal further. https://t.co/0CiewpdjaS
— jax (@coastlines) June 2, 2020
Sc*fflaw is part of that beer collaboration? … What work have they done, especially after the Trump stunt? Also saw another brewery on the list with a long history of sexist labels, so got to wonder what their intent is here, if they haven’t done any listening in the past.
— Jenny Pfäfflin (@jennypfafflin) June 3, 2020
VinePair believes we all have a part to play in helping to shift the paradigm of racial injustice in America, creating an equitable future for all. For the month of June, we have begun and will continue to donate a portion of sales from the VinePair store to support the Equal Justice Initiative, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and The Bail Project.
