The more you open your eyes and see how race has impacted people and communities, the more you see the long and horrible history of how it has been baked into every nook and cranny of life. And craft beer is no exception. That is the focus of Beer and Racism: How Beer Became White, Why It Matters, and the Movements To Change It by Nathaniel Chapman and David Brunsma.
First off, this is a sociology text. There are citations everywhere and it has a distinct scholarly rhythm to it. I cannot review the book based on readability or pace. How I review books like this is to see how many revealing bits of information are found. Below are a few:
- Craft beer was revolting against homogenization of beer and yet only 15% of our community is black or Latinx
- many of the steps in becoming brewer are not really open to minorities because of education, bank loans, networking
- appropriation of black culture by white breweries is basically sanctioned where IP theft is not
The most interesting section of the book is the dip into talking about malt liquor and how’s it was one of the first cases of beer being actually marketed to black people. It is troubling to see the insensitivity from the larger regional breweries that made this style of beer towards their customer base in not only the packaging but the pricing and the way it was brewed. I could see a whole book that delves into this history.
The weakest part of the book is the concluding section about the movements to change. Granted, this book was primarily researched and written before 2020 and any crystal ball gazing would have been undercut a bit but there was not a lot of discussion about the role of education in creating a new class of minority brewers and I firmly believe that is where we need to start.
Overall, this book adds to the discussion and should be read, if only, to ground yourself in the idea that racism has hurt, is hurting and will continue to hurt the brewing industry until we truly leave it behind.