December 2020 Update
Black is Beautiful, our imperial stout, has truly delivered some beautiful results. Thanks to your purchase of this beer, we’ve donated a total of $10,000 to the Indigo Arts Alliance and Maine Inside Out—both organizations working to increase racial equity and showcase the talents of Black members in our community.
It gets better. Because of this beer—and Weathered Souls Brewing for coming up with the idea behind it—we had conversations with a number of inspiring local organizations that are all working to help Maine’s marginalized communities. So we’re excited to announce that, because of your enthusiasm for this beer, we’re giving an additional 8 microgrants of $1,000 to the following organizations:
Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
Maine Association for New Americans
Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition
What is Black is Beautiful?
Black is Beautiful is a rich imperial stout that we released at our brewery and across Maine on November 13th. It’s also a statement, because 100% of the profits from this beer will go to local organizations working toward racial justice and equality. We’re joining over 1,170 other breweries across all 50 states and 22 countries in brewing the beer. The concept for this communal brewing movement was created by Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio, TX.
Their idea was to distribute the recipe for an imperial stout that any brewery could use. The key to the idea was that if you brewed it, you’d also donate all profits to organizations, in your area, working toward racial justice.
The beer itself is a robust imperial stout—imperial stouts tend to have a fuller mouthfeel, and a bit more robust sweetness, on top of the chocolate, coffee, and notes of roast you’d expect from a typical stout. Our version of this beer is brewed with flint corn grown by the new American farmers, with the support of Cultivating Community, and is fermented with Belgian-style yeast. Black is Beautiful contains bold notes of chocolate, coffee, and dried fruit, complemented by a lightly sweet flavor. Coming in at 10% ABV, the beer will be available in four-packs of 12 oz. cans.
Our Nonprofit Partners
The two nonprofits that we chose to donate to are Indigo Arts Alliance and Maine Inside Out.
Indigo Arts Alliance builds global connections by bringing together Black and Brown artists from diverse backgrounds to engage in their creative process with an opportunity to serve as both mentors and mentees. An integral aspect of the Indigo vision is to provide Maine-based artists of African descent access to a broader range of practicing artists of color from around the world.
Maine Inside Out is a community of artists and visionaries with lived experience of incarceration and structural racism and their allies. They build, practice and share models for community change to build a world where everyone matters and belongs.
Another way to Support
To help us support our Black community here in Maine, we’d also suggest that you check out Black Owned Maine. The excellent folks at Black Owned Maine have created an extensive list of Black-owned businesses across Maine. Their directory was created to fill a void. Before BOM, there was not a single, concise directory of Black-owned businesses in Maine.
