San Antonio Brewery’s Racial Justice Initiative Now Has Over 900 Participating Beer Makers
- Courtesy Weathered Souls Brewing Co.
When Weathered Souls Brewing Co. launched its Black Is Beautiful campaign earlier this month, founder Marcus Baskerville simply wanted to invite craft brewers nationwide to help raise awareness of racial injustice.
Since then, the initiative — which encourages brewers to add their unique spin to a Weathered Souls imperial stout recipe and donate sale proceeds to social-justice groups — has drawn more than 900 participating breweries.
Following an article in Forbes on the effort, Baskerville also appeared on the Brew Ha Ha podcast, a show about “the people who are making great beer and big news” in the brewing world.
At the time of the interview, the Black Is Beautiful campaign had reached 15 countries, including the Philippines and France, not to mention all 50 U.S. states.
San Antonio-based Weathered Souls is one of fewer than 30 Black-owned breweries in the U.S. As a survivor of police abuse in his early 20s, Baskerville felt that allowing each participating brewery to choose the beneficiary of their individual BIB sales would allow them to create change in their own communities.
“I knew that the brewing industry would rise to the challenge,” Baskerville said. “By donating to local entities, breweries are going to get involved in these foundations supporting justice and equality and be at the forefront of creating those conversations in their neighborhood.”
Baskerville plans a July release for the Weathered Souls’ Black Is Beautiful brew, adding that he expects the initiative to create real, tangible change.
“Even though it’s White male-dominated, the brewing industry is the most inclusive industry that I’ve ever been in. It’s always been a huge industry, full of people who want to help.”
So many restaurants, so little time. Find out the latest San Antonio dining news with our Flavor Friday Newsletter.
