The Crowns & Hops 8 Trill Initiative continues with a Great Notion release of Crowns and Axes Tart Ale “made with strawberry, pink guava, sea salt, and coriander.” Unique ingredients for a unique cause.
Tart & Trill
BiB Volume 2
Black is Beautiful is back with Volume 2 of their Hazy IPA recipe, this time brewed with association with the National Black Brewers Association.
Below is one of the Crowns & Hops labels and it looks really classy. Hope to see lots of breweries taking this recipe on this year.
Fest! Finally!
Now that we are in September, I can commence talking about Festbiers in 2023 and I will start with…
Dopetoberfest from local to L.A., Crowns & Hops.
Second is the Oaky Marzen from Firestone Walker.
Lastly, the classic OktoCollab from Chico, with Hamburg’s Kehrwieder Kreativbrauerei .
Sean Suggests for June 2023
We are going full on L.A. Beer Week beers for this month’s shopping list. From two Freaky Friday South Bay friends to a Crenshaw collaboration.
El Segundo Squirrel-Toothed Tiger – 6.7% – “We went hoppier, Americanier, and, dare we say, downright more majestic than a pre-historic squirrel on their best day. Sure, the tiger may look friendly, albeit a little funny, but it remains a tiger with an inherent instinct to kill nonetheless!”
Crowns & Hops / Los Angeles Ale Works Down Crenshaw IPA – 7% – Mosaic, Nelson and Enigma hops headline this dank West Coast IPA Boulevard.
Smog City Smogberry IPA – 7.2% – Smog City re-imagines the iconic Mayberry IPA.
Into the Light
Crowns & Hops is debuting a new IPA series under the Inglewood Sun banner. Make Sure to be on the lookout for it….
Activ8
If you missed Cur8, now is the time to get active.
“Activ8″ is the second beer produced in association with Crowns’ new Eight Trillion Allies Collaboration Series that partners established breweries with Black-owned beer brands to accomplish true representation in the brewing industry.” This time the partner is HenHouse Brewing…
“Proceeds from these beers will go to the 8 Trill Initiative, a development fund launched by Crowns & Hops … that is dedicated to generating opportunities for Black-owned craft beer brands while demonstrating the benefits and fiscal impact of racial equity.”
Maybe Not So Strange Bedfellows – Part 1
Allagash Brewing Company and Crowns & Hops Brewing Co., are bringing Maine to Inglewood with Cur-8. Arriving in time for Black History Month, the new beer mashes up Crowns & Hops’ 8 Trill Pils pilsner with Allagash Curieux. A bourbon-y Tripel-esque pilsner.
Here are more details about the partnership, “Cur-8 is part of the new Eight Trillion Allies Collaboration Series that partners established breweries with Black-owned beer brands to accomplish true representation in the brewing industry. “8 Trill Pils” is named after a statistic from a W.K. Kellogg Foundation report, “Business Case for Racial Equity.” The report suggests that the U.S. stands to realize an $8 trillion gain in the national GDP by closing the racial equity gap by 2050.”
I Can Do It Better
Let’s stick with Crowns & Hops and collaboration but swap in fellow Inglewoodian Three Weavers.
Here is the info on this Pink Boots “pale ale brewed with Norwegian Kveik yeast ups the craft beer game by taking your inner badass to the next level and then bringing you in tight for a raspberry, pineapple and bubblgegum hug.”
Jon and Vinny and an Italian Pils
Crowns & Hops has joined ampersand forces with restaurant team Jon & Vinny for an “Italian Style Pilsner dry hopped with Amarillo & Simcoe hops for a beautiful floral and citrus aroma coupled with a crisp dry finish.”
Per the Inglewood brewery, “Greensleeves is in honor of the global impact of jazz and a celebration of access to culture. Arguably one of the most impactful forms of American Art created by Black Americans of African descent was that of jazz.
Considering that Jon & Vinny are the food suppliers to SoFi Stadium, I would hazard a guess this pils will be available there.
HenHouse Talks the Future
And to get to the future, you have to talk about the past. And that past is fraught when you are a minority brewery in this country.
Which is why it was great to hear Shyla from Bow & Arrow and Teo from our SoCal Crowns & Hops talk about their respective journeys in a beer world that is quite white.
Here are some of the words of interest that struck me from the discussion…
- Why do we assume that beer drinkers and brewery owners look a certain way?
- access to capital is still a major hurdle
- call out people, don’t let the haters use language without using language to change the narrative
- No Jerks!
- How do we frame gentrification when it is a minority business person in a minority neighborhood
- We need to get to a time where the story is the beer and the beer only, and not who is behind it because telling the story of who you are, if that story always revolves around your skin tone is tiring
- Don’t be an Ally in name only. Do sonething