Black Is Beautiful Beer

Sometime this week, you should start to see the appearance of an amazing collaboration on your grocery store beer shelves: “Black is Beautiful”. The craft beer industry has, in the past, come together to raise awareness for social issues. The Black Is Beautiful Beer program, hosted by Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio Texas, is such a collaboration to bring awareness to the daily injustices experienced by people of color. Leave it to the craft brewing industry to come together and rally to the cause.

How it works

The Black Is Beautiful consortium asks brewers across the world to bring awareness to social injustice by creating their own version of the Black is Beautiful imperial stout beer. Collaborators are provided a recipe that they can adjust and add their own artistic touches to. They are also provided a common label; the label, by KD Design, is a work of artistry, reflective of the cause itself, with space for breweries to place their logo and statement.

The recipe, created by Weathered SoulsBrewing Co, can be downloaded by anyone, you just need to sign in/up for Dropbox. So if you re a home brewer, you can could also create your own version. The grain bill includes 2 Row malt, Carafoam, Flaked Oats, Carmel, Dark Chocolate Malt, Black Malt, and Dextrose and uses Cascade hops.

Each collaborating brewery is asked to do the following:

Donate 100% of the beer’s proceeds to local foundations that support police brutality reform and legal defenses for those who have been wronged

Choose their own entity to donate to local organizations that support equality and inclusion

Commit to the long-term work of equality

From Blackisbeautiful,com website.

Who’s Brewing?

COUNTRIES	STATES	COUNTRIES
989	50	19

As of the writing of this post in July 2020, 989 breweries in 50 States and 19 countries have signed up to produce their version of Black is Beautiful. The website allows you to search by state and provides the name a locations of the Breweries so you can find those participating near you.

Oregon has 33 breweries so far that signed up to produce their version of Black is Beautiful, including one from an entirely Gluten Free facility. So here we go with the test results from 5 breweries.

Moonshrimp Brewing

Moonshrimp Brewing is an entirely Gluten Free brewing company that is producing a Certified GF version of Black is Beautiful. And since its made without Gluten, I don’t need to test it., I can just drink it. I first discovered Moonshrimp while dining at Corbett Fish House, which serves exclusively GF food.

I was fortunate enough to get the first bottle in this release, which is a coffee porter style brew. The aroma when cracking open the 16oz bottle, is certainly coffee. It is a key feature of the product. It is lighter tasting than a stout or imperial stout and slightly more carbonated as well. So if you prefer a lighter, summer-friendly style to the heavier imperials, this may be for you.

For Moonshrimp BiB, 100% of sales, not profit, go to Don’t Shoot PDX. A limited release, with 80 bottles produced, you can pick up this libation at their drive-through Beer window in SW Portland, OR.

Gigantic Brewing Co.

Out of all the Black is Beautiful Beers that I tested, Gigantic Brewing has the largest distribution: Oregon, Washington, California, British Columbia, Alberta, Hawaii, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, New York, Vermont, Norway, and Tokyo. A spokesperson from the brewery said the Black is Beautiful beer will be available across all of their current geographies. Proceeds go to the Urban League of Portland and the Black Resilience Fund.

After testing this beer, I was disappointed to find it did not pass the test for <5ppm. If you look at the test kit, it is difficult to see the result, but using a magnifier, I can see a feint red line over the T, meaning Positive for > 5ppm. You can’t really see it in the photo below; I needed jeweler’s magnifying glasses to see it. See the Testing Kit page for more information. Since I couldn’t taste, I smelled: the aroma is less sweet than the other imperial stouts that I am testing. I detect some coffee notes. For actual tasting experiences, find reviews on Untappd. AVB is 8.7%.

Trap Door Brewing

Trap Door Brewing out of Vancouver, WA produced a luscious sounding Oatmeal Cookie Imperial Stout 10.5 % AVB. Proceeds go to National Bail Out and the NW Community Bail Fund.

If you go to their tap room, you will also find a Black Is Beautiful on Draft, but its actually from Trapezius Brewing Co in VA. Proceeds for this beer go to Richmond Community Bail Fund.

Testing for this beer also came back Positive, meaning >5ppm, so I also could not consume this beer. Truly wish I could as the Oatmeal Cookie aroma is amazing as it sounds; it has a silky, vanilla and molasses sweetness, very cookie-like. I imagine this as a desert beer. Check out other reviews on taste at Untappd.

Fort George Brewing

Fort George Brewing is located in historic Astoria, Oregon. It was established in 2007 and produces many fine beers. Their version of Black is Beautiful is a collaboration with Buoy Beer and Columbia Coffee Roasters; it comes as an Imperial Coffee Stout with an AVB 10% (as stated on the can). Proceeds go to the Black Resilience Fund.

Testing for this beer also came back Positive, meaning >5ppm, so I also could not consume this beer, but I did take whiff…it’s aroma is sweet, but not overpowering and carries a hint of coffee. If you want more information on the actual flavor, check out the reviews on UnTappd for this beer.

Little Beast Brewing

That first can I eyed when wandering the beer aisle was produced by Little Beast Brewing. It was a pint-size can, which I’m glad to see is trending these days, and had a beautiful label that stood out from the many artworks on the neighboring beer cans. This is how I came to discover the Black is Beautiful program.

Little Beast Brewing is located in SE Portland. Proceeds benefit The Black Resilience Fund and Urban League of Portland. Fairly small, it doesn’t have significant distribution, local really, but it was the first Black Is Beautiful brewer to have their cans available in my neck of the woods. So I bought it and tested it.

I was pleased to find that this beer passed the test. Meaning, results are negative for >5ppm for Little’s Beast’s rendition of Black Is Beautiful Imperial Stout (red lines over “O” & “C” are present, and red line over the “T’ is absent). If you want to learn more about the test kits, see the Testing Kit page.

I drank this beer, it is very rich and smooth. You can taste hints of coffee and vanilla. With an AVB of 10%, and its dessert-like flavor, it makes for a wonderful, slow- sipping post-dinner libation. If you drink it closer to room temperature, you can taste more of the flavors, but drinking it cold is just fine too.

Breweries can offer Black is Beautiful in bottles, cans and on draft. Some places may only offer draft, so check their websites for details. If you want to spread the word, use #BlackIsBeautifulBeer in your postings.

While I am a bit sad, that most of the beers tested did not pass the test for gluten, I am happy that at least one did and even more hopeful that this movement will provide some needed awareness to our communities and all over the world.

Peace and love to all.