One of the best things about the craft beer industry is that breweries often work together to make their communities better or help those that need help. But with finite amounts of time, energy and resources it can be tough to decide what causes to support, what charities to fund, what events to take part in – they can all seem so important and worthy.
Every now and then events take place that can’t be ignored. The death of George Floyd in May - following so many other black lives at the hands of police - and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests and social upheaval that followed is one.
As the world grappled with the grim reality of racial discrimination and police brutality, Weathered Souls Brewing in Texas took action. Founder Marcus Baskerville had an idea – to bring breweries together to brew a collaboration beer, raise awareness for the injustices that Black people face daily, and donate proceeds from the beer to charities supporting police brutality reform, and those supporting equality and inclusion. They dubbed the collaboration beer Black is Beautiful (read all about it here).
Craft breweries have a habit of working closely together and using beer for social good – but even Marcus and the team at Weathered Souls have been blown away by scale of the support for this beer. To date 960 breweries around the world have joined the collaboration, all committing to donate 100% of proceeds from the sale of their version of the Black is Beautiful beer to these very important causes. Just stop and think about that for a moment; 960 breweries – technically all competitors - working together against racism.
Cabin is proud to be part of the Black Is Beautiful collaboration. We are donating 100% of proceeds (that means all money from every beer sold – we don’t keep a cent of it) to Calgary’s Sankofa Arts & Music Foundation. Sankofa is a Black-led organization that works with Black youth in Calgary to create a community that has equality, diversity, inclusion and social justice at its heart. The struggle against racial discrimination for Black people in Canada and in Calgary is very, very real. Sankofa is caring and loving and does amazing work to create a space where Black youth feel welcomed and appreciated, and have opportunities to grow.
We would encourage anyone reading this to lend support to Sankofa. Give them a follow on social media and consider donating money to help them – any amount helps, and what might not seem like much to you may make a huge difference to the kids they help.
The money raised from our beer – we are hoping to raise $20,000 – will go towards launching a scholarship fund to help Black Calgary youth enter post-secondary education or trade apprenticeship programs. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and agents of change, but the sad reality is that the playing field is not level and some kids need our help.
As part of the Black is Beautiful initiative, Cabin has also committed to the long-term work of equality. If we’re being honest, we don’t really understand the full extent of what that means, or what that will entail. We know it’s beyond our current worldview and approach to daily life. We know we have to continue to learn and change. We know it won’t be easy. We know it will be uncomfortable.
The only thing we do know is that there is so much that needs to be done - and it has to start now - to make our society one that is free from racial hatred and discrimination. While we don’t know how we get there, we do feel like the steps we are taking now are vitally important and will make a change to the lives of those who’ve experienced racial hatred. As we said last month: We are listening. We are learning.
It’s the very least all of us can do.
The beer we brewed is a Black Forest Coffee Stout. It’s got lots of cherries, cocoa and delectable chocolate notes from the specialty malts donated by Red Shed Malting (Black Bear, Chocolate, Light Chocolate and Roast Barley). We worked with our new neighbours at Rosso Coffee Roasters to hand pick a coffee varietal that compliments the flavours of the beer. They donated 25 pound of Businde Natural, a bean from the East African country of Burundi that gives delicate fruit-forward notes of plum and raspberry.
We are overwhelmed by the support and feel so fortunate to have partners that jumped on board without hesitation to help.
Collective – A Craft Beer Store in Avenida Village jumped on to help by offering to donate all profits from growler fills of our Black is Beautiful beer to Sankofa. Collective is an amazing supporter of craft beer in Alberta and damn good people who care about this city and the people in it.
We are also very fortunate to have the services of Summit Labels, who printed and supplied 4,200 can labels free of charge, and Daughter Creative, who did the necessary design tweaks needed to get our beer ready for the Canadian market at no cost.
We have two other suppliers who provided goods and services to make this beer. They wanted to remain anonymous, but we know who they are and they need to know that their help is greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Please, buy this beer.
Share messages of support for the Black is Beautiful collaboration and for Sankofa.
As you’re drinking this beer, think about what you can do to make this city a more tolerant, inclusive and diverse place.
Racism can only survive if you feed it. It all starts with you.
