Beer festival puts focus on black brewers
When Lawrence Pritchard opened Flatrock Brewing Co. more than six years ago, he was - as far as anybody knows - the first African-American to own and operate a craft brewery in Ohio.
But Pritchard didn’t want the story at the time to be about his race. Instead, he wanted the focus to be on his beer.
“We’re all fighting to be relevant and to be taken seriously,” he said. “And I think that’s something I thought about from the very beginning and the reason why we didn’t really publicize it that much because there was a fear that it’s going to be harder for us to sell beer. You want to believe that people are fundamentally good and are going to look at you like everybody else but we all know that just doesn’t happen.”
Today, Pritchard is proud of his place in Ohio craft brewing history and more than willing to share his experience as a black business owner in the white male-dominated industry.
Pritchard, whose Napoleon brewery in Northwest Ohio has since expanded into mead and spirit making, will be one of three black-owned breweries from the Buckeye State participating in the second annual Fresh Fest, the nation’s first beer festival that focuses on black brewers. The other Ohio breweries participating are: Black Frog Brewery in Holland and Alematic Artisan Ales (co-founder and brewer Jerrod Fisher is black) in Huber Heights.
Fresh Fest, which takes place from noon to 9 p.m. Saturday (Aug. 10) at Nova Place in Pittsburgh, will feature nearly 30 breweries from around the country, including Thunderhawk Alements in San Diego, Harlem Brewing in New York City, Khonso Brewing in Atlanta and Weathered Souls Brewing in San Antonio.
Diversity is an issue in the craft beer industry.
Chris Harris, the owner and brewer at Black Frog who attended the Fresh Fest last year, said the crowd at the event was a healthy mix of races, as opposed to being dominated by white men like other beer fests.
As a black brewer, he said that’s refreshing to see. “Beer is color blind,” he said.
The Brewers Association reported Tuesday there are 7,480 craft breweries in the U.S. Harris estimated less than 1 percent are headed by African-Americans.