Feel-good stories from San Diego beer

After Black Lives Matter protests appeared demanding social justice and police reform, a number of local breweries voiced support for the effort. Three dozen of them decided to participate in the nationwide Black is Beautiful initiative. Started by Marcus Baskerville, the African-American head brewer and co-founder of San Antonio’s Weathered Souls Brewing, the project invites craft breweries to brew his Black is Beautiful stout recipe, “in an attempt to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face daily.” The only caveat is that the breweries “Donate 100% of the beer's proceeds to local foundations that support police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged.”

More than a thousand breweries have participated, representing all 50 states and 19 countries. Local breweries have begin to release their versions of the stout in July, led by a mega collaboration of 20 breweries led by Horus Aged Ales and AleSmith Brewing (proceeds go Black Visions Collective, Campaign Zero, Innocence Project and National Bail Out). Check the Black is Beautiful website (blackisbeautiful.beer) to see which local breweries are offering their own version of the beer.

Several beertenders have shown solidarity by donating some of their most precious resources: their tips. At Latchkey Brewing, a team led by Teresa Pominville pooled their tips to make donations to Black Lives Matter and the ACLU. At University Heights brewpub Kairoa Brewing Company, a crew led by Daylen Dalrymple followed Pominville’s lead, deciding to pool tips to donate to the Black Womxn Deserve Mutual Aid Fund, which provides financial support to black women in crisis. Inspired by their servers’ altruism, customers tipped heavily to contribute to each pool: the Latchkey beertenders contributed $1075 to the two organizations; the Kairoa crew’s donation amounted to $1633.

Meanwhile, as its beer festival is canceled for the year, the San Diego Brewers Guild lost its mechanism to support the guidance offered its 120 members during the pandemic. In response, breweries connected via Stone Distribution collaborated to produce the San Diego Brewers United Double IPA. Stone Brewing, Modern Times Beer, Pizza Port Brewing Co., Port Brewing, Mother Earth Brewing Co., and Thorn Brewing Co. contributed to the beer, which features a distinctive hop bill of Rakau Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and Azacca.

Proceeds from the beer will support the Brewers Guild during this down year. In addition to buying the beer at Stone Brewing locations, beer industry fans may support the Brewers Guild directly by purchasing merchandise through its web shop.