North Coast to Davis

Another positive step in creating a more diverse craft beer world, read the below snippet from UC Davis….

“A $50,000 endowment from North Coast Brewing Company of Fort Bragg, California will launch the Mark E. Ruedrich North Coast Brewing Diversity Scholarship for the brewing program at UC Davis. The gift ensures that, by supporting education and opportunity, North Coast Brewing Company furthers its goal of promoting diversity in the brewing industry in perpetuity.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to improve our community,” said Jeff Ottoboni, CEO of North Coast Brewing Company. “The tumultuous events of 2020 reinforced the need for us to make this significant commitment and lead efforts to promote diversity in the brewing industry. Twenty-four hours later, we were on the phone with UC Davis.”

Recognizing UC Davis’ commitment to inclusion and diversity and its reputation for brewing education, the brewery partnered with the Master Brewers Certificate Program at UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education to support aspiring brewing professionals. “We have an obligation to our employees, our community and our world to do what is right at all times and in this case, the best way to do that – to create meaningful, long-lasting change – is through education,” said Ottoboni.”

Diversify

In what could be filed under belated, the Brewers Association has hired Dr. J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham to be the first diversity ambassador.

Per the press release, “Jackson-Beckham, an assistant professor of communication studies at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, will work closely with the BA’s Diversity Committee, which was established during last year’s Craft Brewers Conference in Washington, D.C.”

Jackson-Beckham has written a book about this very topic: Untapped: Exploring the Cultural Dimensions of Craft Beer which should help her as she travels the country talking to member breweries and brewers guilds. Another plus is that she is an avid homebrewer as well.

I will certainly be on the look-out for her work and I hope to be in attendance when she next speaks in Los Angeles. Hopefully this will herald a change that will be beneficial long term.

You can read more HERE.