Let's raise a glass to our Black-owned breweries on this Juneteenth Freedom Day! There are about 400+ breweries here in the Evergreen State, yet only five, count ‘em, FIVE of them are Black-owned breweries.

That is only 1% representation* of in the breweries in the state.

In honor of Juneteenth, I wanted to raise a glass to a special craft brewery that is dear to my heart because of the great memories I’ve had there with my friends, and also happens to be a locally-owned Black-owned brewery here in Washington state.

I had a blast visiting Metier Brewing Company. Metier has a delicious flight of beers and I enjoyed putting my name on the wall of "donated beers."

Metier Brewing Company
Metier Brewing Company via Google Maps
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At Metier Brewing Company, anyone can purchase a beer and pay it forward to someone else. How it works is, you pay for the beer at the counter and they'll give you a sticker to write down the type of person you want to pay it forward to.

I wrote down my free beer as going out to the next harried single parent who's out there surviving the tweens and teen years one day at a time. HA!

The other four Black owned breweries in Washington state that I know of are:

Beer Star in Tacoma and White Center

Beer Star Brewery
Beer Star brewery via Google Maps
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Sage Brewing Company in Pasco

Sage Brewing Company
Sage Brewing Company via google maps
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23rd Ave Brewery in Seattle

23rd Ave Brewery
23rd Ave Brewery via Google Maps
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Black Label Brewing Company in Spokane

Black Label Brewing Company
Black Label Brewing Company via Google Maps
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You probably don't even think about how tough it must be to break into the beer business for anyone, let alone Black Americans. After all, you have to have access to capital to start that kind of business.

There’s hefty costs involved to start your own brewery, from purchasing hops, a space to brew the beer, all of the industrial beer equipment and bottling/packaging (which we know ain’t cheap), and then there’s the cost of marketing, staff, and rent, plus overhead expenses.

All of that aside, I personally think that having the right CONNECTIONS is one of the biggest indicators of success for any budding beer entrepreneur.

Dare I call it a b’entrepreneur!

I hope that you'll get the pleasure of visiting one of our cool Black-owned Washington State breweries this year!

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Other Cool Washington State Signature Craft Breweries I Think Are Worth Your Time

 

You can find many more tempting Washington State beers (thanks, Wikipedia!).

*The Black population in Washington state is currently close to 4%.

OTHER COOL STORIES TO READ:

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