BROOKLYN BREWERY

“Up through the Civil War, Black people did all the brewing in the United States. Brewing, distilling, this is really hard work. And it was done by enslaved people.” - GARRETT OLIVER S ince this is our annual Tannins and Terpenes Issue, the Leaf editorial team saw an opportunity to view the equity issues facing the Cannabis community through the lens of its closest analog - the alcohol industry. For that task, I called on an icon from my time in the beer industry: Garrett Oliver. As the brewmaster at the helm of the legendary Brooklyn Brewery out of New York City, Oliver has been one of a small but slowly growing number of Black brewers working in the United States. Since entering the industry in 1989, he has become one of the most prominent brewmasters in the world, of any race or gender. But it hasn’t been easy. “For a long time, I was the only Black brewer that anyone saw or knew,” Oliver said over a Zoom call in August. With a laugh, he recalled moments when racial preconceptions led people to assume that he held a subordinate position at his brewery. “They would come to the brewery and they would walk right past me, and shake the hand of my (white) assistant, Kurt, and say, ‘Hello, Garrett,’” Oliver said. “And Kurt would point at me and say, ‘Garrett’s over there.’” Considering Oliver’s achievements, that’s a staggering mistake to make. He edited the “Oxford Companion to Beer” and authored “The Brewmaster’s Table,” considered by many to be the definitive guide to pairing beer and food. He even earned a James Beard award for his trailblazing work in the craft beer industry. The man sweats excellence. In July, he announced his most ambitious project yet - the formation of The Michael Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling (www.themjf.org) - named after the legendary beer and spirits writer Garrett Oliver of the same name, one of Oliver’s early mentors. Here, their core mission is “funding the technical education and career advancement for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the brewing and distilling

Brewmaster | Brooklyn Brewery industries.” Few people are better equipped to address where the beer industry has been and where it needs to go in its search for equality than Oliver. Over the course of >> READING THROUGH the stories in last month’s Equality Issue, two things became clear: On one hand, our conversation, it became clear that the an inspiring number of amazing people and organizations fight tirelessly against systemic racism and beer and Cannabis communities share an inequity to ensure that the future of the Cannabis industry doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the past. uncannily similar history, and both must On the other hand, the industry has a long road ahead if we’re going to achieve real equity. cut the same path into the future.

SAME ROOT, DIFFERENT PLANT

When discussing the history of brewing, Oliver addresses the roots of inequity in terms that sound all too familiar to anyone versed in the history of Cannabis.

“Up through the Civil War, Black people did all the brewing in the United States,” he said. “Brewing, distilling, this is really hard work. And it was done by enslaved people.”

As slavery ended, the labor became paid, and then subsequently became unionized during the Industrial Revolution. At that point, the makeup of the beer industry started to change.

“When an industry that might be a home industry - like brewing was at one point - then turns into an industry that can make money, women are forced out, and people of color are forced out,” Oliver said. “Ask yourself why, in a restaurant, are the cooks women and people of color, and the chefs are white men? Well, which makes money?”

According to a February 2020 dataset from the Brewer’s Association, out of all breweries where ownership is made up of a single gender, 96% are male. In terms of race, BA reports that non-management production staff are 76.2% white and brewers are 89% white.

It’s a familiar song.

Like beer, the Cannabis industry grew from historically diverse roots, in this case because the risk associated with illegal activity dissuaded participation by people with historically reliable means to make money via traditional, legal avenues - i.e., straight, white men. Disenfranchised people who have been systematically oppressed by the system - racial minorities and disadvantaged communities - looked to Cannabis as a means of survival outside of the traditional markets.

Ever since Cannabis became legal in multiple states, the regulated industry has followed the same trend of whitewashing that plagued the beer industry.

In our August 2020 Equality Issue, we reported on the severe lack of female and non-white ownership in the fledgling Maryland Cannabis industry. Additionally, a 2019 report by MJBiz Daily revealed that only 16.4% of Cannabis businesses in Ohio are minority-owned, and Massachusetts boasts a paltry 1.4%. MJBiz used Ohio and Massachusetts because they gather the most reliable, robust diversity data, and both states’ figures are

From Oliver’s point of view, the blueprint for equity comes down to

“I thought, why are they doing that? Why don’t African Americans just go to a regular beer festival? And then I went and it was not a segregated beer festival, it was the most diverse beer festival I have ever seen,” Oliver said. “I had

thought, where have these people been?” Oliver says it’s vital for business operators to prioritize equity and diversity. “On a list of things to do, equity is going to be number 15 on the list,” he said. “When have you ever gotten to number 15 on a list of things to do? Sheetrock this wall, lay this piping, and then number 15 is equity. When are you ever going to get to equity? If you don’t move it up the list, you’ll never get to it. And that’s mindfulness.” Through his work at The MJF, Oliver strives to provide mentorship, education and financial support to members of the BIPOC community who are looking to enter the brewing world. The hope is to set them up with the necessary experience to land leadership positions and change the landscape, one professional at a time. When it comes to mindful action, the regulated Cannabis industry already has a roughly 100-year head start on the beer industry, which carved its ruts in the road of racial inequity many decades ago. Like The MJF does for beer, groups like Portland, Ore.-based NuLeaf Project and the Last Prisoner Project work to build set against the national average of 19.8% equity infrastructure while the industry is minority-owned non-Cannabis businesses, still young. according to the report. Local municipalities have gotten

That absurdly low national number speaks involved - the Equity Permit Program in volumes to the systemic problem of inequity across all industries. The real head-scratcher, Oakland, Calif. has taken huge leaps to avoid the disenfranchisement of the people 35 however, is that neither the beer nor the Canwho built the industry in the unregulated nabis industry comes close to meeting even market. Here they’ve established criteria that low bar. After all, aren’t beer and weed for licensee eligibility that requires appliknown for bringing people together? cants have either a Cannabis conviction in

Though he’s not involved in the Cannabis the past 22 years or a 10-year residency industry, Oliver knows the score. in a neighborhood with disproportionate

“We used to put you in jail,” he said, referCannabis arrests, plus individual income ring to minorities working in the unregulated at 80% or less than the city’s average. market. “But now that these VC (venture capWhile industry statistics still don’t ital) people have shown up, and people are resemble the ideal, one thing is obvious: going to make money, and the government’s Of all industries, the newly legal Cannabis going to get their taxes - now you’re out (of market stands the best chance to do things the industry).” right from the start. As Oliver says, it all comes down to THE MAGIC WORD mindful action. And that, at its heart, is

three syllables. “My one word would be mindfulness,” he said. “All you have to do, really, is spend some time thinking about it.” Part of what’s been working in the beer industry, he says, are events like Fresh Fest, the country’s first beer festival showcasing Black brewers and Black presenters. COURTESY FRESH FEST

what the Cannabis community is all about. never seen hundreds of African AmeriGarrett Oliver, center, with Day Bracey, left, and Ed Bailey, right, cans geeking out over craft beer. And I founders of Fresh Fest, the first-ever Black beer festival.