Main & Mill’s version of Black is Beautiful will benefit Life for Life Gym, an after-school program north of downtown St. Louis.
‘Changing the perspective’
The underrepresentation in brewing is reflective of disparities found throughout society, said Stuart Keating, co-owner of Earthbound Beer on Cherokee Street. And that lack of diversity feeds on itself.
“It’s not diverse because it’s not diverse,” he said.
For a person of color, stepping into an all-white workplace can be daunting, said Keating, who is white. Transportation can be a problem. So can access to training.
On the ownership side, breweries require expensive equipment and infrastructure at the outset. Many owners come to brewing after profitable careers elsewhere, in fields such as accounting or engineering. Keating was a lawyer.
Earthbound has an all-white staff but has made efforts to “diversify the supply chain,” Keating said.
St. Louis Hop Shop, just down the street, has joined with the brewery in producing Black is Beautiful. Proceeds will be donated to the effort to close the St. Louis Medium Security Institution, the city jail known as the workhouse.
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