CINCINNATI — Two Black-owned breweries have teamed up to celebrate Black History Month with a special brew.
Walnut Hill's Esoteric Brewing Company is collaborating with Huber Heights-based Alematic Artison Ales for the "All Black Everything Breakfast Stout."
Brian Jackson, Esoteric's co-founder and head brewer, said the breakfast stout is made from cocoa nibs, vanilla beans, coffee and oats. The brew is a limited release available in Esoteric's taproom, for purchase in a few stores and was also on tap at Cincinnati's Winter Beerfest. Alematic released the beer as a special release during its 4 year anniversary.
Jackson said Esoteric reached out to Alematic because the brewery had never done a full-blown collaboration in its years of being open. In 2022, Esoteric had a weekly rotating tap of Black-owned breweries in its taproom.
"Being Black History Month, we're here to celebrate the achievements of Black-owned businesses and other important people in the industry," Jackson said. "So, we decided it was time we should actually make a pretty significant stand as far as what we're trying to do (which) is celebrating Black-owned breweries in America."
Jackson said currently Black-owned breweries are less than 1% of the craft breweries across the U.S.
"At the end of the day, we wanted to make sure that we were bringing to light some of the achievements that we have here in Ohio," Jackson said.
He also said that Esoteric and Alematic both aim to also break down the stigma that there isn't a lot of Black representation in the craft brewery industry.
"Our whole ethos here is all about diversity and inclusion," Jackson said. "That's really what we're trying to represent."
Jackson hopes people not only enjoy the breakfast stout but also use it as motivation to support more Black-owned breweries and businesses.
"It's extremely important," Jackson said. " ... We shouldn't be looking to just support during Black History Month. It should be a year-round thing."
